To what number card trumps an unnumbered color match?

[JWBlue]

Was wondering abut this.

I bought a 2024 Topps Series 2 color match insert that was unnumbered. Wondering if I overpaid.

What should sell for more? A /50 or a color match?

[corockies]

Personally I don't care how low printed something supposedly is... I'd prefer an insert with a serial # because you know exactly how many there are. For flagship, black > everything else.

It seems like color match sells for less than a Mother's Day /50 Father's Day /50 in general. True photos as well. SSPs seem to be the only non serial #s that can sell for more, but for star players only.

[JWBlue]

Originally Posted by corockies

Personally I don't care how low printed something supposedly is... I'd prefer an insert with a serial # because you know exactly how many there are. For flagship, black > everything else.

It seems like color match sells for less than a Mother's Day /50 Father's Day /50 in general. True photos as well. SSPs seem to be the only non serial #s that can sell for more, but for star players only.

Those serial numbers carry a lot of weight even though let's face it that some of these parallel colors clash with the colors of the uniform and detract from the card appearance. Aesthetically alone the color match always look a lot better than any other parallel.

[ScooterD]

Originally Posted by corockies

Personally I don't care how low printed something supposedly is... I'd prefer an insert with a serial # because you know exactly how many there are. For flagship, black > everything else.

It seems like color match sells for less than a Mother's Day /50 Father's Day /50 in general. True photos as well. SSPs seem to be the only non serial #s that can sell for more, but for star players only.

You would rather have a Mother’s Day or Father’s Day parallel that this?

[corockies]

Originally Posted by ScooterD

You would rather have a Mother’s Day or Father’s Day parallel that this?

Absolutely, because I know there's only 50 of each. Even though the TRU is rare, I seriously doubt there's less than 50 of them. I have over 20 Josh Fuentes TRU purples from that set, 15-20 Peter Lamberts. I think I have 3-4 Rodgers TRU purples. Only have 1 each Mother's Day and Father's Day (to be fair I never really chased any Rodgers RCs parallels beyond the single copies I needed for team sets. And I'm glad I never did - he's turned out to be a very subpar player for his draft slot.)

100% of the time I'd rather be totally certain how many are out there over how many could possibly be out there.

[StlBen]

What taste better apples or oranges?

[ThoseBackPages]

numbered all day.

leave the unnumbered cards for the Rookie Cards

[Twalk1975]

I don't have a good example where it's all one card, but I'll almost always prefer some sort of color match or a color neutral parallel over something where the color doesn't work. Using the M's, I'd take the atomic /25 over the gold, then the green, then the non-numbered card. I don't own any camos, mother's or father's days, and my only orange refractor is a Stadium Club Chrome, and I'm not sure I'd count that since its only the logo.

Sent from my LGL322DL using Tapatalk

[Hollywood42]

I am all for appreciating cards regardless of scarcity. But numbered cards >>> unnumbered, especially when it gets as low as /50s

[towerymt]

2019 Update Meijer Purple in PSA-10 might be a rare case where it could be preferred over a /50 Mother's Day Pink or Father's Day Blue.

The max count of PSA-10s for any player in '19 Update Purple is 3. Father's Day & Mother's Day both have 4 or more PSA-10s for several players.

Production might be higher than 50 each on the Purple, but they are not exactly common, and most are flawed.

[MiamiMarlinsFan]

I don’t know if this directly addresses OP’s question, but if you take a product like Topps Cosmic, I’ll easily take an unnumbered Nucleus refractor over the ugly #/199 Aqua refractor any day.

[whitmm]

Originally Posted by JWBlue

Wondering if I overpaid.

Did you pay the agreed upon price?

If so, no, you didn't overpay

[corockies]

Originally Posted by towerymt

2019 Update Meijer Purple in PSA-10 might be a rare case where it could be preferred over a /50 Mother's Day Pink or Father's Day Blue.

The max count of PSA-10s for any player in '19 Update Purple is 3. Father's Day & Mother's Day both have 4 or more PSA-10s for several players.

Production might be higher than 50 each on the Purple, but they are not exactly common, and most are flawed.

It could also simply be a case of there's never been many players worth grading from 2019 Update. Especially now with the PSA bump charges. Aside from Vlad, Will Smith and Austin Riley, the checklist is pretty sparse.

[HeritageKing]

By color match you mean color refractor matches the team colors?

[f2tornado]

Originally Posted by JWBlue

Was wondering abut this.

I bought a 2024 Topps Series 2 color match insert that was unnumbered. Wondering if I overpaid.

What should sell for more? A /50 or a color match?

It depends on the scarcity of the color match and the popularity of either insert/parallel.

You're not discussing Chrome here but consider a Gold Refractor /50 is likely to be worth more than a whatever unnumbered color match unless it's quite scarce or has some serious aesthetics since Gold Refractors have the history and are are the de facto chase.

[towerymt]

Originally Posted by corockies

It could also simply be a case of there's never been many players worth grading from 2019 Update. Especially now with the PSA bump charges. Aside from Vlad, Will Smith and Austin Riley, the checklist is pretty sparse.

Tatis rookie debut had a nice moment (briefly). It was ~$150 in PSA-10 in 2021. Now, ~$15.

But I agree, nothing spectacular out of '19 Update. ~6,500 US1 base and ~9,600 US56 base graded, total. Comparing within the set is still valid, though. But I'll admit that I believe grading a potentially non-gem Pink or Blue #/50 is more likely than grading a non-gem Purple, so even if there are more Purple produced, I'm not surprised to see pop counts lower on the Purple. Condition also plays a factor since many Purple start off NM-MT or worse.

tl;dr -- #/50 probably still a better buy than unnumbered color match, but in certain situations, the color match might be a collector's preference.

[Shankweather]

Originally Posted by ScooterD

You would rather have a Mother’s Day or Father’s Day parallel that this?

I'm definitely taking the purple over the /50s. The Meijer purples are rare enough, and it just looks fantastic. Players have plenty of cards numbered to 50 or 25 or 10, it's not really all that special anymore. I think it matters what the card looks like. And in my opinion, Mother's Day and Father's Day are second tier parallels. The #'d Golds, Blacks, and Clear /10 are the best. Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Ind Day, and Mem Day are the next tier.

[speedyjg13]

Numbered

[corockies]

Originally Posted by Shankweather

I'm definitely taking the purple over the /50s. The Meijer purples are rare enough, and it just looks fantastic. Players have plenty of cards numbered to 50 or 25 or 10, it's not really all that special anymore. I think it matters what the card looks like. And in my opinion, Mother's Day and Father's Day are second tier parallels. The #'d Golds, Blacks, and Clear /10 are the best. Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Ind Day, and Mem Day are the next tier.

You bring up an excellent point - collectors more often seem to gravitate towards legacy parallels - flagship serial #ed gold (since 2001), flagship serial #ed black (since 2003), bowman chrome serial #ed gold refractor /50 (since 2002), topps chrome serial #ed gold refractor (have varied in consistency and serial #s, but since 2002). Creating a stable parallel across the most collected brands has made them the go to for many.

[gresh87]

Originally Posted by MiamiMarlinsFan

I don’t know if this directly addresses OP’s question, but if you take a product like Topps Cosmic, I’ll easily take an unnumbered Nucleus refractor over the ugly #/199 Aqua refractor any day.

Excuse me sir.

[MiamiMarlinsFan]

Originally Posted by gresh87

Excuse me sir.

If you’re happy, I’m happy for you! So many cards to collect. Something for everyone

[Badgers0821]

I’m probably in the minority but I don’t really care about “color match”, it’s just another COVID-related phenomenon.

[JWBlue]

Originally Posted by Badgers0821

I’m probably in the minority but I don’t really care about “color match”, it’s just another COVID-related phenomenon.

It started during Covid?

[corockies]

Originally Posted by JWBlue

It started during Covid?

It's probably a bit before Covid, but it's still a rather recent phenomena. Before there was a plethora of color refractors we didn't care if the color matched the team. Now it's become a thing. I personally have never factored it into my collecting habits and I'm one of the biggest team collectors out there.

[Hallco]

Originally Posted by Badgers0821

I’m probably in the minority but I don’t really care about “color match”, it’s just another COVID-related phenomenon.

Originally Posted by JWBlue

It started during Covid?

I was looking for color matches since I came back to the hobby in 2011 after leaving in 1996. I don't remember it being a "thing" in the 90s, but it was definitely happening way before 2020!!