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2013 Finest 1993 Refractors Blowing Up

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smapdi

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
4,397
221
I flirted with the idea of building the 1993 retro refractor set, as I like building sets #/25 or so. I was never in love with the 1993 design, but whatever, it looked like a fun challenge. However, the green all-star subset is #/10, and that's a really hard level to complete, especially since it obviously would include many of the biggest names. I made one purchase right after release, a Jered Weaver for about $54, but decided that if I had to shell out that much for Weaver, the really big names would go way too high for me. As it turns out, I was right, as there's currently some fierce competition for these things between player chasers and set builders. The #/25s are hitting $100+ for the biggest names. The green #/10s are all cracking $100 easily and closer to $200 on average for the last week. The biggest names are getting incredible money, like $350 for Posey, $256 for Stanton, $250 BIN for Wright, Mauer for $214, etc. A Pujols is currently on auction sitting at $600 right now, Freese is at $153, Adam Jones is at $236. A Trout #/25 has sold for $280 and a couple Puigs #/25 have apparently sold in the $300+ range.
 

corockies

New member
Mar 23, 2013
1,213
0
Colorado
I personally find the retro 1997 Masters gold refractors /50 to be the best looking cards of the set. Love the look of those cards! Might be a much easier parallel set to complete.
 

gradedeflator

Active member
Mar 31, 2011
1,389
20
^agree that the 97 masters set is cool. Wish they would have embossed the supers or at least put the die cut edges around them like they did in 1997! also wondering if Topps plans to repeat the 97 design in 2017 as the 20th anniversary...
 

predatorkj

Active member
Aug 7, 2008
11,871
2
In a way this is a good thing for cards that aren't auto'd or GU or #'d to /1 to sell for decent money and people to be avidly after them.
 

gt2590

Super Moderator
Aug 17, 2008
38,755
3,373
Near Philly
Can we say the same thing a year from now?

I actually think so.

Some of the prices may soften with time, especially the "hot" players, like Puig, who may cool down but overall I think they'll stay high.

With the re-emergence of rare inserts as "hits" people are looking for, I think they'll replace GU and base autos as the desired items in most wax products. The 90s/00s inserts have really gone nuts in the last year or so and I think that is the next fad for driving new wax sales. Retro, which features them, has been a big hit in other sports and should be a HUGE hit in baseball, despite being un-licensed. Already seen it in some products, the colored parallels in Topps "base" baseball packs sell waaaay better than the autos (granted, it's a pretty lame player selection) and I think the companies are catching on to that trend and will highlight HTG inserts over Memoriabilia or autos. Also, making those inserts is probably much cheaper than the autos, even for a bunch of prospects or watered-down checklist of mostly low-tier Veterans.

I, not being a big auto guy anyway, actually like it and it may get some older collectors back in the Hobby who left when the Jersey card mania started.

And man, do I wish I could do some of those '93 Refractors...
 

Bill Menard

New member
Aug 26, 2008
3,421
0
I actually disagree about these dropping in price. I think given the tremendous hobby impact of the 1993s I think the desirability of these. 2013s are going to be through the roof long time. I think this is the wrong time to be selling if you have any. I personally would them for a while, at least until the upward climb appears to peak.
 

Brewer Andy

Active member
Aug 10, 2008
9,634
21
I actually disagree about these dropping in price. I think given the tremendous hobby impact of the 1993s I think the desirability of these. 2013s are going to be through the roof long time. I think this is the wrong time to be selling if you have any. I personally would them for a while, at least until the upward climb appears to peak.

What I would be concerned with is if Topps recognizes the secondary market popularity of these, they'll release these inserts every year for next 20 until no one wants them once again
 

NY Tony

New member
Mar 29, 2013
638
0
The atomic refractors /5 are going considerably less than the 93 retro refractors /10.....?!?!?!
 

smapdi

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
4,397
221
Once the must-have-at-any-price collectors have their copies, prices will soften, but for the biggest names that have dedicated player bases see that there is a really limited number of copies so they're willing to go to the mattresses for them. According to Smapdi's law, on average only 2 copies of the #/10s and 4.5 copies of #/25s will show up on ebay in the first 30 days after release. For this set, they'll sell highly, then disappear forever, so you have to be prepared to go deep. Set builders also factor in heavily, and lower tier players can also go unexpectedly high since they simply don't get listed as often. While there is a dynamic effect of shocking prices drawing more copies out of the woodwork than might be available at ho-hum prices, leading to more supply and driving prices down, that sort of churn also draws more buyers into the market and keeps things in play longer.

This seems to be just one of those sets that catches on and people really, really like for reasons not completely quantifiable. Bowman Chrome rookie cards are preferred over other brands of almost identical composition, people love A&G but not so much GQ, 1998 Donruss Crusades are the gold standard of 90s non-parallel inserts, etc. Maybe this set has legs, maybe not. But it's fun to watch, and I wouldn't be surprised if it holds up for quite a while. Put it this way, I don't think the fifth Pujols that ever gets listed will go for less than $300.
 
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