With Opening Day approaching, Topps’ 2018 baseball card products are starting to take center stage with three more releases slated to arrive over the last half of March…but there are other products in the pipeline as well.
Courtesy of Maine Sportscards, here’s an overview of what’s being issued. The company will be breaking some of these products upon release. You can keep tabs on those events here.
2018 Topps Gypsy Queen Baseball (3/21)
Back for an eighth year, 2o18 Gypsy Queen will have two autograph cards per box and Topps is promising more on-card signatures this year. New twists to look for are the Jackie Robinson Day photo variations and relic cards featuring the colorful socks worn by players in last year’s Home Run Derby. Each box will also have an over-sized Chrom box topper.
Autograph patch book cards will be three-panel booklets featuring two players and an oversized multi-color memorabilia piece. Boxes are being sold online with retail at about $70 per box and hobby sitting around $100-$110.
2017 Panini National Treasures Football (3/21)
NT isn’t the most expensive Panini football product but it has its share of high-end fans with a pair of base cards or parallels numbered to 99 or less joining five major hits in each one-pack box.
Rookie Patch Autographs are a staple but The NFL Greatest Signatures set makes its return after a five-year hiatus, pairing newer members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame with current stars. Find 8 and 12 count autograph booklets in Treasured Signatures and Treasure Chest Signatures, as well as jumbo patch and jumbo patch autograph booklets.
Boxes are online for around $500.
2018 Topps Inception 3/28
The first part of the baseball card season has some lower cost products and Inception will be the latest. Each one-pack box will have four base cards, two parallels and one autograph or autographed patch card at a cost of around $60-$65.
The focus is on rookies and young stars here. Base Rookies & Emerging Stars Autographs will feature on-card autographs of the “top 2018 MLB Rookies and Emerging Stars of the game,” according to the company. Book and relic cards are in the mix.
2018 Topps Tribute (3/28)
The first Topps high-end baseball card issue arrives with each six-pack box containing three autographs and three relic cards. A box will contain six packs and is guaranteed to include one Stamp of Approval MLB Authenticated Relic Card, one Dual Relic, and one Tribute Relic Card with at least three autographed cards.
New this year among the big hits are Tribute Career Achievement Award cards featuring on-card autographs from Sandy Koufax. Online pricing is right around $350 per box.
2018 Panini Elite Draft Football (Update: had been scheduled for 3/28 but now 4/3)
Panini Elite Draft Picks will be the company’s first collegiate football product released in 2018, offering autographs from potential top picks in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Look for Hobby-Exclusive College Ties, Elite Series, Primary Colors, and Chain Reaction autograph sets along with Passing The Touch Autographs with a checklist that includes Charles Woodson, Tim Tebow, and Earl Campbell.
With five autograph and five memorabilia cards at under $100 and a strong draft class, this could be a popular spring football product.
2017-18 Upper Deck ICE Hockey (3/28)
ICE returns with four cards in each six pack box. With limited exceptions, ICE is all about cards that look like…well…ice. Acetate is the dominant look.
Two hard-signed autographs, memorabilia or Exquisite Collection cards will be in each box, along with two Ice Premieres rookie cards, one Sub Zero insert and one additional Chase cards. Online pricing is at around $115 per box.
Other products releasing over the next two weeks include Topps EPL Gold Soccer, Upper Deck CHL Hockey, Leaf Metal Draft Football and Panini World Cup stickers.
Maine Sports Cards offers daily breaks of current and past products you can watch online. You can learn more about how to get involved in their box and case breaks and even sell your cards through their website by clicking here.
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