by Chris Harris
With the recent conclusion of the annual NFLPA Rookie Premiere, and all the on-card rookie autographs they were able to acquire, Topps has unveiled the details of one of the most anticipated football card products of the year: 2012 Topps Chrome Football. As with previous Topps 
Chrome sets, the base set will consist of chromium-stock reprints from the Topps flagship and each 24-pack Hobby box will yield at least one autograph.
The base set checklist will be 220 cards deep (half of which will consists of short-printed and seeded at one-per-pack rookies) with 25 Rookie variations. The usual multi-colored galaxy of eleven Refractor parallels will all be had – eight of which will be serial-numbered. As it is every year, the main draw for many collectors of 2012 Topps Chrome Football will be the Autographed Rookie cards and collectors should expect to find one in a box. The usual variety of serial-numbered Refractor parallels also will be included.
Other autographed inserts collectors can find, if they’re lucky enough to find them, include Dual and Triple Rookie Autographs, Rookie Autographed Patches, and an autographed pseudo-parallel of the 25 Rookie Variations. Also added will be rookie autographs done in the style of three classic Topps Football sets: 1957, ’65, and ’84 Topps, all serial-numbered to fifteen copies or less. (The 1965 “Tall Boys” will but will be roughly the size of an Allen & Ginter-like mini card.) Un-autographed versions of the ’57, ’65, and ’84 sets will also be 
inserted in at a much more collector-friendly rate with all the accompanying Refractor parallels.
Rounding out the insert checklists are thirty Quarterback Rookie Reprints and a 35-card set of Red Zone Rookies. These cards will be seeded at the rate of about one-per Hobby box, with low-numbered Refractors and autographed parallels also available.
2012 Topps Chrome Football is scheduled for release the week of November 1. Each Hobby box will contain 24 packs of four cards and should sell in the $75-$80/box range. Each case will have 12 boxes.
Chris Harris writes the popular hobby blog Stale Gum
Chrome Football 2012 Checklist – HOBBY
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