Box breaks and reviews for one card packs mean the lead up is much longer than the end result. I mean, when each box/pack has one card inside there often isn’t much to review. Instead, we try to collect feedback from other dealers and collectors. At a recent local show here in Dallas, I was chatting with dealer Roland Belcher who drives over from Louisiana to many shows in this area. 
Before the show we were discussing the new Topps Archives Signature Series, a product that saw Topps use past cards for on card player autographs, put them in holders and package them randomly inside a colorful box. The product had caught Roland’s attention because of the inclusion of signed cards from superstars and Hall of Famers.
Well, near the end of the show we were chatting about how the day went and he mentioned he had sold 20 boxes of Archives Signature at slightly over $40 per box/pack, of which 16 were bought by one client. The boxes were quickly opened and out of those 16 packs, I was informed the collector pulled exactly ONE Hall of Famer.
Since I was not there when the packs were opened, I cannot comment on if some of the non HOFers might eventually land in Cooperstown (the checklist does have some notable who aren’t in yet). However, that ratio does seem to be fairly commonplace throughout the hobby. Those cards are typically selling for well under the cost of boxes.
A John Olerud collector mentioned for him this was a boon as he was buying many of the different signed Olerud cards at far less than the cost of a pack.
When I was recently in Nick’s Sportscards, Debbie mentioned she was very careful about ordering because she had seen the checklist and noted that it was likely the lesser lights signed a lot more cards than the Hall of Famers.
Debbie did say they sold out reasonably quickly at just under $40 per pack/box but they were not very anxious to make a re-order for their store. Interestingly, leading on-line retailers are currently between $55-60 per pack/box. This is o
ne of the few times I have noticed significantly higher prices for on line dealers than for show or store retailers. And for those collectors who note that stores or show dealers are always higher than mail-order please notice the price disparity here.
This has been done before by Topps and usually is a very popular concept. In my opinion, one added detail which could have assisted this product even more was to create a set to go with the autograph cards. At least it wouldn’t be a complete roll of the dice.
And which card did we pull in the box received from Topps? None other than a 1993 Olerud, numbered to 40.
The checklist does include names like Aaron, Koufax and Griffey and some of those have brought big prices. You can see what’s currently listed on eBay here.
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