Has that urge ever transcended into sports cards?
Well, for me, that feeling was attained when I ripped through a box of Topps Sterling baseball.
Neatly dressed in its own Cherry-wood box, Topps Sterling features four super-duper high-end trading cards, with each serial-numbered to 250 or less. Dutifully contained within that box is one multi-relic card serial-numbered to 10 or less. As an added bonus, there are autographed versions, as well. And, all of the autographs are "on-card" and not a sticker.
Another catchy concept is the fact that each box is player-themed. We were lucky enough to score a Barry Bonds-themed box, which contained four Barry Bonds cards, including a triple-relic highlighting Bonds 40-40 season, serial-numbered to 10.
Oh, and in every box there is a "Mystery Pack," which may contain cut-signatures, and various shades of extremely low-numbered parallels. Our box contained a Mickey Mantle “White Suede” serial-numbered to 50.
Every 10-box case of Topps Sterling boasts an average of two cut signature cards.
Topps Sterling also contains the first mass-produced game-bat card of Josh Gibson, as well as what Topps had dubbed the best trading card "ever produced" – the Josh Gibson bat barrel card, which, incidentally, was pulled by a collector in the Midwest.
The player checklist for Topps Sterling is small so that only the crème de la crème of hobby darlings chosen for inclusion. Some of these players include Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Cal Ripken Jr., Rickey Henderson, Barry Bonds, Don Mattingly and Josh Gibson, just to name a few.
Plus, all of the autographed cards (excluding deceased cut-signatures) feature "player-touched" on-card signatures, and are not sticker autographs.
Now, please be forewarned – Topps Sterling isn’t for the faint of heart collector. Its $300 per pack price tag is somewhat steep. The good news is that you are not just getting run-of-the-mill trading cards, but rather a true trading card experience, as well.
The whole experience – from the cherry-wood box to the player-themed pack to the Mystery card – makes Topps Sterling my vote for product of the year.
Good luck with yours.
