2018 Topps Museum baseball returns in June with high-end cards ranging from autographs to patches, with canvas patches and multiple-relic cards included in the mix.
The product name — Museum — implies something that could be hanging in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. While perhaps not works of art in a classical sense, Museum usually has some nice cards for collectors to behold.
2018 Topps Museum Basics
A with any kind of art, the price is on the high end. Expect to pay in the neighborhood of $190 for a hobby box, which will contain four mini-boxes; there will be one pack per mini-box, with five cards to a pack. Topps is promising an autograph or relic card in each mini-box. A typical hobby box will feature an on-card autograph card, an autographed relic, prime relic and a quad relic.
Base Set and Parallels
Collectors might find the base set intriguing, although the real sizzle in Museum comes in the autograph and relic cards. Nevertheless, the base set consists of 100 cards and will feature current top stars, up-and-coming rookies and retired players. Every pack will contain a parallel, and this year’s set will have copper, sapphire (numbered to 150), amethyst (99), ruby (50) and emerald (1/1).
Canvas Collection Returns
Topps is bringing back the Canvas Collection for its inserts. Each hobby box of 2018 Museum will contain one of the 25 subjects featured in the Canvas Collection subset. Canvas Collection Originals boast hand-painted artwork of the game’s top stars and are 1-of-1. Canvas Collection Autographs feature original art and a hard-signed card. These are also numbered 1/1.
Autographs and Relics
A new feature this year is the Museum Framed Autograph Patch cards. Topps is promising “up to 30” subjects on cards that feature on-card signatures and game-worn uniform patch pieces. These cards will be 1/1. Momentous Material Jumbo Patch autographs will contain more than 60 players, with autographs and jumbo-sized patches. These cards will be numbered to 15 or less, and there will be gold parallels numbered to 5 and a 1/1 emerald parallel.
Topps is also offering autograph cards with two and three relics. The Single-Player Signature Swatches Dual Relic autograph card will showcase up to 50 players. The cards will feature a hard-signed autograph and two relic pieces. Copper parallels will be numbered to 50 or less. Gold parallels will be numbered to 25, while emerald parallels will be 1/1 cards. The Triple Relic autograph features an on-card signature along with three relic pieces. The parallels will include copper (numbered to 25), gold (5) and emerald (1/1).
There are several types of relics that will be found in 2018 Topps Museum baseball. The prime relic in each box can come from one of six possible designs.
Momentous Material Jumbo Patch relics are numbered to 5, with a 1/1 emerald parallel. Dual Meaningful Material relics pair 15 sets of two players, with a relic piece from each player. These cards will be numbered to 50, but will also have parallels in copper, numbered to 25; red (10); and emerald (1/1). Museum Memorabilia will have 100 different subjects and will sport silhouetted batter logo patches from game-used uniforms. Each card will be numbered 1/1.
Other 1/1 offerings will be up to 200 different Laundry Tag cards and 100 Bat Nameplate relics.
A final prime relic card is called Meaningful Materials Relics. These cards are numbered to 50 or less and feature current stars and rookies. Game-used pieces will be the featured element of the card. Parallels will include copper, numbered to 35; gold (25); red (10); and emerald (1/1).
Quad relic cards will come in three distinct versions, with all of them containing four pieces of memorabilia. Single-Player Primary Pieces are numbered to 99 or less and have parallels in copper (75), gold (25) and emerald (1/1). Single-Player Primary Pieces Legends will pay tribute to 20 major-league greats and will be numbered to 25 or less. There will be gold parallels numbered to 10 and 1/1 emerald cards.
Four-Player Primary Pieces will pair four subjects on each card, with Topps promising up to 25 player combinations. Cards will contain a relic from each player and will be numbered to 99 or fewer. The parallels will include gold, numbered to 25; and emerald, a 1/1 offering.
The scheduled release date for 2018 Topps Museum is June 20.
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