The shiny blue is back.
2023 Topps Chrome Sapphire was released to the general public Wednesday via Topps’ website. The annual release is one of the few products where the focus remains on the base cards, with no autographs, memorabilia cards or other distractions.
There’s no doubt Chrome Sapphire cards are pretty. The blue hues definitely stand out in a crowd and the fairly limited nature of the release has made it popular.
The downside is you’re not guaranteed of getting one even if you do commit to buy. Boxes are being sold by lottery, with Topps partnering with EQL for a raffle style sale. The process is designed to keep bots from buying them all up. Boxes have eight packs of four cards.
The Sapphire base set checklist mirrors the 600 cards that were printed in Topps’ Series 1 and 2. That means rookie cards of Corbin Carroll, Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Anthony Volpe, Josh Jung, Jordan Walker, etc.
There are multi-colored parallel versions of the base cards as well including 1/1 Padparadscha versions.
There are also image variations of the base cards and one lone ten-card insert set featuring ten rookies: Sapphire Selections.
Look for at least 2 Sapphire parallels or image variations per box.
A checklist is linked and available for download below.
The launch was only open for three hours Wednesday with winners notified later in the evening but if you missed out, you can check eBay here.