It’s kind of an unusual name for a sports trading card product, but it’s not one of those you forget either. After skipping it last year, Topps Valor returned in late October. Valor and courage are typically associated with the battlefield and Topps is obviously taking that to the extreme by projecting NFL players as gladiators with this rather artsy issue.
Valor 2014 NFL is a mid-range product that will appeal on some level to base set collectors but does offer a fair number of hits in each box as well. The base set is 200 cards and both the base and the relic/autograph checklist is heavy on rookies. Autographs are on stickers.
The players are set against a background in a way, similar to the old 1970’s 3D cards, which make their photos seem to break out of the card. The design is not unlike that of Topps’ Inception brand. Theme subsets are sort of a take on personal attributes like courage, strength, discipline, etc. Again…a little different.
The backs contain biographical information, seasonal and career stats as well as a brief biography.
When we checked on-line at major hobby retailers the price per 20 pack box with six cards per pack was between $70-80. Each box also promised four hits including an relic, an patch, an autograph and an signed relic card.
This is the type of issue collectors should enjoy as the price point is reasonable and there are a decent amount of hits for the box price, although some collectors say the relic checklist lacks star power.
So how did we do from the box we received from Topps?
Base Cards: 102 of 200 cards with one duplicate. Somehow Odell Beckham Jr. came twice in one pack. Other than that we had no duplicates, a consistently strong selling point for Topps.
Strength (#d to 499): Stevan Ridley, Ryan Shazier
C
ourage (#d to 399): David Fales
Discipline (#d to 299) Percy Harvin (considering the stories that surrounded the reason for his recent trade to the Jets, possibly a pretty ironic card to pull)
Glory (#d to 199): DeSean Jackson
Valor (#d to 00) Adrian Peterson. Again makes you wonder if Topps would have wanted a second shot at some of their player selection for this set. We also noticed a Ray Rice while sorting through our base cards. Apparently, the cards were already on their way to the printer when Rice and Peterson became newsworthy for things other than football.
Patch Card: Aaron Murray
Relic Card Discipline (#d to 25): Cam Newton
Autograph: Devin Street
Shield of Honor Patch Autograph: Michael Sam. A few months ago this would have been a big deal, now perhaps we are hoping he goes up to Canada and becomes the next big American star playing in the CFL just like Joe Theismann, Warren Moon and Doug Flutie once did.
In all seriousness, at the current online box value, the four hits we received were pretty decent. A Cam Newton relic card, which looked like a heck of a patch card to me and was numbered to 25 is pretty nice indeed. And living in Dallas we have pretty high hopes for Devin Street. Four hits and a nice stack of base cards isn’t bad at this price point.
You can sell Topps Valor 2014 boxes, cases, break spots and singles on eBay by clicking here.
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