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2016 Topps Archives Signature Series: Thoughts?

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mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,187
4,087
I have seen a few decent ones since my comment (73T #'D TO 5, 75T #'d to 4), but sellers want too much. Nobody seems to do auctions anymore and see where the market goes. They would rather sit a card at a huge BIN price and wait…and wait….an wait...

Saw a Garvey 1/1 for $250 (ha), it was a 2011 bat card (Edit - seller adjusted and it sold for a BO of $120, almost certainly to the newer Garvey big spender in town), and the 74T is at $199 obo (Edit - That also sold for $125). Also saw the following sell as BIN/BO: 78T ($130), 73T ($100), 84 Milton Bradley ($100). I am almost certain the same buyer snagged all of these along with an assortment of higher print run items at $15-30+ each. He is scooping these up like it was ice cream.

It does kind of ruin the memory of the Autoproof cards that came out several years back. Those were hard to find and very low print runs. Some of the previous archives have been decently low production, but this issue just floods us with 80s junk crap at low to moderate print runs. I bought a few last night at what I thought were decent prices, but waiting for most to crash down to $5-15 each, like series 1 did.
 
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mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,187
4,087
Up to 41 verified different cards for Garv

/1 (X2)
/2 (x5)
/3 (X3)
/4
/5 (x2)
/6 (X2)
/7 (X2)
/8
/11
/15 (x2)
/18
/19
/21 (X2)
/23
/24
/25 (X2)
/32
/33
/34
/35
/37
/42 (X2)
/49
/50
/52 (x2)
/60
 
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predatorkj

Active member
Aug 7, 2008
11,871
2
Opened a case, not too bad

https://www.facebook.com/Casebusters/videos/933617946766128/ (Facebook Live)

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Some cool looking cards. And of course...Kent Tekulve...looking like a boss!
 

jbhofmann

Active member
Mar 12, 2009
6,914
2
Indiana
I still don't want my cards encapsulated in a case that big. It would not fit in the box I have all my top loaded cards like the one touch does. I used to have a graded card in my collection. I don't want to go through that again.

Crack it out. Place it in your own one-touch.
Problem solved.
 

mouschi

Featured Contributor, Bridging the Gap, Senior Mem
May 18, 2012
3,105
170
Tanner - you're speaking my language. I've had this rant too.

I'm creating a Frank Thomas checklist with whatever's uncovered. See it here.

Note though that I'm not buying any of these. I see no reason to fork over $250 for a card that can be had signed for less than $30 just because it has a Topps stamp on it. I'm not interested in re-buying every Topps card just because they're now part of a variety of lackluster BuyBack campaigns. In an odd way, the whole thing is kind of insulting to collectors.

Not to say I don't like Topps; I'm still fond of the brand. I don't buy modern wax which means I don't have the luxury of dealing with the hassle of their insidious redemption program and as such I don't share in the resentment a lot of collectors have. Where I'm not terribly excited is in the sludge of BuyBacks they've rolled out over the last 24 months.

What would make these BuyBacks really cool was if they were pack inserted at an unreal rate and without any magnet, just loose non-numbered on-card autos from all-star players. Make it hard to pull so that each pull is valued by the collector. Just my $0.02.

I have seen a few decent ones since my comment (73T #'D TO 5, 75T #'d to 4), but sellers want too much. Nobody seems to do auctions anymore and see where the market goes. They would rather sit a card at a huge BIN price and wait…and wait….an wait...

Saw a Garvey 1/1 for $250 (ha), it was a 2011 bat card, and the 74T is at $199 obo.

It does kind of ruin the memory of the Autoproof cards that came out several years back. Those were hard to find and very low print runs. Some of the previous archives have been decently low production, but this issue just floods us with 80s junk crap at low to moderate print runs. I bought a few last night at what I thought were decent prices, but waiting for most to crash down to $5-15 each, like series 1 did.
[MENTION=4293]patrick182[/MENTION] & [MENTION=4047]mrmopar[/MENTION] you know I share these sentiments as well. I've changed direction a bit though, in the past 24-36 hours.

After sitting back and thinking about it more, I've decided to treat this as 2015 Topps Archives Signature Series II. I plan on (and have been) picking up versions that I don't have yet. For instance, I don't have a 95 topps from 2015, so if I can get my hands on one from 2016, I'll go on it. I'm sitting back on several, as there are many higher # copies they put out this year. Last year, all were like #/23 or less with SEVERAL 1/1 /2 /3 /4 etc.

As I've said (exhaustively) before, the duplicates straight up madden me. The non 1/1 crown jewel from last year's release for Jose was the 1986 Topps Traded /5, with the 1987 Topps /14 behind it. This year, they decided to do an '86 TT /15 and an '87 /97! Perhaps the thing that irked me a bit more was when they followed up the 2015 91 stadium club /4 with a 2016 91 stadium club /4. While I can't promise I'm going to be staying away from the higher numbered "duplicates", I don't see myself getting the same card that is low numbered. But then again, I chase all years of the Donruss buybacks, so I guess I'm a bit of a hypocrite.

Speaking of Donruss, I find several parallels here, yet they are different simply because of the volume being put out. In 02-05 (or thereabouts) Donruss kept putting some of the same cards out, however, there were probably less than 10 ... not 50.

EDIT: I will say this also - I *may* be picking up some of the copies that are high # enough to warrant a lower price. The 1987 Topps #/97 is a prime candidate for me.
 
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mouschi

Featured Contributor, Bridging the Gap, Senior Mem
May 18, 2012
3,105
170
Heck no. I do not alter encapsulated/stickered cards from Topps. It just wouldn't feel right.

One thing you could do, most likely, is put a heat gun to the sticker, remove it and top load the card, while keeping the sticker / case!
 

olerud363

Active member
Jun 14, 2010
3,212
14
Ontario, Canada
I share many people's opinions on these buybacks. It's ridiculous to see the same cards autographed and numbered to different quantities. Though this year I've noticed that Topps has included O-Pee-Chee in the mix, which I like.

What I'll likely end up doing is cataloguing them in my master checklist for the sake of having the most complete checklist, and then maybe picking up a couple if the price is right and I like the overall look. (Like last year I bought a 2002 Heritage.)

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Freedom Card Board mobile app
 

D-Lite

New member
Nov 10, 2010
1,872
0
SF Peninsula
So after opening up the first 10 boxes I got, I'm decidedly meh on this. Actually that's being generous. Best I got was a Galarraga /15 ('89 O-Pee-Chee). But I'm pissed at the two Conines and multiple other garbage autos. And I've seen some eBay auctions at /100 or worse. And they've flooded the Vizquel and Galarraga market in the process of producing this. If you're lucky enough to pull a "Legends" auto of which we don't know the print runs then great, but otherwise this is very hard to even come close to break even. The better autos (Nolan, Griffey JR) aren't even in the $200-300 range, so this is mostly a bust. If they had truly kept allocation down like they claimed they would with low print runs then fine, value would be holding. As it is, Blowout dropped the price $75 already on a case. That's just ridiculous.

I hadn't busted a case of anything in the past year and now I'm reminded of why. Thanks Topps.

MLB, if you're listening, please end the nightmare.
 

nerdherd020

Member
Feb 9, 2011
523
3
California
From the info. I've gathered on eBay and some of the other trade boards and case break videos, my PC guy has 41 different buybacks... thus far.
 

patrick182

Well-known member
Mar 23, 2010
1,099
106
My updated Frank Thomas list. Still looking for more scans. Ping me if you know of one that's not on this list. See progress here.

Note - I'm not buying any of these.*
 

mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,187
4,087
I still want to see more obscure players and a larger variety, but for an expensive product, it is hard for buyer to pull a guy that hardly anyone wants to buy/collect. I am only an aftermarket buyer, so it is easy for me to say more Giovani Carrera & Trinidad Hubbard type player buyback cards (only in Dodger uniforms too)! A lot of guys that only have a handful of cards don't necessarily have any Topps cards in that particular uniform either. Topps Total is a good set for those obscure players, but have not seen anyone exciting from that set as a buyback yet.
 
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predatorkj

Active member
Aug 7, 2008
11,871
2
I still want to see more obscure players and a larger variety, but for an expensive product, it is hard for buyer to pull a guy that badly anyone wants to buy/collect. I am only an aftermarket buyer, so it is easy for me to say more Giovani Carrera & Trinidad Hubbard type player buyback cards (only in Dodger uniforms too)! A lot of guys that only have a handful of cards don't necessarily have any Topps cards in that particular uniform either. Topps Total is a good set for those obscure players, but have not seen anyone exciting from that set as a buyback yet.

I'd say do this, cheapen the price point some, and expand the checklist. That way at least you know what you're getting. But truthfully, they're running the buy backs into the ground and it's killing the value.
 

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