Earlier this month, we wrote about Jimmy Mahan, the collector who pulled a 1/1 Williamson/R.J. Barrett card out of Panini Contenders. It sold for $15,000 after Mahan (@KentuckyCards) pledged to donate the proceeds to a North Carolina children’s home. The story reached mainstream media in the last several days with the story below airing on the ABC affiliate in Raleigh. Check … [Read more...]
Topps Offers Special Cards, Promotions for All-Star Festivities
MLB’s All-Star FanFest is now “Play Ball Park” but many of the attractions haven’t changed. Topps is once again producing some special cards in conjunction with this year’s event, which opens Friday at 10 AM Eastern time and runs through Tuesday at the Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland. Topps will be having a wrapper redemption program with some exclusive … [Read more...]
Topps News: Astros Manager Hinch Visits Office; New On-Demand Sets
From the time he was a kid until he left home to start his pro career, Houston Astros manager A.J. Hinch was an avid card collector. With the MLB interleague schedule putting the Astros in New York City last week, he stopped by the Topps offices for a segment that appeared on MLB Network and MLB.com. You can watch it below. Topps has released a couple of new … [Read more...]
Notes: Trout Living Set Card; Interviews, Podcasts and NHL Game-Used
The Topps Living set checklist has now reached 200 cards. The company saved card #200 for Mike Trout, who gets his first and, probably, only card in the ongoing set this week along with Martin Prado and Christian Stewart. Pretty good timing. With his grand slam and RBI single Wednesday night, Trout is now hitting .420 in 69 career at-bats with the … [Read more...]
Notes: Stan Finally Gets a ’53 Topps Card; Jimmy Fund Auction Underway; NBA All-Star Gear
Collectors have long wondered what a 1953 Topps card of Stan Musial might have looked like. Now, we have one. Well, sort of. On Wednesday, Topps revealed the three newest cards in its weekly Living Set program and Musial was one of them. Like all of the Living Set cards, the Musial was created in the style of the '53 set by artist Mayumi … [Read more...]
Topps Named Top 2018 Sports Marketer Finalist
For the second straight year, the Topps Company has been named one of NY Sports Journalism's Top Ten Sports Marketers of the Year, this time for its Living Set project. Introduced as a never-ending homage to players past and present, Living Set cards created by a an artist in the style of the 1953 Topps set and are released on a weekly basis through the company’s website. … [Read more...]
Notes: Another Ungraded Goudey Find
One good 1933 Goudey find deserves another. Just a couple of days after Heritage Auctions revealed the consignment of a huge lot of ungraded Goudeys including all four Babe Ruth cards and a Nap Lajoie comes word from Robert Edward Auctions of another "raw" set. No Lajoie here, but every other card in the set is included--and now off for grading. This one was put … [Read more...]
Retiring Wright Gets Topps Living Set Card
A popular player with fans and having endorsed Topps before, it's a good bet David Wright will probably appear in future releases after he retires this weekend but he's getting one final new card--one that will coincide with his final game. Topps has announced Wright as one of this week's three new cards in its ongoing Living Set. The 1953-style issue of the Mets' … [Read more...]
Notes: PSA Still Busy; Topps NOW Piscotty Card Helps ALS Charity; Smith’s Stuff Recovered by Cops
Trading card and autograph service revenues at Collector’s Universe, the parent company of PSA and PSA/DNA, increased by $1 million, or 23%, in this year’s third quarter and $2.2 million, or 17% over the last nine months, representing record revenues. At the close of Q3, PSA's total revenue was approximately $15.2 million for the fiscal year versus $13 million during the … [Read more...]
Topps Living Set Acuna Card a Huge Seller
Fans and collectors bought more than 46,000 "Living Set" cards of Atlanta Braves' rookie Ronald Acuna during the seven-day sales period that ended early Wednesday afternoon, setting a record for the newly launched on-demand platform and nearly tripling the number of the biggest selling Topps NOW card to date. Acuna, the 20-year-old who made his MLB debut late last month, was … [Read more...]