Release Date: May 23, 2012
Price Point: Around $4 per pack or $78 Per Box at Blowout Cards.
Product Loadout: 8 Cards Per Pack; 24 Packs Per Box, 10 Boxes Per Case
Hit Ratios: Each pack contains 2 autographs per box.
Product Information:
- 200 Card Base Set (1-200)
- 40 card short prints (201-240, 1:4 packs)
- 1 super short print (Bryce Harper)
- Archives Reprints (50 cards, 1:6 packs)
- Classic Combos (10 cards)
- In Action (10 cards)
- 1977 Cloth Stickers (25 cards, 1:6 packs)
- 1967 Stickers (25 cards, 1:8 packs)
- 1969 Deckle Edge (15 cards, 1:12 packs)
- 1968 3-D (15 cards, 1:8 packs)
Parallels/Autograph/Game Used:
- Gold Foil Parallel (1:12 packs)
- Printing Plates (1/1, Hobby Only)
- Fan Favorites Autographs (82 cards, 1:12 packs)
- Autographed Rookie cards (2 cards)
- Autographed Originals (12 cards, #’d to 5)
- Framed 1983 Mini Autographs (25 cards, #’d to 25)
- 1956 Topps Relics (56 cards)
- Topps Vault (at least 21 items, all 1/1)
- 6 player book cards (10 cards, 1/1)
- Cut Signatures (50 cards, 1/1)
- Touched by Greatness (1 card, #’d to 100)
- Un-Cut Sheet Redemptions (50 cards, 1/1)
- Box Loader Autographs (at least 2 cards)
Box Contents
- total cards
- 163/200 base cards, 0 doubles
- 6/40 short prints, 0 doubles (Ken Griffey, Willie Mays, Oscar Gamble, Cecil Cooper, Bake McBride and Terry Pendleton)
- 3 1968 3-D (Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Matt Kemp)
- 4 1997 Cloth Stickers (Eric Hosmer, Jim Rice, Gary Carter and Steve Carlton)
- 2 1969 Deckle Edge (Orlando Cepeda and Evan Longoria)
- 2 Gold Foil (Hanley Ramirez and Mariano Rivera)
- 6 Archives Reprints (Eddie Murray, Bob Feller, Willie McCovey, Duke Snider, Jim Palmer and Dave Winfield)
- 3 1967 Stickers (Tim Lincecum, Troy Tulowitzki and Ichiro)
- 2 Fan Favorites Autographs (Sid Bream and John Olerud)
Topps Archives makes its first return to the market in over ten years, and makes what appears to be a very successful splash indeed. Featuring designs from the past (1954, 1971, 1980 and 1984) as well as various reprint designs, this set hearkens back to when I was a kid. The autograph set also liberally pulls from the 70s-90s with some autographs that people haven’t seen in years. Even opening the packs is a solid blast from the past as the packs evoke memories of the mid 1980s. Featuring on-card autos and a fair number of inserts from years gone by, this is a great set for older collectors.
What I Liked: Nearly everything. I loved the card designs, the backs, the use of on-card autographs and most of the inserts. Hell, it makes me want to go get a 1977 Cloth of Nolan Ryan for my collection. The price is really great also, and the retail cards are nice to pick up here and there as well.
What I Didn’t: I really am not a fan of the Bryce Harper super-short-print, but I understand why it’s there. Also, the recent overuse of regular stickers and 3-D cards have gotten to me. Even though they were inserts from Topps’ past, surely they could have gone with something else.
Overall Thoughts: I love this set. I won’t lie about it. If you’re over twenty-five, this is a set you definitely need to pick up. If you have kids, pick this up to show them how cards looked when you were growing up. The opportunity for great autographs as well as autos of guys people today don’t even think about are plentiful in the set, and the inserts, short prints and parallels are all great fun to dig through.
Collation: 4/5
Pizazz: 4/5
Design: 5/5
Total Score: 4/5 (rounded down)
