There arent many products that have the brand loyalty that has been built by Topps Chrome and it’s sister sets, or Panini Prizm and it’s sister sets. I think there are sets that end up being more valuable, but overall, from a popularity and importance standpoint, the chrome stock family of products are the most important aspect in the history of the hobby.
Yep, I’m leading with some MEGA hyperbole, because as we have seen with recent 7 figure sales of some Chrome cards, there is nothing that people want to have more for their collections than the iconic examples from over the years. More importantly than that, the cards achieve these insane values with a much lower product cost and much higher availability than just about any other product has ever had on the market.
Think about it, Exquisite and National Treasures bring the most valuable cards around, but the availability of those products pale in comparison to the products like Prizm, Bowman and Topps Chrome. Its actually shocking to me that Topps gambled so large with the first release of Finest and hit it so far out of the park that 30 years later, we are still living that premium approach in a giant portion of the hobby releases.
When reviewing the legacy here, it should go without saying that the way both Topps and Panini were able to create value in cards that have no autograph and no relic, is pretty admirable. The era in which these cards made the most of their mark was characterized by cards who’s value stemmed from autograph and relic content. Its impressive that both companies so successfully worked around that for so many sets.
Both Topps and Panini each release 20 or so versions of a Chrome stock product each year, which is saying something about its overall importance. The hobby has responded in kind, with Chrome stock products being the most heavily graded cards in the history of the hobby. Even during the most down periods of the hobby, people still loved the cheap fun that these products delivered, and in Topps’ case, they rarely made a mistake in the way things were built. Its a legacy of excellence that might not ever be overtaken by anything.
Panini Prizm, or as I have affectionately called it the past, “Diet Chrome”, has taken on a life of its own. Panini effectively owns like 80% of all the trading cards sold in the US, or some ridiculous number like that, and Prizm has become their go to set for driving a new license and creating margin in their product lines. Because Prizm has almost exclusively become the card of record for some of the most important NFL and NBA players, the exclusive license has made it the most important vehicle Panini has.
Funny enough, Prizm doesnt have the same excellent track record that it should have, if not only because the 2012 sets through the 2014 sets were some of the ugliest products ever made. Similarly, since it’s inception, it has always been the imitator rather than the originator. Go look at 2014 Prizm Football. That shit will haunt your fucking nightmares for years.
In 2015, when Topps was on the verge of losing their NFL license, something changed with Panini, something I think was THE best choice they ever made in the course of their trading card dominance. They decided to make Prizm much more like what Topps releases every year with Chrome, opting for simple bordered designs coupled with simple game photos to really re-create the iconic formula that Topps perfected.
This choice transferred over to Basketball, and in turn, created sets like Mosaic and Optic, which have never really reached the level of importance that Prizm has had.
On the Topps side, the creation of Finest in the early 1990s changed the face of Baseball cards forever. When it eventually came to the NBA and NFL, Topps Chrome was along for the ride, giving kids like me a window into the high end world of premium card collecting. To this day, Chrome remains my favorite set ever, and I will always buy a box every year for as long as I can afford it. I have sold my sports collection twice over, and each time, I have kept the chrome examples of my favorite players out of sheer reverence.
The main issue for Topps, is that they have lost all but a few licenses in their arsenal, something that could eventually change with the exploding landscape of the industry. Even with a dwindling presence over the last 8 years, they have managed to keep afloat because the Bowman Chrome and Topps Chrome lines remain as popular as they have ever been.
Prospecting in Baseball has become Baseball cards, only made more furious by the recent focus on rookie cards now claiming five figure sales so frequently. The sale of the Mike Trout Bowman Chrome Superfractor and the Kobe Bryant RC at more than a million have also brought a spotlight to the ongoing legacy that these cards have.
Similarly the rare late 90s inserts from top NBA players in the hobby have always driven ridiculous prices, but now make those prices look like ants seen from an airplane. Panini wasnt around when card companies could make Michael Jordan cards regularly, and they werent around when LeBron James, Tom Brady or Kobe Bryant were rookies. Topps and Topps Chrome were prominently featured, and that presents a giant advantage in the way collectors see Chrome’s importance in the long run.
That’s not saying Prizm hasnt driven its own fair share of eye popping sales, just look at what has happened with exclusive era Prizm rookies of Giannis, Patrick Mahomes and others. They are always among the top sales on eBay, and will continue to be long after the hobby potentially goes back on the decline.
When the dust settles and we can look back on this period in the history of the hobby, I dont think there will be a single person that can point to either brand and really complain. Its been such an important piece of hobby life over the last 30 years that its never going to be on the sidelines. I think its crazy that the current boom is defined so heavily by products relying on Chrome stock, but I guess that given the consistent performance and undying collector loyalty, its a no brainer.