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The 1998 Topps Tek Thread

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RustyGreerFan

Active member
Jun 10, 2010
2,496
4
Gastonia, NC
WOW! Last night a box of 98 Tek was listed for $169.95 obo. By today it was sold at its full asking price. Makes me wonder how much someone could get out of a box if they were really playing hardball.

That Ripken PSA 10 sold for just $75. I say just because I think it would sell in that ballpark raw. I know this logic doesn't always carry, but if you consider how much tougher it is to get a Diffractor than a base, and that it's not unusual at all for base Ripkens to go for $10... then, yeah, maybe $75 was a great deal.
 

MansGame

Active member
Sep 25, 2009
15,324
20
Dallas, TX
WOW! Last night a box of 98 Tek was listed for $169.95 obo. By today it was sold at its full asking price. Makes me wonder how much someone could get out of a box if they were really playing hardball.

That Ripken PSA 10 sold for just $75. I say just because I think it would sell in that ballpark raw. I know this logic doesn't always carry, but if you consider how much tougher it is to get a Diffractor than a base, and that it's not unusual at all for base Ripkens to go for $10... then, yeah, maybe $75 was a great deal.

Saw this, crazy.
 

RustyGreerFan

Active member
Jun 10, 2010
2,496
4
Gastonia, NC
Oh... also meant to say/ask the following: some issues don't really carry a premium when graded, even if the grade is a 10. I imagine that this is true of Diffractors. I do think that it can be hard to get a 10. Tek often has production damage like print lines, spotting, and surface imperfections. I wonder if they took better care of their Diffractors because I haven't noticed this as much with them as with the base.

Do you think that PSA 10 Diffractors would carry much weight over raw?
 

Brewer Andy

Active member
Aug 10, 2008
9,634
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$170 is still nuts. I love the chase and hunt of Tek but I still feel that diffractors are a crap shoot. I have only managed to find one for my guy in years of looking and I think I won it, properly titled, for. 99 (Burnitz). Being that it was my first one I probably would have been willing to go pretty high though I don't recall how high my bid actually was. The difference between the base cards and diffractors is so minute that now that I have one, I really don't feel willing to shell out more than $10 for any others if I did see one. Of course this is Burnitz I'm talking about but bottom line for me personally is that diffractors are a nice surprise or find when you see one but the premium I personally would put on them is MUCH smaller than other parallels of the same period regardless of how hard they are to find, knowing full well I'll NEVER come close to seeing all 80
 

RustyGreerFan

Active member
Jun 10, 2010
2,496
4
Gastonia, NC
If you are a player collector AND you are anal about condition... don't take a close look at your Teks.

Here's a rundown of most of the base I got from our group break:

Paul Konerko - almost perfect - barely visible vertical print line. One light surface scratch about a half-inch in length.
Raul Mondesi - spotting. I've noticed this on some of his others. Edgar Martinez is bad for spotting as well.
PJ Martinez - vertical print line and two tiny black specks
John Olerud - almost perfect. One tiny black speck.
Andruw Jones - horizontal print line.
Brad Fullmer - vertical print line.
Vladi - barely visible horizontal print line.
Edgar - horizontal print line - surface of card feels tacky.
Pudge #1 - horizontal print line.
Pudge #2 - barely visible vertical print line.
Dunwoody - spotting and two black specks.
Renteria - major spotting.
Frank - great.
Larry Walker - great.

Just looked at the Frank Diffractor and it looks great. The Diffractor effect would totally hide any print lines if there are any.
 

RustyGreerFan

Active member
Jun 10, 2010
2,496
4
Gastonia, NC
LOL.

I found a box of 98 Tek on a LCS's website for $100. The website was down so I called it in. He says he'll check inventory and get back to me. When he gets back to me the price is $169.99. DOH!
 

onionring9

Active member
Administrator
Aug 7, 2008
3,490
12
The Tek chase is probably my favorite for my PC. Love the thread!

I'd love it if somebody could shed some more light on how many pre-production golds were produced.

I took this pic a long time ago so it's probably not all of the golds and diffractors I have but it's pretty close.

Top row is the complete set of '00 /10 golds.
Second row is '99 /10 golds set b (25/30)
Third row is '99 /10 golds set a (28/30)
Fourth row is all '98 diffractors (40/90)
5th row starts with diffractors and ends with pre-production golds (20/30)

teka.jpg


PS if anybody can help me these base/pre-productions, contact me - final three to complete the sets!

1998 tek pattern 42
1998 tek pre-production pattern 86
1998 tek pre-production pattern 89
 

RustyGreerFan

Active member
Jun 10, 2010
2,496
4
Gastonia, NC
Awesome post!!!!!!! I know nothing of the gold pre-productions. So are some gold and some not? The three pre-productions I see on COMC all look non-gold.
 

onionring9

Active member
Administrator
Aug 7, 2008
3,490
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Awesome post!!!!!!! I know nothing of the gold pre-productions. So are some gold and some not? The three pre-productions I see on COMC all look non-gold.

Well what I do know is that three players had pre-productions (mcgwire, clemens and mondesi). Then up until last year we thought there was a single gold produced for each pattern. I've never seen a Clemens or Mondesi gold. However, last year we found a duplicate pattern of one of the McGwire golds so we now know that they aren't all 1/1.

I unfortunately do not remember anything about these from '98 and haven't found anybody that actually does either. Most people don't even know they exist. They are the ugliest of all the tek's, but definately the hardest to find, even moreso than the diffractor cousins.
 

onionring9

Active member
Administrator
Aug 7, 2008
3,490
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So how have you located most of the ones you own? Just ebay, found a cache of them, or buy out a collection?

I've only found a couple at most on ebay. Most are from buying out collections or through someone who knows someone who knows someone with the card :)
 

RustyGreerFan

Active member
Jun 10, 2010
2,496
4
Gastonia, NC
Some wrapper scans. Very interesting that they call them "Diffraction Foil" instead of Diffractors and that there was a mail-in opportunity to get a free Diffractor.

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SINFULONE

Active member
Sep 26, 2008
5,691
0
Togaman helped me too. I bought a bunch of Buhners from him. I also bought his Edgars then sold them for $5 each to a guy on ebay that had bought one from me before for $5. He was still willing to pay $5 each! Made my money back.

One thing weird I noticed about Edgar's cards is that they often fall prey to spotting like water spots on glassware. I have not noticed this with other players that I collect. I got a lot of Tek in today and noticed the same spotting on a Raul Mondesi card. I wonder if certain cards were more susceptible based on where they were located on the sheet as it was cut <shrug>

This is very true.I bought some recently, and upon receipt of cards, was disappointed one of the cards had some factory print error in the bottom corner of card.

What is reasonable for the minor and semi stars in this product?$1 a card?
 

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