12.05
Ocassionally, I come across a post or two complaining about the amount of parallels cards have today. While I agree that having 8 different colors for a refractor may seem a bit over the top, I’m going to have to go back to 1998 and bring up a set that possibly started all of this.
I’m talking about 1998 Topps Tek.
You see, Topps Tek came out with a small, 90-card checklist. The kicker? Each card in the set has 90 different patterns. 90! If you wanted to complete the master set of Topps Tek, you needed a mere 8,100 cards in your collection for that.
But wait, there’s more. There was also the parallel called Diffractors. Basically, the refractor version for this set. To complete that set, you also needed just 8,100 cards. That’s a total of only 16,200 cards if you wanted to have the COMPLETE master set.
Considering that each box contained 20 packs with 4 cards per pack, and Diffractors were inserted at a rate of 1:6, completing that set was a little more difficult than you would think. I haven’t come across any information as to how many cases were released or production numbers from the set, but I do know that even no-name Diffractors can bring a premium to a seller, depending if the bidders are set collectors or player collectors, or a mix of both.
Still think 8 colors is too much?
1998 Topps Tek #58 Tony Clark, Pattern 58
