First Buzz: 2024 Topps Museum Collection baseball cards

[speedyjg13]

Originally Posted by Noles939913

I wouldn’t consider it top tier. Dynasty, Definitive Collection, Diamond Icons, etc. are top tier. I’d say Museum Collection is in the upper middle class alongside Five Star, Tier One, etc.

Only Dynasty is top tier. Definitive Collection and Diamond Cuts are unnecessary new products. They are just like Tier One and Museum Collection.

[jduds]

Originally Posted by Mattsurewood

I hope Fanatics realizes they are turning some people away with this pricing.

I do pretty well for myself, but I don't want to watch someone else open my boxes online...I also recognize gouging when I see it..I regretfully opened some things over the past year that I just refuse to do anymore. I got lucky on a Dynasty case last year (hit a Gunnar, and got a good price slightly over cost on the case), but that was a 1-in-10 case that I got lucky on...

Museum is a $250-275/box product that they are charging double for, I cannot support that. Good for the breakers and that culture I suppose, but I think Topps will be losing some folks (like myself) who have disposable income that are smart enough to back away..I took a little longer to do it due to my love of the hobby, but "enough is enough".

I've been buying singles over the past few months and that is working out..I'll miss the "thrill" of opening packs, but this is just too much.

You haven't walked away. You are part of the new card eco system. The breakers buy the products for inflated prices and that gets all the singles into the market. The former box buyers are now responsible for consuming the massive volume of singles those who buy breaks are putting on eBay to afford more breaks. It's a good system for the breakers, card companies, and singles buyers.

[timber63401]

Originally Posted by jduds

You haven't walked away. You are part of the new card eco system. The breakers buy the products for inflated prices and that gets all the singles into the market. The former box buyers are now responsible for consuming the massive volume of singles those who buy breaks are putting on eBay to afford more breaks. It's a good system for the breakers, card companies, and singles buyers.

Its still a flawed system for the people that buy into breaks. Its also way better for the person who buys singles. The gap between unopened product and breaks pricing and the singles market seems to widen all the time. The ROI for people to resell there cards they get in breaks is crap. Slot machines are a better investment. There has to be a bursting of the bubble sometime I would think but maybe it just carries on like this for a long while.

[KhalDrogo]

Most of the dollars being spent on current year singles are just as bad as those being spent on breaks.

[Noles939913]

Originally Posted by speedyjg13

Only Dynasty is top tier. Definitive Collection and Diamond Cuts are unnecessary new products. They are just like Tier One and Museum Collection.

Never heard of Diamond Cuts but Definitive Collection and Diamond Icons certainly aren’t new. They debuted in 2015 and 2017 respectively. They also cost much more than Museum Collection and Tier One and don’t have sticker autos like those two products do. Youre also unlikely to find any Cecil Fielder or Tim Lincecum autos in Definitive Collection or Diamond Icons. So I’d say you’re wrong…on pretty much every account.

[Mattsurewood]

Originally Posted by jduds

You haven't walked away. You are part of the new card eco system. The breakers buy the products for inflated prices and that gets all the singles into the market. The former box buyers are now responsible for consuming the massive volume of singles those who buy breaks are putting on eBay to afford more breaks. It's a good system for the breakers, card companies, and singles buyers.

Good point--well taken--I also have enjoyed the control of deciding what to get, it's actually been a bit refreshing as a new singles buyer.

I bought a few nice Wembanyama Rookie cards with the $$ I would have dumped into Topps Chrome Baseball this year..

[hermanotarjeta]

Originally Posted by FatButcher

I think in this specific instance he might not be wrong (though I too have seen this refrain from him before).

In the case breaks I've watched this has definitely become a breakers product with the price jump, which is a shame. Anyone opening this personally would be taking a bloodbath.

Nowadays, opening a box yourself is equivalent to paying for all 30 spots at a breaker price, ie, grossly overpaying just to enjoy opening a box yourself.

This is what the breaking culture has done to individuals who like to open wax themselves - they have made it cost prohibitive for every individual and fanatics has fed into that.

It’s so bad even box flipper bois can no longer make a quick profit.

[ScooterD]

Museum Collection was a great release when it first came out in 2012, but it slowly went downhill with each subsequent release. The more recent designs (2019-present) are too focused on dark colors and foil printing. Just not attractive IMO

[mikejones]

Looks like case breaks aren't filling so breakers are doing half case breaks or filler breaks to fill. You know what's worst than buying into a museum break? The ones that are buying into a 1 box blaster break to get into a museum break. 🤷

[JRX]

Originally Posted by ScooterD

Museum Collection was a great release when it first came out in 2012, but it slowly went downhill with each subsequent release. The more recent designs (2019-present) are too focused on dark colors and foil printing. Just not attractive IMO

Instead of giving each product a name that nobody knows what it is anymore, they should just number them. 2024 Topps random autos sucker product #27

[bd3d86]

Originally Posted by Noles939913

Never heard of Diamond Cuts but Definitive Collection and Diamond Icons certainly aren’t new. They debuted in 2015 and 2017 respectively. They also cost much more than Museum Collection and Tier One and don’t have sticker autos like those two products do. Youre also unlikely to find any Cecil Fielder or Tim Lincecum autos in Definitive Collection or Diamond Icons. So I’d say you’re wrong…on pretty much every account.

As a Cecil Fielder supercollector, you are most definitely wrong. He is my favorite player and I don't even think he should be in a product with that kind of price tag...

2021 Topps Diamond Icons Silver Ink Gold Autograph #1/1
2021 Topps Diamond Icons Silver Ink Red Autograph #2/5
2021 Topps Diamond Icons Silver Ink Purple Autograph #10/10
2021 Topps Diamond Icons Silver Ink Autograph #23/25

[BirdsFan55]

I entered a case break only because they were giving away topps national packs as part of it. Wound up with 2 national packs, 2 sonny gray autos, a nootbaar auto, some relic cards, and a pete alonso 1/1 emerald relic for $300. Will be my only one, quit while ahead.

[Noles939913]

Originally Posted by bd3d86

As a Cecil Fielder supercollector, you are most definitely wrong. He is my favorite player and I don't even think he should be in a product with that kind of price tag...

2021 Topps Diamond Icons Silver Ink Gold Autograph #1/1
2021 Topps Diamond Icons Silver Ink Red Autograph #2/5
2021 Topps Diamond Icons Silver Ink Purple Autograph #10/10
2021 Topps Diamond Icons Silver Ink Autograph #23/25

I stand corrected on Fielder. The rest of the post still holds true though.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by Noles939913

I wouldn’t consider it top tier. Dynasty, Definitive Collection, Diamond Icons, etc. are top tier. I’d say Museum Collection is in the upper middle class alongside Five Star, Tier One, etc.

The bigger problem is that there are too many similar high-end products being released.

You could get rid of every high-end product besides Museum and nobody would blink an eye.....

[Skipscards]

I thought Museum was outrageous in 2012 when it was $199. Pretty cards though.

[ptper]

i bought a montgomery membership this year....the musuems were listed for 399 per box...is that right? saw a post for 389, so i'm wondering if i got jobbed.

[Badgers0821]

Originally Posted by FatButcher

I think in this specific instance he might not be wrong (though I too have seen this refrain from him before).

In the case breaks I've watched this has definitely become a breakers product with the price jump, which is a shame. Anyone opening this personally would be taking a bloodbath.

In reality, at the current prices, everything except for low-end product could be considered breaker product. Are the prices out of control? Absolutely, but it’s not because of just one thing.

[jduds]

Originally Posted by mfw13

The bigger problem is that there are too many similar high-end products being released.

You could get rid of every high-end product besides Museum and nobody would blink an eye.....

I've made similar complaints in the past but I'm starting to think this might not be a bad thing. If these products had more demand, they'd be even more expensive. The breakers need a certain number of products a month and not all of them can be "the" big premium set everyone is changing. Topps has to be able to sell the middle of the road products as it just isn't possible to make as many distinctive products as is needed to keep the breaking machine running. It's a bad thing if one is interested in Juan Soto autos increasing in value or if one wants to chase Juan Soto autos in boxes or breaks, but if one just wants to buy cool Juan Soto autos more affordably it's not a bad system at all to have a steady influx of supply to eBay.

[hermanotarjeta]

Originally Posted by Badgers0821

In reality, at the current prices, everything except for low-end product could be considered breaker product. Are the prices out of control? Absolutely, but it’s not because of just one thing.

However, it is the main thing.

[barry6124]

Originally Posted by Mattsurewood

I hope Fanatics realizes they are turning some people away with this pricing.

I do pretty well for myself, but I don't want to watch someone else open my boxes online...I also recognize gouging when I see it..I regretfully opened some things over the past year that I just refuse to do anymore.

Same, I'll open a blaster of a product I like, such as chrome, just to check out the cards and get the "fix", but that's it.

IMO having 1 company own a MLB license is a huge part of the problem, that's not market-tied. MLB can't possibly be making enough money off this for it to really matter and should care more about making cards more affordable/available for fans and kids and should hand out another license. At the end of the day it REALLY doesn't matter as a collector, but it makes it slightly less fun to not even be able to justify buying a box of something outside of Series1/2/update

[Cfioren317]

All gone. Does that matter to anyone?

[WallyatJCCards]

Originally Posted by timber63401

Its still a flawed system for the people that buy into breaks. Its also way better for the person who buys singles.

You are 100% correct, wish I would be able to buy singles, trying to sell too many myself. :-)

[MiamiMarlinsFan]

Originally Posted by Cfioren317

All gone. Does that matter to anyone?

It matters to Fanatics. They know they can keep ignoring people who claim they’re charging too much.

[Schroeder]

Glad to see others share my thoughts on Museum. Checking out the sold listings on eBay, you'd be lucky to make $200 back, with a nice auto and maybe a Skenes or Elly RC. But $400, no way. You'd have to pull a 1/1 to make ROI on $400.

[JRX]

Originally Posted by jduds

I've made similar complaints in the past but I'm starting to think this might not be a bad thing. If these products had more demand, they'd be even more expensive. The breakers need a certain number of products a month and not all of them can be "the" big premium set everyone is changing. Topps has to be able to sell the middle of the road products as it just isn't possible to make as many distinctive products as is needed to keep the breaking machine running. It's a bad thing if one is interested in Juan Soto autos increasing in value or if one wants to chase Juan Soto autos in boxes or breaks, but if one just wants to buy cool Juan Soto autos more affordably it's not a bad system at all to have a steady influx of supply to eBay.

It would be nice if they at least distinguished the brands some more. Right now they all feel like exactly the same thing with similar auto checklists.