WizardofOz1982
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This card just looks like Charlie Finley designed it.
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Forgotten Tough Parallels
- Thread starter KLARNOLD
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- Thread starter
- #22
KLARNOLD
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not the best pic but here is my API 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
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- Thread starter
- #23
KLARNOLD
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banjar
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Haha - someone did it! PM me your address
The prism effect on that card looks kinda like the superfractor design.
The prism effect on that card looks kinda like the superfractor design.
heavy_hitter
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- Jun 26, 2009
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- Thread starter
- #26
KLARNOLD
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I wonder how many of these actually got inserted into packs, including mine.
heavy_hitter
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- Jun 26, 2009
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I haven't tracked the base/75 as closely, but I'm confident that the print run for those patch cards that were released is 5.
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- #28
KLARNOLD
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I would estimate the base as not far off the patches. Never saw the base AP before and had to have it.
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theplasticman
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- Nov 21, 2008
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I had a Pujols from the boxes I opened. If you've tracked an eBay sale, that was probably mine. I think it went for 30-40$? Super cheap. Wish I'd have kept it.
theplasticman
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- Nov 21, 2008
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2005 Throwback Threads Polo Grounds Darin Erstad HIT Bunt to Pitcher Out /35
Last one I need out of 56 variations (I think).
Last one I need out of 56 variations (I think).
banjar
Well-known member
Those 1995 Pinnacle Gold Rush punched cards. Sheesh. Let alone those variations with the punches in the opposite corner. Makes me want to take up drinking
joey12508
Well-known member
As far as "forgotten" parallels, I think the 98 Gallery POINTS redemptions count, because they are NEVER talked about in the whirlwind of hyped up inserts/parallels that DO get talked about. they may not be the rarest cards, but honestly to me they are like "Crash the Games".
We spend a lot of time talking about the same ones that have huge demand/popularity I think, but we forget ones like these. Again, I'm working with the word "forgotten", and not the word "rare", in mind.
We spend a lot of time talking about the same ones that have huge demand/popularity I think, but we forget ones like these. Again, I'm working with the word "forgotten", and not the word "rare", in mind.
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banjar
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tramers
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while searching older box of Braves I found the regular Andruw Jones #95
Never saw this one before. That's pretty.
2003 Topps Trademark Variation with the Throwback Logo -- Just have the one, partial parallel to the set. Super tough to find. Would love to track down the other Yankees -- Jeter, Clemens, and Giambi.
Been looking 4ever for the fish hook logo clemens. Assumed they were snapped up back in 02 and are tucked away in PCs
theplasticman
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- Nov 21, 2008
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I just finished this. 45 cards.
Tough card—400 cards in the set, and COMC lists only 22 of them in current/sold listings. I was very happy to find mine; sometime later, I also found a second.
When something has a low serial number (or at least one that is easy to spot, to banjar's point about the 2000 Pacific Crown Collection Latinos of the Major Leagues Parallel), it should be a reasonable signal to anyone who comes across the card—even without knowing anything else about it—that it is scarce. That's what makes cards like the 2006 Fleer Glossy Gold so tough: It's a subtle variation that you might miss unless you're looking for it, and if you indeed miss it, it might be relegated to decades of common-box purgatory. With that said, here are some parameters that many of the tough parallels seem to share:
- Not serial numbered (and no auto/GU, for that matter)
- Inconspicuous variation (easy to overlook)
- Widely sold set (e.g., a Topps or Fleer base set where people might be buying packs at grocery stores—not a set marketed primarily to hobbyists who are more likely to recognize the variations)
- Under-broken set (still in their packs)
- Low dollar value (marginal incentive to seek out the parallels, or even list if found)
Some nominees to the list based on the above parameters are listed below. I'd also add the 2014 Topps Heritage black back and 2015 Topps Heritage blue back—don't have examples to share, sadly.
2006 Fleer Glossy Gold
2007 Fleer Mini-Die Cuts Gold
2006 Upper Deck Special F/X blue (don't have a scan at hand, so instead posting the eBay picture from when I bought it—truly lost in a shoebox)
2015 Topps Heritage wood-grain front/glossy back, compared with how the regular version looks on the right—almost impossible to distinguish unless looking specifically for it. This takes "inconspicuous variation" to another level, too, because even if it's listed online, nobody looking for it is going to know it's the variation unless the seller says so.
