As I mentioned earlier, the release of 2015 Topps Chrome Football is both great and bittersweet. With Panini taking over the NFL exclusive next year, this will likely be Topps’ last edition of Chrome, and that should make everyone really fucking sad. Because of the way Chrome has impacted the hobby, its chase hits are the biggest of the entire card year, including the products that cost 10 times the box cost. Chrome’s release is a hobby holiday, and unfortunately, this year is the last celebration. As one of my favorite sets ever made, Chrome will always have a special place in my heart
. Here are some of the top cards from this year’s set.
Rookie Auto Patches
Back in 2011, these became some of the more sought after cards in the whole product. Not only were they rare, but they offered some of the first jersey autographs of Topps’ calendar. Now, that has changed, but there is a wrinkle this year that makes these even better than they were last year. Like 2013, this year’s set is hard signed. In 2013, Chrome was released much later in the season, which made it easier for the cards to get completed. This year, they are the first hard signed relic autos of the year. Not only that but they look awesome.
2015 Topps Chrome Jameis Winston Auto Patch /75
2015 Topps Chrome Todd Gurley Auto Patch /75
2015 Topps Chrome Marcus Mariota Auto Patch /75
1989 Retro Super Rookies Auto
Ever since Topps has inserted retro autographs in their flagship and Chrome products, I have been a fan. I absolutely loved the choice to use 1987 in the first edition of the set, and I like the use of the 1989 Super Rookie design as well. These cards are crazy rare, and very tough to pull, but when you get one, they rarely disappoint.
2015 Topps Chrome Melvin Gordon 1989 Super Rookie Auto /25
2015 Topps Chrome Jameis Winston 1989 Super Rookie Auto /25
2015 Topps Chrome Todd Gurley 1989 Super Rookie Auto /25
Rookie Variation Autographs
Like we saw with the auto patches, the 2011 set also introduced the autographed version of the SP variations that were first available in Flagship. This year they are back and very low numbered at 75 copies per. Most of the photo variations feature some cool changes to the photographs, many of which look awesome with the on card autographs.
2015 Topps Chrome Marcus Mariota Variation Auto /75
2015 Topps Chrome Ameer Abdullah Variation Auto /75
HOF SSP Variations
We have seen photo variations of players in the base set since 2011, but 2015 is the first year where they have used HOF players as another variation. Players like Emmitt Smith and Steve Young populate the checklist, and if you are extra lucky, you might pull one of the autographs of these cards out of 10.
2015 Topps Chrome John Elway SSP Variation
2015 Topps Chrome Bo Jackson SSP Variation
2015 Topps Chrome Roger Staubach Variation Auto /10
Rookie Autographs
One of the main reasons people buy Chrome is because of the rookie autographs. Since 2011, they have been hard signed, and each year, remain some of the most coveted cards of the rookie class. The lower the more valuable the card. My favorite of the bunch are the Black and Red refractors, which always look really good with the borders used by Topps. These cards hold value as much as they do because of how tough they are to pull, so it might be in your best interest to buy a lottery ticket if you pull one.
2015 Topps Chrome Matt Jones Red Refractor Auto /5
2015 Topps Chrome Todd Gurley Black Refractor Auto /25
2015 Topps Chrome Amari Cooper Blue Refractor Auto /50
Again, this year’s Chrome might be last year, but its not going out without a bang. This will be one of those sets that people will miss terribly, and I dont think that Prizm is even close to measuring up. Unfortnate that we wont be given a choice any longer.
Really can’t put into words how awesome these cards are and what Chrome has done for the hobby in general. I’ve had a disdain for what Panini (and exclusive licenses) has done to this hobby but now that it affects the only sport I collect I am extremely bitter. I sincerely hope that this somehow rectifies itself from either Panini going under and the NFL having to scramble for licensees or some other justice. As I’ve stated, I’ll be working on older Topps sets until this issue rectifies itself somehow. If not? Well, I’ll still be able to look back through a good chunk of the Topps stable and enjoy the collection I have been able to accrue.
I find it terrible that one card company like panini can have a monopoly on basketball and football cards. The bad thing is they can’t come up with a great “original ” design. I can honestly see panini making something to copy Topps chrome as they do every other past design, it’ll probably come out with panini at the start of the season and mid season they’ll come out with panini chrome. Topps chrome has been my favorite since 1996 and is pretty much the only product I buy, period besides past Topps chrome rookie singles and rookie autographs. This product will be sadly missed!
I have a 2015 topps chrome 02/25 red refractor Marcus mariota card, wondering how much its worth.
probably a few hundred dollars would be my estimate. $200-$300
i have a chrome mariota red refractor as well and i’ve been offered $550 from 1 person and i seen one sold for $600 on ebay but only 2 have been listed on ebay so who ever has been pulling them has been holding onto them! andrew lucks so for over $900 and that was recently, in the off season and after lucks bad season. i think last year lucks would of sold for around $1500 so the mariota has a lot of room to grow if he has success in the nfl