Sunday, December 02, 2012

**Update - 2012 Topps Heritage High Numbers Set**


As I reported back in October, Topps came out with a Heritage High Numbers Baseball set that was only available through their ShopTopps.com site.

Adding to the only being available through Topps, the sets were limited to only 1000 produced, and they each came along with an autographed card.

The sets sold out a few days after they went live for Pre-sale and speculation went wild over who the autographs would be. Topps released the 20 player checklist for autographs and they included the top three rookies of Bryce Harper, Yu Darvish and Yoenis Cespedes. Not to mention that Red Ink autographs numbered out of 10 were also included for some players.

So not only were the sets limited to 1000 for base cards, but the autographs were very low numbered as well. At the early start of these hitting eBay, Bryce Harper was selling between $50-$60. Now you can manage to win one at around the $34 range or so. Still a decent price for a rookie of Harper that is limited.
Autographs were also reaching very high numbers for the top players along with some of the Red-Ink autographs that reached the site.

I just received my set this past Friday which to me took a little long to receive since I paid $24.84 USPS priority mail. I was anxious to see what the set looked like and also who my autograph would be. Here are my observations:
The set is packaged in a nice and neat 100 card box with Harper on it. Has the Topps holographic seal on the package top so you know it is factory sealed. I opened the box very carefully as I noticed one card was in between the box lid opening and the box. The box is very tight and trying not to rip the box to open it took a lot of patience and skill.
Once I opened the box the card that was between the lid opening and box was Adam Wainwright. I took him out first, no damage on him so I was happy about that. I then took the first 20 or cards out of the box carefully and started looking at the players. I turned over to the back of the cards and noticed that the set isn't in order. Not 2 cards were in the proper order of the set.
This was a little frustrating as I then had to pull the rest of the set and put them in order. Luckily I wasn't missing any cards and the big rookies were in there without any damage.

The Autograph card was the last card in the box. I pulled it out carefully as well and I received Trevor Bauer from the Arizona Diamondbacks with a Blue Ink Autograph. A nice pull from the autograph checklist for this set.
Overall I was a little disappointed in the way the set was set in the box, but was happy with the autograph I received. All the cards needed to be carefully pulled from the box in order not to damage any of them. I think I'll be putting them into another 100 card holder so they stay fresh and crisp. For the $100 cost that some people was complaining about for the set I still think it was worth it, even without the Autograph included. This set should hold a long term value as some of the players in here are already stars and some might be in the coming years. If your able to find a factory sealed set for a decent price I would jump on it. If your not interested in the autograph, base sets should be found in the plenty and are worth the price as well to pick up for the long term value.








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