I'm finally back from being out of town for the past week. I had several posts that I scheduled to be published while I was gone that I hope you enjoyed. It was nice to see a few manila envelops in the mailbox when I got home. I'll certainly try to get those new additions to the collection up here on Hoopography as soon as possible. Actually, one of those new additions might have even broken into my Top 25 if I hadn't ranked the countdown already.
I updated everyone on the Top 25 Countdown as I had recently made the switch from Apple's iWeb to Blogger.com (click here for 25 - 18) with a post last week. Today I'm continuing the countdown with number 17 in my Top 25 collection countdown.
My all-time favorite NY Yankee is Paul O'neil. There aren't a ton of great O'neal cards to collect, but there are a couple fun auto's, inserts and refractors. This '93 Topps Finest Refractor is undoubtedly one of those cards, and is easily one of his most sought after for O'neill and Yankee collectors alike.
I've been looking to add this card to my collection for a long time now. I actually thought I had won one of these refractors several months ago, but the card was not actually a refractor. The seller described the card incorrectly as a refractor when it really wasn't. Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed when I opened the manila envelope and pulled a non-refractor out, but the seller did refund my money in full.
So after a few months of searching for just the right one, and making sure the seller knew what a refractor was, I put in the winning bid for this card. I paid just under $10 with shipping which was a pretty good deal. I've certainly seen these O'neill cards go for much much more as many collectors are attempting to put this refractor set together. An extremely difficult and expensive undertaking.
The card looks beautiful and hits ever color in the spectrum. It's really hard for a refractor not to look great though. The '93 Topps Finest Refractor set truly is an iconic set in the card collecting hobby. It's loaded with stars and I think was the first set to feature the refractor technology from Topps in any sport. Here's a few of the other refractors I would like to add to my collection from that set: Bo Jackson (All-Star), Don Mattingly (All-Star), Doc Gooden (All-Star) and Darryl Strawberry (All-Star).
Nice card. And refractors are always fun. It's funny how refractors scan too - sometimes they show up bland and sometimes they show pink like yours.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I love when they come out pink like that. Then I know they are a refractor.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Refractors are my all-time favorite parallel... I missed the boat with these in 1993. By the time I was interested, they were way out of my league in price. One day if I win the lottery, I'll pick up the Maddux and Gwynn refractors for my PC.
ReplyDeleteMark, I hear you on that. I had just started collecting then, but really didn't know what was going on with those refractors. I didn't even know about them until it was too late. The Maddux and Gwynn cards are def up there. That set is loaded!!!
ReplyDeleteI've always loved the Finest sets. Good stuff!
ReplyDeleteA tip for scanning refractors: place them in a toploader (or one touch case, anything to get the card itself off the surface of the scanner), scan with the lid open in a dark room. Presto! Shiny!
Joe, AWESOMENESS!!!!! Thanks for the tip!!!
ReplyDeleteYou feel like a total creeper scanning things in a dark room, but the scans DO come out better - I've scanned many a '90s insert this way!
ReplyDelete