1993 Finest - Revision history

Stalegum: /* Refractors */

2024-05-08T20:47:19Z

Refractors

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:47, 8 May 2024
Line 84:		Line 84:
	Randomly inserted in packs at a rate of one in 15 (mostly one-per-box, occasionally two), this set parallels the entire 199-card Finest set except that their fronts have been laminated with a plastic lens giving the card its trademark appearance. Because of the known production numbers, these cards are believed to have a print run of 241 copies of each card -- although this production figure was never officially confirmed by Topps. It is believed that there might be short printed cards in this set. Topps, however, has never publicly released any verification of short-printed singles, but some of the singles are accepted as being tough to find due to poor distribution and hoarding.		Randomly inserted in packs at a rate of one in 15 (mostly one-per-box, occasionally two), this set parallels the entire 199-card Finest set except that their fronts have been laminated with a plastic lens giving the card its trademark appearance. Because of the known production numbers, these cards are believed to have a print run of 241 copies of each card -- although this production figure was never officially confirmed by Topps. It is believed that there might be short printed cards in this set. Topps, however, has never publicly released any verification of short-printed singles, but some of the singles are accepted as being tough to find due to poor distribution and hoarding.

	Some examples of such hoarding: Andre Dawson was known to pay premiums of up to three-times Beckett HI value for copies ~~of his own '93 Finest Refractor, and one~~ collector claims to have 122 copies of Randy Meyers's Refractor -- that's a little more than half the known production run.		Some examples of such hoarding: Future Hall of Famer Andre Dawson attempted to corner the market on his own '93 Finest Refractor and was known to pay premiums of up to three-times Beckett HI value for copies. One other collector claims to have amassed 122 copies of Randy Meyers's Refractor -- that's a little more than half the known production run.

	Due to their high value, these cards are extremely condition sensitive, with much attention paid to centering and minor scratches on the card fronts. Due to the subjectivity of card grading, some claim to have resubmitted the same refractors several times over the years to achieve a higher grade.		Due to their high value, these cards are extremely condition sensitive, with much attention paid to centering and minor scratches on the card fronts. Due to the subjectivity of card grading, some claim to have resubmitted the same refractors several times over the years to achieve a higher grade.

Stalegum: /* Promos */

2024-05-08T20:45:18Z

Promos

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:45, 8 May 2024
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	https://img.comc.com/i/Baseball/1993/Topps-Finest---Promotional-Samples/98/Don-Mattingly.jpg?id=7ebb6dc8-0b39-4260-b6fc-99bc3901b7ed&size=original&side=back&.jpg		https://img.comc.com/i/Baseball/1993/Topps-Finest---Promotional-Samples/98/Don-Mattingly.jpg?id=7ebb6dc8-0b39-4260-b6fc-99bc3901b7ed&size=original&side=back&.jpg

	Topps distributed 5000, three-card, sets to its dealer customers to promote the release of its 1993 Topps Baseball's Finest set. ~~The standard-size~~ The words "Promotional Sample 1 of 5000" appears in red lettering superposed upon the player's biography on the back of the card. A limited amount of these cards were issued as refractors; however, the production is unknown.		Topps distributed 5000, three-card sets to its dealer customers to promote the release of its ''1993 Topps Baseball's Finest'' set. The words "Promotional Sample 1 of 5000" appears in red lettering superposed upon the player's biography on the back of the card. A limited amount of these cards were issued as refractors; however, the production of those is unknown.

	<sql2wiki database="carddb">		<sql2wiki database="carddb">
	SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 1993) AND (setname = 'Finest Promos');		SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 1993) AND (setname = 'Finest Promos');
	</sql2wiki>		</sql2wiki>

	==Base Set==		==Base Set==

Stalegum: /* Description */

2023-12-15T14:08:17Z

Description

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:08, 15 December 2023
Line 1:		Line 1:
	=Description=		=Description=

	1993 Finest (officially "Topps Baseball's Finest") is a 199-card set printed on chromium stock and widely recognized as one of the most important issues of the 1990's and Hobby history. The Finest brand was Topps' first attempt at the super-premium card market and competed with Fleer's [[1993 Flair\|Flair brand]] and Upper Deck's [[1993 SP\|SP.]]. Production was announced at 4,~~000, 12~~-box cases (the first time a manufacturer publicly announced case production runs) and cards were distributed exclusively through Hobby dealers in the fall of 1993. This was the first time in the history of The Hobby that a major manufacturer publicly released their production figures.		1993 Finest (officially "Topps Baseball's Finest") is a 199-card set printed on chromium stock and widely recognized as one of the most important issues of the 1990's and Hobby history. The Finest brand was Topps' first attempt at the super-premium card market and competed with Fleer's [[1993 Flair\|Flair brand]] and Upper Deck's [[1993 SP\|SP.]] Production was announced at 4000, twelve-box cases (the first time a manufacturer publicly announced case production runs) and cards were distributed exclusively through Hobby dealers in the fall of 1993. This was the first time in the history of The Hobby that a major manufacturer publicly released their production figures.

	Because production figures were released, it is believed that there are approximately 30,000 copies of each base card, 1500 of each Jumbo card, and 241 of each Refractor. Some people claimed that additional refractors were backdoored to several card shops and dealers in the San Diego area -- although this was never proven.		Because production figures were released, it is believed that there are approximately 30,000 copies of each base card, 1500 of each Jumbo card, and 241 of each Refractor. Some people claimed that additional refractors were backdoored to several card shops and dealers in the San Diego area -- although this was never proven.

Tidel144: /* Description */

2023-12-14T15:55:25Z

Description

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:55, 14 December 2023
Line 1:		Line 1:
	=Description=		=Description=

	1993 Finest (officially "Topps Baseball's Finest") is a 199-card set printed on chromium stock and widely recognized as one of the most important issues of the 1990's. The Finest brand was Topps first attempt at the super-premium card market and competed with Fleer's [[1993 Flair\|Flair brand]] and Upper Deck's [[1993 SP\|SP.]]. Production was announced at ~~4000~~, 12-box cases and cards were distributed exclusively through Hobby dealers in the fall of 1993. This was the first time in the history of The Hobby that a major manufacturer publicly released their production figures.		1993 Finest (officially "Topps Baseball's Finest") is a 199-card set printed on chromium stock and widely recognized as one of the most important issues of the 1990's and Hobby history. The Finest brand was Topps' first attempt at the super-premium card market and competed with Fleer's [[1993 Flair\|Flair brand]] and Upper Deck's [[1993 SP\|SP.]]. Production was announced at 4,000, 12-box cases (the first time a manufacturer publicly announced case production runs) and cards were distributed exclusively through Hobby dealers in the fall of 1993. This was the first time in the history of The Hobby that a major manufacturer publicly released their production figures.

	Because production figures were released, it is believed that there are approximately 30,000 copies of each base card, 1500 of each Jumbo card, and 241 of each Refractor. Some people claimed that additional refractors were backdoored to several card shops and dealers in the San Diego area -- although this was never proven.		Because production figures were released, it is believed that there are approximately 30,000 copies of each base card, 1500 of each Jumbo card, and 241 of each Refractor. Some people claimed that additional refractors were backdoored to several card shops and dealers in the San Diego area -- although this was never proven.

Stalegum: /* Refractors */

2019-06-04T16:12:30Z

Refractors

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:12, 4 June 2019
Line 81:		Line 81:
	https://img.comc.com/i/Baseball/1993/Topps-Finest---Base---Refractor/194/Jay-Bell.jpg?id=e1382c7e-5ad2-4df3-bea7-5eefa2f7b81f&size=original&side=back&.jpg		https://img.comc.com/i/Baseball/1993/Topps-Finest---Base---Refractor/194/Jay-Bell.jpg?id=e1382c7e-5ad2-4df3-bea7-5eefa2f7b81f&size=original&side=back&.jpg

	Randomly inserted in packs at a rate of one in 15 (mostly one-per-box, occasionally two), this set parallels the entire 199-card Finest set except that their fronts have been laminated with a plastic lens giving the card its trademark appearance. Because of the known production numbers, these cards are believed to have a print run of 241 copies of each card -- although this production figure was never officially confirmed by Topps. It is believed that there might be short printed cards in this set. Topps, however, has never publicly released any verification of short-printed singles, but some of the singles are accepted as being tough to find due to poor distribution and hoarding. ~~In an example~~ of such hoarding, Andre Dawson was known to pay premiums of up to three-times Beckett HI value for copies of his own '93 Finest Refractor.		Randomly inserted in packs at a rate of one in 15 (mostly one-per-box, occasionally two), this set parallels the entire 199-card Finest set except that their fronts have been laminated with a plastic lens giving the card its trademark appearance. Because of the known production numbers, these cards are believed to have a print run of 241 copies of each card -- although this production figure was never officially confirmed by Topps. It is believed that there might be short printed cards in this set. Topps, however, has never publicly released any verification of short-printed singles, but some of the singles are accepted as being tough to find due to poor distribution and hoarding.

			Some examples of such hoarding: Andre Dawson was known to pay premiums of up to three-times Beckett HI value for copies of his own '93 Finest Refractor, and one collector claims to have 122 copies of Randy Meyers's Refractor -- that's a little more than half the known production run.

	Due to their high value, these cards are extremely condition sensitive, with much attention paid to centering and minor scratches on the card fronts. Due to the subjectivity of card grading, some claim to have resubmitted the same refractors several times over the years to achieve a higher grade.		Due to their high value, these cards are extremely condition sensitive, with much attention paid to centering and minor scratches on the card fronts. Due to the subjectivity of card grading, some claim to have resubmitted the same refractors several times over the years to achieve a higher grade.

Stalegum: /* Base Set */

2019-06-04T16:09:43Z

Base Set

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:09, 4 June 2019
Line 49:		Line 49:

	<sql2wiki database="carddb">		<sql2wiki database="carddb">
	SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 1993) AND (setname = 'Finest') AND (num < 85);		SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 1993) AND (setname = 'Finest') AND (num < 84);
	</sql2wiki>		</sql2wiki>
	===All-Stars===		===All-Stars===

Stalegum: /* Base Set */

2019-06-04T16:09:27Z

Base Set

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:09, 4 June 2019
Line 48:		Line 48:
	https://img.comc.com/i/Baseball/1993/Topps-Finest---Base/79/Sammy-Sosa.jpg?id=a76c6102-2136-4543-b5bd-88d5b6d6e116&size=original&side=back&.jpg		https://img.comc.com/i/Baseball/1993/Topps-Finest---Base/79/Sammy-Sosa.jpg?id=a76c6102-2136-4543-b5bd-88d5b6d6e116&size=original&side=back&.jpg

	''~~'NOTE:''' Cards #84-#116 make up an "~~All-Stars~~" subset, which features a different design.~~		<sql2wiki database="carddb">
			SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 1993) AND (setname = 'Finest') AND (num < 85);
			</sql2wiki>
			===All-Stars===

	https://img.comc.com/i/Baseball/1993/Topps-Finest---Base/107/Nolan-Ryan.jpg?id=40b6c1d7-1983-4746-9077-384b75e3eb51&size=original&side=front&.jpg		https://img.comc.com/i/Baseball/1993/Topps-Finest---Base/107/Nolan-Ryan.jpg?id=40b6c1d7-1983-4746-9077-384b75e3eb51&size=original&side=front&.jpg
Line 54:		Line 57:

	<sql2wiki database="carddb">		<sql2wiki database="carddb">
	SELECT num,player~~,info~~ FROM cards WHERE (year = 1993) AND (setname = 'Finest');		SELECT num,player FROM cards WHERE (year = 1993) AND (setname = 'Finest') AND (num BETWEEN 84 AND 116);
	</sql2wiki>		</sql2wiki>

			https://img.comc.com/i/Baseball/1993/Topps-Finest---Base/192/Robin-Yount.jpg?id=c27ad902-f265-4765-ba28-115f4b3eb1b6&size=original&side=front&.jpg
			https://img.comc.com/i/Baseball/1993/Topps-Finest---Base/192/Robin-Yount.jpg?id=c27ad902-f265-4765-ba28-115f4b3eb1b6&size=original&side=back&.jpg

			<sql2wiki database="carddb">
			SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 1993) AND (setname = 'Finest') AND (num > 116);
			</sql2wiki>

	==Parallels==		==Parallels==

Stalegum: /* Description */

2019-06-04T16:07:31Z

Description

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:07, 4 June 2019
Line 1:		Line 1:
	=Description=		=Description=

	1993 Finest (officially "Topps Baseball's Finest") is a 199-card, chromium-stock~~, set~~ widely recognized as one of the most important issues of the 1990's. The Finest brand was Topps first attempt at the super-premium card market. Production was announced at ~~4,000~~, 12-box cases and cards were distributed exclusively through ~~hobby~~ dealers in the fall of 1993. This was the first time in the history of ~~the hobby~~ that a major manufacturer publicly released production figures.		1993 Finest (officially "Topps Baseball's Finest") is a 199-card set printed on chromium stock and widely recognized as one of the most important issues of the 1990's. The Finest brand was Topps first attempt at the super-premium card market and competed with Fleer's [[1993 Flair\|Flair brand]] and Upper Deck's [[1993 SP\|SP.]]. Production was announced at 4000, 12-box cases and cards were distributed exclusively through Hobby dealers in the fall of 1993. This was the first time in the history of The Hobby that a major manufacturer publicly released their production figures.

	Because production figures were released, it is believed that there are approximately 30,000 copies of each base card, ~~1,500~~ of each Jumbo card, and 241 of each Refractor. Some people claimed that additional refractors were backdoored to several card shops and dealers in the San Diego area.		Because production figures were released, it is believed that there are approximately 30,000 copies of each base card, 1500 of each Jumbo card, and 241 of each Refractor. Some people claimed that additional refractors were backdoored to several card shops and dealers in the San Diego area -- although this was never proven.

	Cards were issued in seven-card foil fin-wrapped packs that carried a suggested retail price of $3.99. The product was a smashing success upon release with pack prices immediately soaring well above the $20/pack point. The popularity of the product has continued to grow throughout the years as it's place in ~~hobby~~ lore is now well solidified.		Cards were issued in seven-card foil fin-wrapped packs that carried a suggested retail price of $3.99. The product was a smashing success upon release with pack prices immediately soaring well above the $20/pack point. The popularity of the product has continued to grow throughout the years as it's place in Hobby lore is now well solidified.

	Due to these boxes not having a logo printed on the plastic wrap, boxes can easily be opened and resealed. Many boxes with the original plastic wrap have a small round hole in the upper left corner on the front. Also, packs that contain a refractor can be easily identified as they are different than non-refractor packs as they were were printed and packed separately. Packs containing a refractor have a printing variation on the wrapper.		Due to these boxes not having a logo printed on the plastic wrap, boxes can easily be opened and resealed. Many boxes with the original plastic wrap have a small round hole in the upper left corner on the front. Also, packs that contain a refractor can be easily identified as they are different than non-refractor packs as they were were printed and packed separately. Packs containing a refractor have a printing variation on the wrapper.

Stalegum: /* Refractors */

2019-06-04T16:00:10Z

Refractors

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:00, 4 June 2019
Line 74:		Line 74:
	Due to their high value, these cards are extremely condition sensitive, with much attention paid to centering and minor scratches on the card fronts. Due to the subjectivity of card grading, some claim to have resubmitted the same refractors several times over the years to achieve a higher grade.		Due to their high value, these cards are extremely condition sensitive, with much attention paid to centering and minor scratches on the card fronts. Due to the subjectivity of card grading, some claim to have resubmitted the same refractors several times over the years to achieve a higher grade.

			{{Finest}}
	[[Category:Topps]]		[[Category:Topps]]
	[[Category:1993]]		[[Category:1993]]

Stalegum: /* Refractors */

2019-03-28T15:44:39Z

Refractors

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:44, 28 March 2019
Line 70:		Line 70:
	https://img.comc.com/i/Baseball/1993/Topps-Finest---Base---Refractor/194/Jay-Bell.jpg?id=e1382c7e-5ad2-4df3-bea7-5eefa2f7b81f&size=original&side=back&.jpg		https://img.comc.com/i/Baseball/1993/Topps-Finest---Base---Refractor/194/Jay-Bell.jpg?id=e1382c7e-5ad2-4df3-bea7-5eefa2f7b81f&size=original&side=back&.jpg

	Randomly inserted in packs at a rate of one in 15 (mostly one-per-box, occasionally two), this set parallels the entire 199-card Finest set except that their fronts have been laminated with a plastic lens giving the card its trademark appearance. Because of the known production numbers, these cards are believed to have a print run of 241 copies of each card -- although this production figure was never officially confirmed by Topps. It is believed that there might be short printed cards in this set. Topps, however, has never publicly released any verification of short-printed singles, but some of the singles are accepted as being tough to find due to poor distribution and hoarding. In an example of such hoarding, Andre Dawson was known to pay premiums of up to three-times Beckett HI value for copies of his own '93 Finest Refractor. A collector, Phil Gold, is hoarding 1993 Finest Refractors. His web site, which contains the number of copies he owns of each card, is [http://www.93finestrefractors.com http://www.93finestrefractors.com]		Randomly inserted in packs at a rate of one in 15 (mostly one-per-box, occasionally two), this set parallels the entire 199-card Finest set except that their fronts have been laminated with a plastic lens giving the card its trademark appearance. Because of the known production numbers, these cards are believed to have a print run of 241 copies of each card -- although this production figure was never officially confirmed by Topps. It is believed that there might be short printed cards in this set. Topps, however, has never publicly released any verification of short-printed singles, but some of the singles are accepted as being tough to find due to poor distribution and hoarding. In an example of such hoarding, Andre Dawson was known to pay premiums of up to three-times Beckett HI value for copies of his own '93 Finest Refractor.

	Due to their high value, these cards are extremely condition sensitive, with much attention paid to centering and minor scratches on the card fronts. Due to the subjectivity of card grading, some claim to have resubmitted the same refractors several times over the years to achieve a higher grade.		Due to their high value, these cards are extremely condition sensitive, with much attention paid to centering and minor scratches on the card fronts. Due to the subjectivity of card grading, some claim to have resubmitted the same refractors several times over the years to achieve a higher grade.