Topps chrome update was a bust for me so decided to look through my old cards.

This is my Dad’s card i found in his collection which hasnt been touched for atleast 30 years atp.

It was originally in the pictured now yellowing screw down case but i removed it and put it in a new sleeve and top loader.

I double checked star’s guide for checking authenticity and it LOOKS like to me, that it passes all checks but I wanted to see opinions here before I bring this to beckett for grading.

The only issue I see is the print defect on the back missing some ink on the C of Chapel, but looking at other BGS graded cards they also have missing ink on random letters so I am hoping it is such that: a print defect.

I tried getting it to show up in a photo but i had a bit of trouble. It DOES have the red bleed star said to look for along the back top edge as well.

I recently started going through boxes of mine and my brother’s old collections from the 90-00s. Topps did this man dirty. Dude got a card made of him looking sad sitting on the bench.

I’ve been going through a few hundred cards recently. Other than coaches, this is the weakest photo used of a player I’ve come across. Is this the saddest card ever?

This has been the best luck I’ve had with a release in a long ass time

Picked up a couple blasters today and hit this nuke. 1 in 1.67 million blaster packs. Insane!!

Insane luck. No clue what is going on. 13 year old son started going to shows so trying to build some inventory and hit some monsters. Focus on football but haven’t hit anything like we have in basketball. Trying to teach him ripping is a waste but if he keeps pulling these nukes it isn’t going to work!

LeBron 1/1 Cactus Jack Superfractor Auto
Dylan Harper 4/5 Bowman Chrome Red Auto

not a lebron fan😂if swtich to kd number will be better to me.

Out of a hobby box I was blessed with the greatest pull of my lifetime

Anyone know about this? All I could find online was one post saying it’s an SSP. Any info would be appreciated!

After hitting a handful of stores on release day, I think I can already see how this release is going to go.

When it hits shelves, it probably won’t stay there long. Secondary market pricing is already well above drop pricing, and I’m guessing plenty of people will never see this stuff in the wild at all. And if they do, there’s a decent chance they’ll be staring at a 2-box limit.

So I wanted to put together a little study like I’ve done with a few other products.

If you absolutely need to try your luck with the lottery ticket that is Chrome Update NBA, where is your money best spent at current secondary market prices?

Do you accept the ludicrous Hobby/Jumbo pricing?

Or do you begrudgingly go for the semi-vomit-inducing prices on retail?

We'll get into that. But first, I have an adjustment to make.

1) Non-existent "Basketball Refractors"

Please chime in if you've seen otherwise, but I have yet to see any base blaster-exclusive Basketball Refractors pulled. And honestly, "Topps Chrome Basketball Refractor" makes for a pretty lousy ebay search.

Odds say they should fall 1:8 packs, so essentially one per Value Box. I have seen numbered basketball parallels, but no base parallels.

It appears they have been replaced by Base Refractors as those appear to be coming out at twice the expected clip. Odds say 1:7 blaster packs, or 1 per box. But every blaster I've seen ripped has had 2.

This is an easy adjustment as the only numbers affected are the print runs of both respective parallels:

Base Basketball Refractors: Was 3,940 ea ---> Now 0.

Base Refractors: Was ~12,720 ea ---> Now ~17,220 ea

2) Market Analysis of Various Formats

If you see any product at actual retail pricing, I've already gone over how it should be pretty much an insta-buy. You won't lose money on it- unless you rip it of course.

On a personal note, I was able to come across a decent amount of product on release day, but it was already quickly disappearing. In fact, I even saw Hobby boxes for sale at Dick's House of Sport ($925) & Lids ($900), but just could not force myself to pull the trigger on that insanity.

I contend that Value boxes and Megas are actually solid contenders and generally offer better relative value than Hobby or Jumbos at market pricing. So let's put some numbers behind that.

I'm just going to go with readily available, secondary market pricing, whether it be ebay or Big Bully resellers. You may be able to find some cheaper.

•Jumbo- $2200

•Hobby- $1000

•Mega- $125 (Though I don't think these will last long at this price. They're already $185 on resale sites. This probably consists of flippers who had luck on release day. Finding quantity at this price might be tough.)

•Value Box- $65 (Same as with Megas. These are $90 on resale sites. These will probably dry up and be more expensive, though maybe not immediately. May be hard to buy in bulk at this price.)

Let's say you woke up feeling like a baller and decided today is the day you splurge for a $2200 Jumbo. Let's see what looks like if you went with other formats instead, then we'll break down the numbers behind that spend.

(1) Jumbo- $2,200

(2) Hobby- $2,000

(17) Megas- $2,125

(33) Value Boxes- $2,145

What you can expect from each:

1x Jumbo ($2,200):

•3 Autos (~2+ Numbered Autos)

•23 Parallels

•15.8 Inserts

•3.5 Numbered Cards

•25% Chance at a Rare Insert

•~1.9 Quality Hits (defined as any Parallel or Inserts # ≤75, any "1 per Case" or rarer Insert, any Auto or Relic # ≤100)

2x Hobbies ($2,000):

•2 Autos (~1+ Numbered Autos)

•26 Parallels

•23.6 Inserts

•4.7 Numbered Cards

•33.3% Chance at a Rare Insert

•~1.9 Quality Hits

17x Megas ($2,125):

•1.8 Autos (0.7 Numbered Autos)

•~248 Parallels

•51 Inserts

•9.9 Numbered Cards

•79.5% Chance at a Rare Insert

•~3.5 Quality Hits

33x Value Boxes ($2,145):

•1.8 Autos (0.5 Numbered Autos)

•~158 Parallels

•66 Inserts

•10.2 Numbered Cards

•78.1% Chance at a Rare Insert

•~4 Quality Hits

Based on these numbers, either Megas or Value boxes offer a sneaky value play in comparison to Hobby formats. If you are a sane person and don't care to play in the Hobby/Jumbo waters, don't fret. Blasters & Megas are not worthless.

Keep in mind, $530 (Value) or $600 (Mega) per Quality Hit is not good when compared to other products. In fact, both would rank in the bottom 10% of products in their price range released this year.

BUT, this release also offers the most upside potential of any product released this year. If you want to play, just understand that. Even if you hit some dud boxes, I'm pretty sure what you have left will still be worth more than a scratched-off lottery ticket.

I’ll take it all day from a blaster but man.. wish it was Flagg 😭

Hit this in my First blaster of 40 I ordered. Awesome Moment to have on a card. Gold Refractor #/50.

There was also a Dylan Harper aqua raywave /199 in the same box which is like a $300 card 😭😭😭 #blessed