Topps Archives

The 1992-93 Topps Archives Basketball Set: A Look at What Could Have Been

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Ever “wonder what Topps basketball cards might have looked like during the hiatus years, 1983-91, when Topps discontinued its hoops series?” Topps presents the 1992-93 Topps Archives Basketball set, with designs matching their baseball counterparts!

That Pippen card was available on eBay in late March 2025 for $145.

Topps highlighted the release in issue 14 of Topps Magazine (Spring 1993) and gave away 20 boxes via a random drawing.

Since I write an Unopened Newsletter and maintain the Unopened Archive page here on the site, here’s a photo of the box, case, factory set (where collectors would find the gold parallels), and factory set case.

For more, check out this great piece from Sports Collectors Daily and the set’s page on TCDB; happy collecting!

Rookie Sensation – 1992-93 Topps Basketball Card Sets

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Topps Magazine’s final issue (Number 16) came out in the Fall of 1993, and it featured this fantastic article by Larry O’Rourke on the 1992-93 Topps Basketball sets!

“After an 11-year hiatus, Topps returned to the NBA in 1992-93 with two star-studded sets, Topps and Stadium Club.”

I almost forgot about the 1992-93 Topps Archives set—regular Topps and Stadium Club are junk-wax staples; hey, Beam Team and ToppsGold!

Happy Collecting!

Woody Gelman’s Personal Collection of Card Samples, Including A 1969 Color Deckle-Edge Prototype of Sandy Koufax

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Finding Woody Gelman’s personal collection of card samples would be a treasure for hobby enthusiasts today. However, this auction of over 160 sports and non-sports samples, including a 1969 color Deckle Edge prototype of Sandy Koufax, was from April 2000 and likely broken up.

The image in the catalog was really small, so the scan isn’t super clear, but the Koufax is a scaled copy of the 1964 Topps Giants Koufax card.

The Topps Archives has a great post about Gelman’s filing system, including better scans of the Koufax and King Kong pages. He said these albums have been “looted and pillaged over the years with all the pages and files being scattered across the hobby landscape with reckless abandon, stymying any hope of getting a complete picture painted.”

I did find one related item on eBay with an asking price of $175: Gleman’s IDEA page for the Topps “Magic Photo”Hidden Pictures” Hocus Focus set. Unfortunately, the seller said the cards were removed 15 years ago.