Forgotten Tough Parallels

[KLARNOLD]

I was searching for tough Albert Pujols cards and came across this Ken Griffey Jr 2003 Leaf Retro Logo. I had forgotten they were limited to /25. I doubt I will find a Pujols now.

Post some other parallels that you think other collectors may have forgotten or known about.

 

[banjar]

I'm betting Pacific will feature heavily in this thread.

My contribution: 1999 Pacific Prism Red. Jesus those things are rare.

 

[jmc855]

I was searching for tough Albert Pujols cards and came across this Ken Griffey Jr 2003 Leaf Retro Logo. I had forgotten they were limited to /25. I doubt I will find a Pujols now.

Post some other parallels that you think other collectors may have forgotten or known about.

Never heard of this one

 

[joey12508]

 

[mrmopar]

Probably a lot of tough parallels that are forgotten not long after the major supplies dry up. Some of the old ones I chased and found have been forgotten by me after a number of years have passed and I don't look at them frequently.

Its the cards that are hard to see by the average person that they may not even be aware the card is an insert or parallel. It's a reality, but I'd rather see cards that are easier to distinguish. I bought a Bagwell card not that long ago that was a tougher parallel, from that Donruss in a tin set. I paid $2 and when I looked on ebay, someone was asking $60 for one who seemed to know what it was. Doesn't mean it's worth $60, but probably worth more than $2!

 

[KLARNOLD]

Bought this AP the other day and was not aware of the low serial number. 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings 25th Anniversary S# 25/25 for only $25.

 

[banjar]

Although the 1999 Pacific Prism Red is *tough*, it's not really a forgotten parallel.

More in the spirit of this thread is this one - the 2000 Pacific Crown Collection Latinos of the Major Leagues Parallel. Except for the tiny easy-to-miss serial number in the front lower left, there is only one difference to distinguish it from the regular insert. It's a small diamond-shaped embossing with the words "Exclusive Series". You can see it right around Robbie's, uh, nads.

 

[banjar]

Another one in the same vein - 2001 Topps Employee. Rumor has it there were only 151 of these sets printed. They were only differentiated from the pack issued cards by a small embossing.

 

[theplasticman]

Bought this AP the other day and was not aware of the low serial number. 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings 25th Anniversary S# 25/25 for only $25.

Yes - this set is brutal. I still need the Bucky Jacobsen. I don't recall seeing a single copy since 2005 -- ugh.

 

[theplasticman]

Another one in the same vein - 2001 Topps Employee. Rumor has it there were only 151 of these sets printed. They were only differentiated from the pack issued cards by a small embossing.

View attachment 346487

Even tougher because of the gloss on these. These sets bricked after a few years. Lots of copies with snow on them.

 

[theplasticman]

Some choices of mine:
2003 Topps Kanebo Black
2005 Throwback Threads Blue Century Proof
2005 Throwback Threads Green Proof
2006 Fleer Glossy Gold

The DLP Beckett & Tuff Stuff magazine inserted samples from 2001-03. Especially the golds.

 

[K34PuckettAddict]

2004 Leaf Exhibits count? I haven’t found one I need in several years, Puckett had 88 different variations and I’m down to needing 8.


Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[banjar]

Huh. I didn't know that.

All of the sudden I'm happy to see that my copies are in pretty good shape

Even tougher because of the gloss on these. These sets bricked after a few years. Lots of copies with snow on them.

 

[banjar]

That is astonishing. I thought I was doing good by being only ~20 cards short of the required 88. But only missing 8? That might be the most complete run in the world. Seriously.

2004 Leaf Exhibits count? I haven’t found one I need in several years, Puckett had 88 different variations and I’m down to needing 8.


Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[banjar]

I got one for you. 2005 Topps Hot Button Refractors. I'd say this is a poster child for the forgotten tough parallels category.

Hot Button cards were associated with the Hot Button game, and apparently weren't very popular with collectors as Topps only produced them one year. And the refractor versions are extremely scarce...there are exactly 5 listings on ebay right now.

Here's a contest for all FCB members: upload a scan of a 2005 Hot Button Refractors card from your personal collection to this thread. I want to see a nice closeup of what these things actually look like. If you do, I'll send you a random Robbie Alomar insert card of my choosing, gratis. Yes, I will actually do this. It'll be the new crown jewel of your collection, I'm sure.

No cheating by using random scans from the interwebs, please

 

[smapdi]

My favorite might be the 2012 Topps Gold Rush foil stamped set. Not the Gold Rush redemption, but the parallel cards look like a regular card except it has 'Gold Rush' stamped on it. They only came in promo packs of 5, I think, and there really were not many made. I got a Sizemore back then and I think I've only seen 2 since then. I think they only did series one, which is disappointing, but probably a relief for people who might not even know this set exists. Someone actually made a complete set and had it listed on ebay for a while for $3000 or so, and to my way of thinking, that was a bargain. Of course, some things are so scarce and given the method of distribution, people might not care. Being pack-pulled counts for a lot.

The 2006 Topps Blue parallel is another example, but that's such a weird circumstance it probably doesn't even count. Essentially a 1/1 set, there will probably not be another like it without it being on purpose.

Another super tough one is 2005 Donruss Team Heroes. There were several tiers of parallels, with /10 being the toughest. It's a very blah set, and it came, went, and sank without a trace, taking any number of these cards with it. I saw a Sizemore on ebay back then, fell asleep at the switch waiting to snipe it, and haven't seen another. This was back when you could contact other ebayers directly, and the guy who won it was mad at me. I had been trying to trade for something he had but while I was trying to work something out, I outbid him on other Sizemore cards, and he took that personally. I could sort of understand, but was I supposed to just not bid on things because he was taking days to make up his mind? I tried to offer whatever it was he lost out on, but I never heard back, and as far as I know I've never crossed paths with him again.

There are a ton of examples like these from the 00s, when there were over 100 distinct products a year. As a player collector more than anything, if my guys weren't in it, I might not have even paid attention to what was in a set.

 

[banjar]

Agreed. Those Kanebo black parallels are ungodly scarce.

Same with the DLP gold samples. I have 17 of them on my PC checklist, and I have acquired exactly two. For comparison, that's a a smaller percentage than the percentage of 1998 Tek Diffractors I own.

Some choices of mine:
2003 Topps Kanebo Black
The DLP Beckett & Tuff Stuff magazine inserted samples from 2001-03. Especially the golds.

 

[KLARNOLD]

Some choices of mine:
2003 Topps Kanebo Black
2005 Throwback Threads Blue Century Proof
2005 Throwback Threads Green Proof
2006 Fleer Glossy Gold

The DLP Beckett & Tuff Stuff magazine inserted samples from 2001-03. Especially the golds.

2003 Topps Kanebo Black are extremely tough. Only seen an AP on a full sheet.

 

[Dazed]

Another super tough one is 2005 Donruss Team Heroes. There were several tiers of parallels, with /10 being the toughest. It's a very blah set, and it came, went, and sank without a trace, taking any number of these cards with it. I saw a Sizemore on ebay back then, fell asleep at the switch waiting to snipe it, and haven't seen another.

I was lucky to Pick up 4 or 5 cards for my Amos Otis collection during the pandemic. One of them was the Team Heroes Gold /10.

​

 

[Dilferules]

I got one for you. 2005 Topps Hot Button Refractors. I'd say this is a poster child for the forgotten tough parallels category.

Hot Button cards were associated with the Hot Button game, and apparently weren't very popular with collectors as Topps only produced them one year. And the refractor versions are extremely scarce...there are exactly 5 listings on ebay right now.

Here's a contest for all FCB members: upload a scan of a 2005 Hot Button Refractors card from your personal collection to this thread. I want to see a nice closeup of what these things actually look like. If you do, I'll send you a random Robbie Alomar insert card of my choosing, gratis. Yes, I will actually do this. It'll be the new crown jewel of your collection, I'm sure.

No cheating by using random scans from the interwebs, please

Yup, there are 4 A's in the set and I've never seen a single Refractor for any of them that I can remember. It was kind of difficult to even finish the base team set.

My favorite might be the 2012 Topps Gold Rush foil stamped set. Not the Gold Rush redemption, but the parallel cards look like a regular card except it has 'Gold Rush' stamped on it. They only came in promo packs of 5, I think, and there really were not many made. I got a Sizemore back then and I think I've only seen 2 since then. I think they only did series one, which is disappointing, but probably a relief for people who might not even know this set exists. Someone actually made a complete set and had it listed on ebay for a while for $3000 or so, and to my way of thinking, that was a bargain. Of course, some things are so scarce and given the method of distribution, people might not care. Being pack-pulled counts for a lot.

Yeah those are pretty tough...you used to see them once in a while in the few years after the set came out but they seem to have dried up. It probably doesn't help that the design of the foil stamping makes it look "damaged" which may deter some potential sellers from bothering to sell theirs.

Some other sets which would fit this criteria...

Gypsy Queen had some tough interesting parallels that nobody really talks about.

2011 Framed Stamps/10...these are so reconfigured to fit the stamp that it's kind of tough to consider it a true "parallel", even. I do applaud them for not simply making a different colored border like most parallels.

2013 Hometown Currency Coins/5...these feature coins from the player's home country, or state quarters showing their home state. Sadly not every card in the set made it look like the player is on a hippity hop, Coco is just special that way.

Some others:

1995 Score Gold Rush Exchange Logo Punch Variations...the "punched" exchange cards that Pinnacle sent back with the early Platinum team sets for Series 1 are already kind of obscure and difficult...but you can also find them in two variations: with the Pinnacle logo punched out on the lower right or upside-down on the upper left. Not entirely sure you can find every card like this so don't quote me.

2002 Fleer Platinum Parallel/202...the not exactly catchy name doesn't help. The difference on these is a thick glossy finish and silver foil accent below the Fleer Platinum logo. There were some manufacturing issues with this set, and I have never seen a card without significant chipping on the top and/or bottom border. As a consequence I'm sure a lot of these were tossed or shoved in boxes and forgotten rather than being put up for sale, and they are MUCH more difficult to find than a /202 parallel from this time period should be.

2000 Bowman Chrome Retro/Future Refractors...1997 and 2000 are the only years of Bowman Chrome where they didn't have some sort of Gold Refractor. This was their top-tier parallel in 2000. It's kind of forgotten because there's no huge popular card from the set, they aren't numbered, and they simply aren't Gold Refractors. It doesn't help that a bunch of backdoored sheet-cut Leximo cards hit the market a while back so it's kind of tough to trust what you're buying is legit.

1998 SkyBox Dugout Axcess Inside Axcess/50...crappy set and the parallel is just a crappy gold "Inside Axcess" stamp, but they are super tough to find and it is a '90s parallel so you'd think they'd be talked about a little more.

2011 Topps Holiday Factory Set Bonus/75...you don't see or hear about these too much.

2014 Topps Power Player Prizes/75...not exactly sure how these were distributed but they seem way tougher than /75. I've only seen a few A's ever. But nobody really cares about them.