90's Box Breaks

Think of this parallel as a ‘First Day Issue’ for Topps Gallery. The concept was simple: take the base card, add a foil stamp to the front, and individually number it out of 999.

It gets even better, though. According to Beckett, the first 100 cards were sent to players, with the rest inserted into packs at a rate of 1:12. Ok, so that leaves 899 copies per card. Well, at the end of the 1996 season, Topps announced that they destroyed 400 copies. That’s right, this set went from /999 down to /499 in no time.

I’m not sure how true that last statement is, as Beckett used the word “claiming” when describing what Topps announced, but I can say that for a parallel set limited to just 499 copies in 1996, I’m surprised that this set isn’t as sought after as other parallels that have a higher print run during that time.

1996 Topps Gallery Players Private Issue

…check Beckett Marketplace for seller “Steve’s Sports Cards”. I’m not affiliated with him, just a happy customer and thought I would pass along the information.

1 card short of a rainbow…

Well, I am happy to say that after much, much searching, I have finally acquired the red Crusade and it should be in my hands shortly. I’ve also purchased another purple, with 4 sharp corners and edges, and a great surface. Sending that in to get graded to replace the current BGS 8.5 that I have now. Can’t wait for the red to arrive!

Well, a lot. I finally have the next box break review ready to go, as well as 2 more articles. Why such a delay between posts? Well, I do freelance web design as my “full time job”and so the last 3 weeks have been keeping me busy. To make it more interesting, the client lives in Europe and so I’ve been working odd hours to get the site finished.

With that said, I’ve also been spending time on my Tony Clark site, getting my collection updated and revised so that it’s easier and friendlier to navigate. Feel free to check it out sometime (link is in the sidebar).

Remember the failure that was Stadium Club Chrome? It seems that Topps was high on Chrome power during the 90′s and it seemed that every set they produced needed a Chrome finish.

Enter 1994 Stadium Club Finest. No, not Chrome, but Finest. Remember, this was before Topps/Bowman Chrome and so Topps wasn’t using the name Chrome just yet. Inserted into Series 3 packs of 1994 Stadium Club, this insert was more of a gimmick than it was a ‘wow’ factor. I mean, there weren’t any refractor parallels to this insert set just yet.

This set contains 10 standard-size metallic cards of top players. They were randomly inserted one in six third series packs. Jumbo versions measuring approximately five inches by seven inches were issued for retail repacks.

1994 Stadium Club Finest front

1994 Stadium Club Finest back

I think after this insert set, Topps should have just let the Stadium Club Chrome set never come to light.