1997 Topps Finest Collection Thread

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by Triple B

I grabbed this for my Jose Cruz Jr PC a few years back. The Gold Embossed Die Cut Refractor minus the embossing and die cutting…

That’s a great one! No greening either and basically looks like a GER.

I recently picked up the regular gold ref of Jose Cruz Jr, was one of tougher ones to track down. Can’t even imagine finding a GER or non diecut GER of him. I remember when collecting this set as a kid Cruz Jr was the RC to get. In a set that, let’s be honest doesn’t have much else in the way of RCs.

Originally Posted by Bunny Hop

Great thread and posts. Love seeing how you have things stored and sorted.

Thanks! Big believer in presentation with card collections. This set almost needs to be in a binder to flip through the bronze, silver and gold together

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by Redbandit

Love this set! Thanks for the breakdown of potential odds as well. I’ve been slowly building up this set it’s one of my favorites

Back in the day I used to take my paper route money and go to the Osco’s on the other side of the tracks to buy cards..

Fast forward 20+ years later looking through my old collection in my parents attic. I find a 97’ silver embossed refractor of Jeter that’s just sitting in my binder. Had no recollection of ever having it lol



I bought a box a few years ago and hit a Smoltz silver embossed refractor as well


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Wowww what a find.

Truly beautiful card right there. I’ve said it before but the SER refractors are right up there in aesthetic, they pop so much in hand, dare I say almost to the level of the GER.

Yep according to odds/set composition this should be above the Jeter gold refractor in the ranking. One of the best SERs too.

[hatchd]

This is a GREAT set to collect and you've made crazy progress in under a year. If you have the budget for the entire set it would be pretty damn epic. I'll share the few I have below (PS - the silver embossed refractor looks as good or better than the gold)








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[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by hatchd

This is a GREAT set to collect and you've made crazy progress in under a year. If you have the budget for the entire set it would be pretty damn epic. I'll share the few I have below (PS - the silver embossed refractor looks as good or better than the gold)
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Taking rainbowing to the max! These are amazing. Beautiful GER.

I need a whopping 3 of those…Thomas has been elusive

[keysersoze3421]

Awesome progress. Keep at the GERs and update your collection in this thread!

[DynaEtch]

Here is the updated totals list

Bronze: Complete (200/200)
Silver: Complete (100/100)
Gold: Complete (50/50)
Silver Embossed: Complete (100/100)
Gold Embossed: Complete (50/50)
Bronze Refractors: Complete (200/200)
Silver Refractors: 96/100 (oh so close..)
Gold Refractors: 42/50
Silver Embossed Refractors: 39/100 (lonnng ways to go, but feasible).
Gold Embossed Refractors: 4/50 (lonnng ways to go, and probably not feasible)

The pickups of note were:

Gold ref


Silver embossed ref


Silver ref


It’s actually this last one, of all things, to get me most stoked, it has put me 4 away from the silver ref set now. To give a little nuance of collecting a set like this…you’d think a lowly silver ref wouldn’t be that hard to find, there are about 720 of them as noted in the OP (ok actually a chunk less since I only will collect one with the peel. How many with-peels might be remaining of this Ramirez….perhaps 500ish? 400 at the least I would think). So with maybe 400+, you’d think this would be on the market frequently….nope! Steadily scouring all the major markets (eBay, COMC, sportslots, here) for easily 4+ months and card is nowhere to be seen. You can forget card shows, these cards basically don’t exist at them. It finally popped up on eBay and I paid what is probably above market to get it, the price of being a set collector with any kind of haste I suppose.

[OhioLawyerF5]

Congrats! Amazing progress. If that Jeter is the sale I'm thinking of, you got a steal. I almost snagged it for no other reason than the price.

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by OhioLawyerF5

Congrats! Amazing progress. If that Jeter is the sale I'm thinking of, you got a steal. I almost snagged it for no other reason than the price.

Thanks- yea it probably was, I was gonna wait till the very end stages to add some of the bigger SERs, but thought it was a pretty good price and said what the heck

[bford588]

Thank you for starting this thread! My favorite set of all time!

[DynaEtch]

Updated totals after some minor additions,

Bronze: Complete (200/200)
Silver: Complete (100/100)
Gold: Complete (50/50)
Silver Embossed: Complete (100/100)
Gold Embossed: Complete (50/50)
Bronze Refractors: Complete (200/200)
Silver Refractors: 97/100 (oh so close..)
Gold Refractors: 42/50
Silver Embossed Refractors: 45/100
Gold Embossed Refractors: 5/50 (have a tenth of them….haha…long ways to go).

The pickups of note,



A more affordable GER. Every one counts though. Also whoever got that Jose Cruz Jr true GER for like $200 at auction…you lucky ****! I am so kicking myself for being away from eBay when that ended. When I saw the price I legit had to do a double take.

But it’s the below silver refractor w/ coating pickup that got me more excited than the GER (already seen ITT from NYBBFAN of course, and now no need to look out for one). 3 away from the silver refractor set.

[NYBBFAN]

Nice pickups! Glad you landed the Bonds. Now I can feel no guilt when falling asleep.

[jplarson]

One of my favorite threads to visit. I may not always post but I always check out the updates.

[fabiani12333]

I have the Barry Bonds Competitors embossed refractor. I also have this reprint (and a superfractor version):

[DynaEtch]

Beautiful Posey gold ref fabiani! The superfractor must look amazing. Let’s just say the Bonds silver embossed refractor you reference will be one of the…harder…things to track down and afford in this quest. That one I’m not looking forward to.

I have done a lot of deliberating on whether to also go for modern cards that use the 97 design. I am specifically referring to the 2014’s like yours, 2021 Finest had a Masters insert set, and soon to be 2024 Flashbacks using the 97 design (I may be missing some). As you know from how I collect in Marvel, I tend to be a completionist and if anything even used the art from those sets (like if even they put it on a magazine cover or playing card or whatever), I want it for the master set. So it would make sense to go for the new 97 Finest designs but I have decided against it. The reason being: it’s just not feasible with parallels (gold refs, red refractors /5, superfractors). And can’t get those all, which would bug me. But also just the sheer expense. I like to be able to concentrate on just the 97 set alone, and hone the focus.

After a few more items here is the new total-

Bronze: Complete (200/200)
Silver: Complete (100/100)
Gold: Complete (50/50)
Silver Embossed: Complete (100/100)
Gold Embossed: Complete (50/50)
Bronze Refractors: Complete (200/200)
Silver Refractors: 97/100 (oh so close..)
Gold Refractors: 42/50
Silver Embossed Refractors: 47/100
Gold Embossed Refractors: 5/50 (have a tenth of them….haha…long ways to go).

These were recent pickups, all SERs. Any embossed refractor in 97 Finest tends to green at least a little, so when one doesn’t, like the Cecil Fielder in the middle, it’s extra nice. Also a note on the SERs: you actually have to make sure they are embossed to differentiate between the real pack pulled ones vs the backdoor “atomic refractors”- since there is no die-cut edge to differentiate like the GERs have. A silver embossed refractor proof/backdoor will be identical minus the embossing.

[DynaEtch]

On the note of the Cecil Fielder, sometimes the story of a card is more interesting than the card itself. Here it is in its non-greened glory



I posted about this in the eBay sub, but may as well repeat it here. I bought this off eBay way back in June, seller did their job and shipped it out promptly, on June 18th. It just got here today, Sept 3rd. How’s that for a USPS journey. We just assumed the card was totally lost.



The bubble mailer it came in was dirty and beat to all heck by the USPS-


But the Cecil inside was totally fine, and very glad to cross it off. The lengths needed to just cross one of these cards off sometimes (out of 100!). But thrilled it did show up and just wanted to say the seller was top notch throughout, with none of it being their fault.

[NYBBFAN]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

you actually have to make sure they are embossed to differentiate between the real pack pulled ones vs the backdoor “atomic refractors”-

First, congratulations on the pickups! You’ve come so far.

Can you expand on your bit about differentiating between the two? What kind of clues can you find in a typical eBay photo?

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by NYBBFAN

First, congratulations on the pickups! You’ve come so far.

Can you expand on your bit about differentiating between the two? What kind of clues can you find in a typical eBay photo?

Great question. With the golds it’s a simple matter of seeing if the edges are die-cut, immediately discernible from the eBay pic. Silvers you have to tell if it’s embossed or not since that’s the only difference. This at any glance certainly looks like a SER but apparently it’s not embossed and the seller correctly labeled it as a proof:



https://ebay.com/itm/116250656060 (have to click on “view original listing”).

The good news is: the amount of backdoor/proof “SERs” (more accurately called “atomic refractors” or “wrong refractor patterns”) is far less than the number of actual SERs out there, so for a given one it’s much more likely for it to be legit embossed.

How to tell via pics:
If you spend a long time looking at these, you can develop a good eye for telling if it’s embossed via the pics. Look at the regular silver embossed Maddux in that eBay link (the one it directly links to), it is actually embossed. Look at the outline around the player himself…you can barely tell it has a bit of light reflectivity, since there is an embossing there (look at his hat).


Another way is to look at the back and look for obvious indentations (not always visible depending on angle/scan, but often is). You can clearly tell this Clemens is embossed from the back (but obviously no need to since it’s a gold and die-cut means it has to be embossed!).




Another clue is I’m pretty sure proof SERs do not green (like that Maddux above), since the embossing itself is a major culprit of greening in these. But that’s not a great way to tell with certainty because actual SERs can be non-greened too (like the Cecil). However if it *is* greened…then I’m pretty sure that means it’s embossed but don’t quote me on it.

You will see COMC mislabeling regular silver embossed as regular silver often, but a trained eye should be able to see the difference even through a comc scan.

As for eBay, if you do buy a proof SER advertised as a SER and don’t realize until you’re holding it in hand, I think that’s a completely justified case of INAD and just file for the return.

As for the SER vs proof SER…does it even matter? ……you betcha! They look awfully similar but I do think the major draw is being a legit card in the set from packs (actually required luck to pull, not cut from a sheet). As a set collector I am only interested in the real ones. I can see player collectors etc wanting one of each since they are distinct cards.

[DynaEtch]

It’s been a lonnng, and slow journey. A basic fact is that not all the cards needed are on the major markets at any given time, or even long stretches of time. By major markets I mean the major online ones- eBay, COMC, sport lots, here, etc. I don’t even consider card shows since these types of cards are almost nonexistent there in the sea of ultra modern (and vintage).

Current tally,
Bronze: Complete (200/200)
Silver: Complete (100/100)
Gold: Complete (50/50)
Silver Embossed: Complete (100/100)
Gold Embossed: Complete (50/50)
Bronze Refractors: Complete (200/200)
Silver Refractors: 98/100 (2 gosh darn ones away)
Gold Refractors: 43/50
Silver Embossed Refractors: 50/100 (half!)
Gold Embossed Refractors: 6/50 (long ways to go)

One of the hardest to make any progress in is believe it or not the regular gold refractors. Ghost town out there for those. Of the 7 I need, basically none of have been on the market most of the year. A couple reasons for this- they aren’t as flashy as the comparably priced silver embossed refractors so don’t seem to hit the market as much. I’m also limiting myself to with-peel only, which eliminates maybe up to 30% of the run of a card. That said, I picked up this beaut gold ref that I needed,



The following may not look like a flashy pickup being a mere regular silver ref, but it was one of the 3 I still need for the silver ref set, and thankfully it had the peel. Other 2 I need are nonexistent.



I picked up this Proof (test) “GER”. I do not collect these, but I wanted one as a curiosity piece to go with the set. Also wanted to inspect one of these in hand. Indeed, it is not die-cut and is also not embossed. It’s basically a regular gold ref with the wrong ref pattern. It was not expensive.



But I also found an actual GER. The difference in price is night and day between real ones and proofs.

[DynaEtch]

A master set yields every player’s rainbow by default, kind of like a side bonus. I can’t do it for much yet since I have so few GERs, but I can do it for this (Cecil doesn’t have a bronze in the set. This is every Cecil).

[hatchd]

I love every time you update this thread. I'm sure it's somewhere in this thread, but which GER's do you have?


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[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by hatchd

I love every time you update this thread. I'm sure it's somewhere in this thread, but which GER's do you have?


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I think the pics are scattered about, but only 6- Cecil, Chipper, Maddux, Todd Walker, Clemens, Palmeiro. Its fun to add them but don’t really plan to fully collect the GERs since that would be kinda price prohibitive plus nearly impossible in luck even finding them. A Nomo, not a HOF, went for over $2k for example. Lowest priced commons can be $500ish now (and most names aren’t common since they’re golds). A complete set of 50 could run who knows…upwards of $100k. Too much. Haha

[DynaEtch]

Bronze: Complete (200/200)
Silver: Complete (100/100)
Gold: Complete (50/50)
Silver Embossed: Complete (100/100)
Gold Embossed: Complete (50/50)
Bronze Refractors: Complete (200/200)
Silver Refractors: 98/100 (2 gosh darn ones away)
Gold Refractors: 43/50
Silver Embossed Refractors: 51/100
Gold Embossed Refractors: 6/50 (long ways to go)

Small quantity, but big quality pickups





With these 2 SERs the SER set just became a whole lot easier. Combined with the Jeter posted earlier, the “big trio” is out of the way.

The Bonds doesn’t have greening which is great. The Griffey has some minor greening but it’s really hard to find this SER Griffey without any greening. In fact most of the Griffeys seem to be darn near radioactive in their glowing, so it could be worse.

[cardrcomeback]

Good luck on the set chase!

My Bonds GER is my favorite card




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[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by cardrcomeback

Good luck on the set chase!

My Bonds GER is my favorite card




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Absolute stunner and this will be one of the most prohibitive cards in the whole set, up there if not tied with the Griffey.

I have yet to decide how much I really want to go for GERs as in collecting the set (I’ve just picked up a small few random ones). Cards like this Bonds are dissuading me from attempting due to their price!

[hatchd]

Huge pickups! I swear I like the SERs more than the GERs. They're just "cleaner" looking.

Completing it through the SERs would be a huge accomplishment. Unless you just have 30k burning a hole in your pocket I doubt anyone blames you for not completing the GER set.


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