Friday, May 27, 2016

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Of Topps Now


I have been watching the various Topps Now cards and I am confounded as to which cards are seeing high activity on the secondary market. Oddly it seems like the market is based on print runs more than on the athlete or the event. It is Bizarro world where the less desirable a card is at print time the more expensive it will sell on the secondary market.

Case in point, Bartolo Colon’s card #57. This card has a print run of 8,826, topping the next highest print run by over 4,000 cards, and is regularly selling for $9-12 each. Flip to the other side with Chris Iannetta’s card #67 with a print run of 215 cards, the current lowest print run. On the day of release, before print run totals were announced, the card was selling in the $8-10 range but once the run numbers were announced the card has been actively selling in the $25-40 range.

The math just doesn’t work out for me. Colon is a potential Hall of Famer with 222 wins and 2279 Ks while Iannetta is a career backup catcher batting .231 lifetime. Yes there are only 215 Iannetta cards available but it just isn’t comparable to other limited cards. The cheapest 2016 Topps Now Chris Iannetta card currently available is $19.99 plus $2.49 or you could pick up an even more limited 2015 Topps Tribute Ken Griffey Jr relic card #/199 that just sold for $15.99.


Yes, I am slightly bitter because the Iannetta card is the only Mariners card that I don’t own yet and I really am not planning on paying $20 or more for this card. I currently have Dae-Ho Lee, card #16, Masahiro Tanaka/Hisashi Iwakuma, card #25, and Felix Hernandez, card #63, in my collection and I ordered the Leonys Martin, card #97, that was just released.
If anyone has the Chris Iannetta, card #67, on hand and is willing to work out a trade I would be interested.

2 comments:

  1. I think the Ianetta may be going for those prices because some people missed the boat the first time around, and now the demand is there. Maybe things will kind of even out with cards printed from here on out, because the collecting world has caught up to the Topps Now brand? I could be wrong though.

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  2. There's tons of hype for Topps Now cards right now... but I just can't see these becoming the next 1993 Finest refractors. And if it does in fact become the latest and greatest thing... maybe this is the thing that brings people back into our hobby. As for the Ianetta... I hope you're able to find an affordable copy down the road.

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