Topps has released product information for hobby-exclusive 2013 Bowman Sterling football, a high end release scheduled to land safely on store shelves in the middle of the upcoming season.

For buyers looking for a brand with NFL rookies, 2013 Bowman Sterling has several in its arsenal. Its 32-point chrome base set features 80 rookie cards and 20 veterans for a total of 100 base cards. Every base card in this set has six different parallels.

Every hobby box of 2013 Bowman Sterling will house six packs. Each pack will contain five cards. All packs will provide three base cards, one Auto Rookie or Veteran card, and one Jumbo Rookie or Veteran Relic card. Robert Griffin III, DeAndre Hopkins, Eddie Lacy, Geno Smith, Manti Te’o and Montee Ball are just a few autos available in this product.

Buyers of hobby boxes will receive:

• 4 Rookie or Veteran Autograph cards
• 1 Rookie Autograph Relic Card
• 1 Rookie Autograph Patch Card
• 5 Rookie or Veteran Jumbo Relic Cards
• 1 Rookie or Veteran Jumbo Patch Card
• 1 Sterling Jumbo Rookie Patch Box Topper

Every eight-box case will include 1 Prism Refractor Dual Autographed Dual Relic Card.

The regular autograph checklist will include 80 rookie and veteran players. Auto Refractor parallels include Blue (#’d to 99), Black (#’d to 50), Gold (#’d to 25), Prism (#’d to 15). There are also SuperFractor Autographs and Printing Plate Autographs. Both are #’d 1/1.

Sterling’s Autographed Rookie Relic cards include up to 40 players, and are sequentially numbered similarly to the Auto Refractor parallels (with two exceptions). Unlike Sterling’s Auto Refractors, Rookie Relic Cards do not have black parallels. And Gold parallels are #’d to 50, not 25.

This year’s Sterling product also features Multi-Autograph and Autographed Relic Cards. These include:

• Dual Auto Cards:  Up to 10 cards each with 2 autos from different rookie combos (# to 25)
• Triple Auto Cards:  Up to 5 cards each with 2 autos and 2 patches from different rookie combos (#’d to 10)
• Triple Auto Patch Relic Cards:  Up to 5 cards each with 3 autos and 3 patches from different rookie combos (#’d to 5)
• Quad Auto Cards:  Up to 5 book cards each featuring 4 autos from different rookie combos (#’d to 10)
• Quad Auto Patch Relic Cards:  Up to 5 book cards each featuring 6 autos from different rookie combos (#’d to 5)
• Six Auto Cards:  Up to 5 book cards each with 6 autos from different rookie combos (#’d to 10)

• Six Auto Patch Relic Cards:  Up to 5 book cards each with 6 autos and 6 patches from different
  rookie combos (#’d to 5)Also included in Sterling’s stockpile this year are Jumbo Relic Cards (1 relic card per pack; 1 relic patch card per hobby box). Jumbos include up to 40 sequentially #’d rookie relics) and up to 15 sequentially #’d veteran relic cards.

Last, Bowman Sterling will include 1 Box Topper in every hobby box. Box Toppers include Jumbo Rookie Patch Cards and Multiple Rookie Autograph Patch Box Loaders. Each Jumbo Rookie Patch Card features a top NFL rookie with a jumbo-sized patch. Every card has six sequentially #’d parallels. Multiple Rookie Auto Patch Box Loaders have 4 rookies per card, each with an autograph and patch on chrome refractor technology. These cards are sequentially #’d to 10.

2013 Bowman Sterling Football is scheduled to arrive on store shelves in late October.

2013 Bowman Sterling Checklist

A few Rich Klein's Ramblings ago I wondered what the card companies would do to combat the dearth of "skill" players taken early in the 2013 NFL Draft. With so few of those players drafted in the first round many football products which get an extra boost from rookies would not appear to have as good of a chance to sell well in 2013.  I’m sure the card companies have been thinking about the same issue for a long time but in 2013 Bowman football, Topps has come up with a pretty good answer.

As you may have read in the 2013 Bowman preview here on Sports Collectors Daily back in March, they’ve changed things up a bit this year with 10-pack cello boxes  of 25 cards. Each box has four rookie Bowman Chrome autographs as well as a relic card. The base card design has the player photo surrounded by white borders and the team logo, player name and position at the bottom. The backs contain biographical information, a brief informational blurb and seasonal/career stats.

Collectors are chasing Cracked Ice and other colored parallels as well as the 1952 Bowman-style minis and die-cuts.

And as for the prices Nick's Sports Cards here in the Dallas area said he had sold a ton of the product at $102.50 while leading online retailers are between $110-120. Needless to say with all the rookie autographs, this product has a good chance to remain strong for the foreseeable future.

And how did we do from our box?  As usual for any Bowman box we have received for the past few years, there were no duplicates, which is always a plus.

Base Cards: 148 of 220. That is a touch less than 70 percent and thus at least two hobby boxes will be needed to finish a set—if you’re lucky.  You’ll at least be close.

Black Parallels: 54 of 220. Yes, if a collector likes a challenge to build a set the black parallels would be a good set to choose. It takes a few boxes but it is doable and it makes for a nice-looking alternative set that should hold some value.

Bowman Chrome Parallels: Drew Brees, Zac Dysart, Joseph Fauria, Josh Freeman, Pierre Garcon, Ray Graham, BenJarvis Green-Ellis, Jeremy Kerley, Marcus Lattimore, Adrian Peterson, Jacquizz Rodgers, Richard Sherman. Ndamukong Suh, Ryan Swope, Markus Wheaton

Silver Ice Parallel: Von Miller

Blue Parallel for both Base and Chrome each #d to 499: Base Card Parallel-- Kenny Stills, Chrome Parallel: Jonathan Franklin

Gold Parallel (#d to 399): Baccarri Rambo; Chrome Parallel Tyler Wilson

Orange Parallel #d to 299: T.J. McDonald; Chrome Parallel Marquise Goodwin

Red Chrome Parallel (#d to 199); Dee Milliner

Green Parallel #d to 99:  Bjoern Werner

Navy Blue Chrome Parallel #d to 99: Reggie Wayne

Copper Parallel #d to 75: Doug Martin

Green Ice Parallel #d to 50: Ezekiel Ansah

1952 Bowman Minis: Ezekiel Ansah. Le'Veon Bell, Sharrif Floyd, Justin Hunter, Eddie Lacy, Quinton Patton, Logan Ryan, Leon Sandcastle (yes, he’s in here), Desmond Truffant,  Markus Wheaton

Die-Cuts: Andy Dalton, Eli Manning Alfred Morris

Relic: Torrey Smith

Refractor Autograph: LeVeon Bell, Stedman Bailey, Kerwynn Williams

Orange Refractor Autograph (#d to 50): Conner Vernon

While we didn’t score any gigantic hits, it’s a whole bunch of pretty good stuff for the money.  At the level Nick was selling the box for, the price per card is about 40 cents per card.  With the prices of all 2013 cards almost any time one picks up a box and average price per card is 40 cents there is a good chance the box is a winner. In addition, the five hits makes for a nice jolt as every collector is guaranteed some good cards.

The only thing holding this product back a bit is the lack of NFL uniforms on the rookies.

As for this year’s draft class, it’s bound to produce some stars and we’ll especially be watching LeVeon Bell.  Don’t count those lower round picks out.  Remember Tom Brady was a sixth round pick and in the olden days Johnny Unitas was cut by the Pittsburgh Steelers before going to Baltimore and becoming a legend. Let's see if any legends come out of the later rounds of the 2013 draft. It's been a popular product so far. Nearly 17,000 2013 Bowman football listings are already on eBay.

Rich Klein can be reached at Sabrgeek@aol.com

“Out of adversity comes opportunity for collectors,” said Josh Zusman, Upper Deck’s Hockey brand manager. “Given the landscape this year, we are capitalizing on the opportunity to include components of other products in 2012-13 NHL SP Authentic. This means collectors are in store for a truly awesome box opening experience finding content they would not normally see in this product. Bonus packs of SPx Hockey, which will be included in every third box, will yield a fourth autograph card for collectors, plus fans can also find update cards for their 2012-13 NHL Upper Deck and MVP hockey sets.”

Rookie collectors will have opportunity to find rookie and autograph cards from some surprising standout players from this season. Upper Deck says it was able to secure hard-signed autograph content from legendary players like Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Joe Sakic, Jaromir Jagr and others. The lineup of retired and veteran stars in the Limited Autograph Patch variation cards is, according to the company, “one of the strongest of all-time, and includes Wayne Gretzky as member of the Edmonton Oilers with a 1983 Edmonton Oilers game-used jersey patch.”

2012-13 SP Authentic hockey was released on Thursday.  Here is what has been listed on eBay thus far.

Card collectors do like a design that gets their attention, and just as the refractors in Topps Finest and Topps Chrome had people spending a lot when they were first released it is now the parallel cards in Panini Prizm basketball that are drawing bidders and buyers months after their release.

What collectors want to find in Prizm boxes is gold.  The Gold Prizm gold refractor  is limited to ten serial numbered cards.  The prices for these cards going through the proverbial roof.  A Kyrie Irving BGS 9.5 sold for $5,001.  A Kobe Bryant BGS 9.5 sold for $1,813.88.

As Panini didn't have rookie cards in the few sets they released during last season’s lockout-shortened campaign, the current sets like Prizm have two years’ worth of rookie cards.  That means Gold Prizm cards of two top overall draft picks, Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis.  They also have autographed cards that have a Prizm parallel numbered to 25.

There are 300 cards in the Prizm set.  Each card has a Prizm parallel, like a refractors finish to the card, and also a Green Prizm that was available in retail packs.  Then there is the Gold Prizm parallel that is the most coveted of all.

Green Prizm Kyrie Irvings have sold on eBay for $825, $850 and $665.55.  Green Prizm Anthony Davis cards have sold for $149.99 and $125.  Kobe Bryant and LeBron Green Prizm cards have sold for as much as $400.  Remember…these prices aren’t for autographed cards—just the parallels.  Basketball card collectors have never been shy about spending good money for them, including some of those low pop inserts issued in the 1990’s.

A box of Prizm can sell for $160, so striking gold with a Gold Prizm can pay for the box.  As well as the huge prices that the biggest stars and rookie sell for, even a James Harden brought  $168.48 and a Kendall Marshall rookie card Gold Prizm drew$163.72.  While not beating the box price other players get close, Kevin Love's Gold Prizm sold for $111.50, John Wall was sold for $111.38, and Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are valued at a similar number by collectors as their Gold Prizm cards sold for around $102 each.

Autograph cards are the inserts collectors hope to find in their packs, and some of the big names in Prizm packs include Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  With 100 autographs in the insert set, some different players that are not often found in new issues are also available with Clyde Lovellette, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Ralph Sampson and John Henson.  An Irving Gold Prizm auto sold on Ebay for $2,500.

The best outside shooters in the NBA are present in the Downtown Bound cards with inserts of guys like Steve Novak, Danny Granger and Klay Thompson.  There is also a LeBron James card.

There are 38 Finalist insert cards, with a big assortment of eras and teams represented.  Along with Kobe Bryant and LeBron James you’ll find blasts from the past like Kurt Rambis and Michael Finley.  The Most Valuable Player insert cards have 25 past and present stars from LeBron  to Oscar Robertson.

The USA Basketball insert set has the players who won gold at the London Olympic Games.  The players on the team were Tyson Chandler, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams, Andre Iguodala, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Love, James Harden, Chris Paul, Anthony Davis and Carmelo Anthony.  A LeBron James Gold Prizm parallel Team USA card sold on eBay for $2,600.

With so many LeBron James insert cards, when they are added to his card in the regular set that means 50 chances at a Gold Prizm LeBron James card.

While collectors and investors are pushing up many of the Gold Prizm prices, those who want to have one of the cards for their collection might still find a bargain if they look for a retired player or a veteran who doesn't play a lot.  Ben Gordon and Martell Webster Gold Prizm cards sold for $15.50.  Derek Fisher and Mo Cheeks are also in that price range.

One reason why collectors enjoy the Prizm parallels is the same reason why Totally Certified is popular, a "rainbow" of parallel cards with different colors can be collected.  The best way to do that would be to acquire the hard to find Gold Prizm first, then add the Green Prizm, Prizm parallel and common card.  There was a LaMarcus Aldridge rainbow of his four Prizm cards on Ebay which sold for around $60.

The Prizm phenomenon has now spread to other sets from Panini, and Gold Prizm parallel cards in 2012-13 Select are also bringing four figures for the star players.  You can check current auctions for Prizm here.

When I saw last week’s article about Topps advertising its Archives products on blogs dedicated to 1980's baseball everything I had ever thought about this product came into a much clearer picture. A few years ago I used to write about Topps using their base set to combine cards of today’s players with enough baseball history in an attempt to make the product work for both old and newer collectors. The Topps Archives product takes that concept a step further.

The product uses many of the most popular designs of years past.  This year, they utilized card designs we first saw in 1972, 1982, 1985 and 1990. And some of the cards could even qualify for a "card that never was" outlook such as the Mike Schmidt card with the 1972 design. A photo of a very young Mike Schmidt would have worked better there. In addition, many of the inserts also bring up memories of card sets gone by with the wrapper and box reminding me of the 1971 Topps set.

Archives won’t blow you away with its autograph roster but it’s more about fun rather than big hits and there’s nothing wrong with that.

The hobby box,has 24 packs to the box with eight cards per pack. I did not ask how my local card store was doing with this product but when I checked on the Internet leading online retailers were between $80-85 per box.

Unlike the football box we opened, we were not lucky enough to hit a box topper this time but here’s what we did pull:

Base Set: 164 of 200, no duplicates, more than 80 percent of the set.

Gold Parallels (#d to 199): David Murphy. Ben Zobrist

Short Prints: Don Baylor, Delino DeShields, Howard Johnson, Fred Lynn, Kevin McReynolds, Keith Miller. The first three SP's I pulled were all Mets so I wondered if I would go six for six. The team thread will resurface in a bit.

1965 Tall Boys Minis: Eric Davis, Al Kaline, Fred Lynn, Dave Parker, Frank White.

1969 Four-in-Ones: Vince Coleman/Rickey Henderson/Otis Nixon/Kenny Lofton; Tony Gwynn/Wade Boggs/Cal Ripken Jr./Ryne Sandberg; Willie McCovey/Will Clark/Matt Williams/Buster Posey

1972 Basketball Design: Giancarlo Stanton

1983 All-Stars: Johnny Bench; Gary Cater; Darrell Evans (In the AOL Sports Trivia Room we have a standing joke that you could create an entire trivia game about Darrell Evans); Carl Ripken Jr.; Nolan Ryan; Dave Winfield

Gallery of Heroes: Miguel Cabrera

Stadium Club Triumvirate: Mike Trout #1A. I’ve got to say here I HATED these inserts when they were first in Stadium Club but loved the good old basic cards. I wish as an insert there would just be a return to the Stadium Club design which would be real cool.

Vintage Card Redemption at a local hobby store: my LCS told he missed out on this so I hope Nick is nice enough to give me a card.

Fan Favorite Autographs: Dan Gladden and Kent Hrbek. Yes both as Twins. From what I heard from a couple of customers at Triple Cards this level of player seemed to be the norm for most of boxes. I don't know if this is financially feasible for Topps, but if this is the standard level of autographs, perhaps a third autograph per box would encourage even more collectors to purchase one.

Other than slightly better or more autographs, I really did enjoy opening Archives Baseball and there is little doubt this product does what it is intended to do which is appeal to the collectors from the  hobby glory years and give all of a chance to honoring the past while living in the present.  We do know a lot of this product has been purchased and opened.  You can see over 8,800 listings for Archives on eBay here.

Rich Klein can be reached at Sabrgeek@aol.com

Women with expensive taste for handbags have Coco Chanel.  Men who can afford to purchase high-end sports cards will soon have 2012 Upper Deck Exquisite  football.

While information about the latest Exquisite brand is still trickling out (to include a full player checklist), Upper Deck has released some very basic information about this premium football product, now set to release June 25.  And yes, it is being labeled a 2012 product.  Upper Deck delayed its release, they say, to keep redemption cards to a minimum.

First, every Exquisite box will contain six cards. Five of these cards are hand-signed autographs. One of these autos will be a Rookie Signature Patch card (game-worn jersey; serial #’d/150 or less). A second auto will be either a UD Black (#’d to 99) or a UD Black Rookie Lustrous Signature (#’d to 75). The sixth card in each box will be from the base set and will be numbered to 85.

While Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck lead a strong class of 30 rookies in Exquisite, there will also be surprise members of the 2013 rookie class in this set. Just a few players will include Geno Smith, Matt Barkley and Manti Teo.

Like last year, Exquisite will feature Choice Dual and Quad Signatures. It will also return UD Black Rookie Lustrous (#’d to 75) and Exquisite Book Marks (#’d to 10) to full ops.

Joining Exquisite’s family this year are Exquisite Dimensions, Exquisite Sixteen (#’d 1/1) and Exquisite Art inserts (#’d to 15).

Look for rare exchange cards redeemable for the entire Rookie Autographed Patch set-- all 30 Rookie Signature Patch cards hand numbered to just three as well as exchange cards redeemable for the entire 2013 Exquisite Rookie card set, hand numbered to 10.

Every case will contain three boxes.

Those who buy a case have a chance to pull two autographs, one from any of the players listed below:

• Jerry Rice
• John Elway
• Dan Marino
• Barry Sanders
• Aaron Rodgers
• Joe Namath
• Robert Griffin III
• Trend Richardson
• Russell Wilson
• Ryan Tannehill

Also included in 2012 Exquisite is the Alumni Pride Autographs Set (#’d to 10). Joe Namath (donning his Alabama Crimson Tide uniform) is one player included in this set.

2013 Upper Deck Exquisite Football boxes are being are being offered on eBay for around $600.

James Morisette is a contributing writer for Sports Collectors Daily. He is also the Founder and Chief Editor at the Basebook Baseball Social Network. You can follow him on Twitter. 

NCAA-licensed Upper Deck is set to release a fresh design of its mid-end 2013 edition of SPx football and the final checklist has been released.

SPx will provide collectors less cards than in prior years but Upper Deck promises more quality.

This year, Upper Deck has reduced the number of cards in SPx hobby boxes from 72 cards (18 packs per box, four cards per pack) to 50 cards (10 packs per box, five cards per pack).

Like 2012, SPx will feature a 50-card base set that includes past and present NFL stars. SPx also stays true to its legacy of including college football greats in its base set. Each base card will have a die-cut auto #’d to 5 (minus Archie Manning).

Similar to Topps Strata Football, SPx will bring back its popular line of Shadow Box cards. The basic set will have 32 cards that include legends John Elway, Joe Namath and Bart Starr. It also includes rookies Geno Smith and Matt Barkley.

The Shadow Box Signatures series will include every player from the regular Shadow Box set, minus Archie Manning and Ken Stabler.

Within each hobby box, buyers are guaranteed three autographs, to include at least one SPx rookie auto jersey with a jumbo swatch. Collectors are also guaranteed one single, dual, triple or patch memorabilia card; as well as three SPx Finite Rookies or Legends cards. All boxes will include a total of six insert cards.

Also, for the first time, every SPx hobby box will include three 1996 or 1997 SPx retro hologram inserts (to include rare gold parallels).

“The goal for 2013 SPx Football is to deliver collectors a tremendous amount of bang for their buck when they open their box,” said Brandon Miller, Upper Deck’s collegiate sports brand manager. “With three autographs, a memorabilia card and a variety of other quality insert cards in each box, we know fans are going to love busting these packs open. Mix in bonus UD Premier Football packs as an incremental hit and we expect there will be a lot of dads requesting a box or two of 2013 SPx Football for Father’s Day.”

Upper Deck secured every big name rookie to appear in the set and collectors can expect to find autograph and memorabilia cards for these future stars throughout the product. Upper Deck also pushed to deliver a checklist that includes some of the biggest names to ever step onto the gridiron with Joe Namath, John Elway, Barry Sanders, Dan Marino, Steve Young, Bo Jackson, Jerry Rice and many more having autograph content in the product.

Paying respect to the lineage of SPx, collectors can find three retro SPx Hologram cards per box in the classic 1996 SPx and 1997 SPx designs. SPx Finite is another beautiful insert series dedicated to rookies and legends limited to 899 copies or less for each. The popular Shadow Box insert cards return as well, but also a new twist with rare dual signed versions available in packs. And the Winning Big Materials feature a huge memorabilia swatch (1.5”x1.5”) and along with double and triple memorabilia versions.

While not guaranteed, hobby box buyers will have a chance to pull Shadow Box Dual Player Signature cards for the first time. This includes the rare dual autographed parallel of Jerry Rice and John Elway. Other dual shadow boxes this nine card set will include Geno Smith/Matt Barkley, Aaron Rodgers/Bart Starr and Jerome Bettis/Bo Jackson.

Also new, case buyers will receive four UD Premier Bonus Packs. Each pack includes an UD Premier auto jersey or patch card. These cards include top 2013 rookies and past football legends #’d to 125 or less.  Names in the UD Premier Auto Jersey set include Barry Sanders, Joe Theismann and Dan Marino.

2013 Upper Deck SPx boxes are priced at around $125 on eBay.

2013-SPx-Football-Final-Checklist

James Morisette is a contributing writer for Sports Collectors Daily. He is also the Founder and Chief Editor at the Basebook Baseball Social Network. You can follow him on Twitter. 

2012-13 Panini Intrigue basketball James Harden

Intrigue Basketball.  If you like insert sets, this higher end product will be for you.  There are no less than 15 of them to go along with past and present autographs, memorabilia cards and a 100-card base set.

Due for release in late August, the product will be “superstar heavy” according to Panini.

“Intrigue” will be the name of the product and also the theme.  Boxes will actually be metal tins with one six-card pack and one containing five cards.  The latter will be a 200-card “set within a set” concept according to Panini, with 10 different versions of the NBA’s 20 best players.

Slam Ink Blake Griffin

Among the pulls inside will be autographed ‘Impact Rookies’; a 50-card autograph insert with gold and platinum parallels called ‘Immortalized Autos’; Red White & Blue, which will feature autographs of players who competed for various U.S. National teams (there will be gold and platinum parallels); a 60-card ‘Rookie Autograph Memorabilia’ set featuring Prime and Laudry Tag parallels; an autographed 50-card ‘Winning Ink’ set designed to feature what Panini calls the NBA’s ‘winningest players, past and present and ‘Slam Ink and Dunk Company’ with autographs from the league’s best slam dunk artists.

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A grand slam homer.  Another Dodgers win.  The fresh face that could put some new life into the hobby seems big league ready and Topps says it has been working “around the clock” to get Yasiel Puig rookie cards into all of its remaining 2013 products.

The 22-year-old Cuban defector has been hot since spring training and made quite a splash in the first few games after his call up to Los Angeles, belting a pair of homers in a game earlier this week followed by a grand slam against Atlanta Thursday night in a 5-0 Dodgers win.  He's the fourth player in Major League history to have two four RBI games in his first four MLB games. He's now  batting .438 on the season with three home runs in three games.

Topps announced Thursday that Puig will be signing autographs for the company and appearing as a base card in soon to be released products including:

• The new Bowman Inception will feature Puig autographs.

2013 Topps Tier One, which hits hobby shelves the middle of next month, will include a limited number of redemption cards for his autograph.

• Allen & Ginter will include Puig rookie cards and a limited number of autograph redemptions.

Starting with Bowman Inception, Puig will be signing autographs and appear on base cards & inserts in all 2013 releases.

Panini America had already had added him to the checklists for upcoming MLBPA products 2013 Pinnacle Baseball and 2013 Prizm Baseball.

They offered a sneak peek at Puig’s first Panini America Rookie Card, which will be in Pinnacle Baseball.  He'll also appear in 2013 Panini Prizm in late August.

Puig memorabilia is also in demand.  Several fans were offering tickets from his first few big league games on eBay in what would seem like a low risk gamble if he does wind up having a Hall of Fame type career, especially those from his first game and first home run.  Of course, other highly touted prospects have gotten off to great starts only to fizzle.

Puig will sign autographs at the Frank & Sons Warehouse show June 29 with prices starting at $149 per signature.

Baseball card prospectors have been well aware of Puig since he signed with the Dodgers.  He doesn't have many cards yet but the hottest have been those issued by Leaf along with his Bowman Lucky Redemption card,which can be exchanged for a signed card later.  Several of those Puig rookie cards and redemptions have already made their way onto eBay’s most watched list just in the last couple of days, selling for several hundred dollars each.  Check out our real time list of hot Puig cards:

	2012 Leaf Metal Draft Prismatic RED Yasiel Puig Rookie RC Signed AUTO 1/5 18 bids - Price: $203.50 - Watchers: 50 Item # 380659947844
	2012 Leaf Metal Draft Prismatic BLUE Yasiel Puig Rookie RC Signed AUTO 01/25 22 bids - Price: $118.50 - Watchers: 37 Item # 370834667719
	YASIEL PUIG 2012 LEAF METAL DRAFT GREEN PRISMATIC DODGERS ROOKIE AUTO 8/10 24 bids - Price: $380.00 - Watchers: 32 Item # 310688202710
	2012 Ultimate Leaf Draft Yasiel Puig RC Auto Rookie Dodgers ***Must See*** 5 bids - Price: $56.00 - Watchers: 27 Item # 181158862822
	YASIEL PUIG AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED ROMLB! DODGERS PHENOM! ROOKIE AUTO 11 bids - Price: $78.66 - Watchers: 26 Item # 251290661812
	2012 Leaf Ultimate Baseball YASIEL PUIG RC ROOKIE CARD AUTO AUTOGRAPH SP HOT !!! 7 bids - Price: $101.99 - Watchers: 26 Item # 121129340524
	2012 Leaf Valiant Draft Prismatic ORANGE /99 Yasiel Puig Rookie RC Signed AUTO 7 bids - Price: $117.50 - Watchers: 24 Item # 140997774626
	YASIEL PUIG 2012 LEAF VALIANT DRAFT DODGERS ROOKIE AUTO AUTOGRAPH BGS 9.5 19 bids - Price: $132.50 - Watchers: 24 Item # 310690001151
	YASIEL PUIG 2012 LEAF METAL DRAFT PRISMATIC PINK ROOKIE AUTO 10/25 BGS 9.5 15 bids - Price: $330.00 - Watchers: 24 Item # 310688187864
	2012 Leaf Ultimate Draft YASIEL PUIG AUTO AUTOGRAPH Rookie Dodgers RC RARE 6 bids - Price: $51.00 - Watchers: 24 Item # 181160930655

There have been several types of products Topps has issued in recent years. Some of are focused on the basics which include  any of the flagship basic Topps products as well as releases such as Opening Day. Even Topps Heritage can be included in this grouping. Other branches of the Topps line include the "mid-range" in which the boxes are designed to retail at approximately $100 per with several hits per box. There’s the high end product like Triple Threads, Five Star and the newly minted 2013 Topps Museum Collection.

With an SRP of $50 per pack at my local card store, that is a significant amount of money for just five cards which relates to nearly $10 per card. The Museum Collection master box consists of four mini-boxes of five cards with each master box promising one on-card autograph, one autographed relic card, one quad relic and one jumbo relic.

The base cards have the player photo in the center with  and the player name on the bottom. The backs have biographical information, a brief informational blurb and career statistics. Each box has three base cards, a parallel and the hit.  My local card store (Triple Cards in Plano, TX) sold out easily at $50 per mini-box while leading on-line retailers  are now between $205-225 per master box of four.

So let's do a mini-box breakdown:

Box #1:

Base Cards  Miguel Cabrera. Juan Marichal, David Price

Blue Parallel (#d to 99): Cole Hamels

Primary Pieces Quad Relic: Matt Kemp 

Box #2

Base Cards: Lou Brock, Starlin Castro, Yu Darvish

Copper Parallel (#'d to 424): Chris Sale

Momentous Material Jumbo Relic: Neal Walker 

Box #3

Base Cards: Andrew McCutchen, Dustin Pedroia

Green Parallel (#d to 199); Stephen Strasburg

Canvas Collection: Carlton Fisk

Signature Swatches Dual Relic Autograph (#d to 50): Brandon Phillips

Box #4

Base Cards: Will Middlebrooks, Mike Schmidt, Giancarlo Stanton

Copper Parallel (#d to 424); Aroldis Chapman

Primary Pieces Quad Player Relics (#d to 99): Ian Kinsler/Robinson, Cano/Dustin Pedroia/Jackie Robinson

And that is what we received. To me, the highlight was getting a bat relic including Jackie Robinson as the other inserts were nice but nothing too exciting.  A check of eBay shows a lot of lesser known autographs selling for under $5.

However, there are a lot of very nice hits in Museum Collection including some Sandy Koufax and Cal Ripken autographs that have already been pulled so if you are lucky enough to snare one, you will do quite well. But remember at $10 per card cost, this rip is not for the faint of heart.

Rich Klein Can be reached at Sabrgeek@aol.com