2012 Topps Marquee is now 2012 Topps Museum Collection (preview)

According to an article by Beckett, the 2012 version of Topps Marquee will be called Museum Collection, and focus on the most popular part of the release.

Marquee got lost in the shuffle of high-end set releases this fall, but apparently one insert set stood out. The Museum Collection insert set featured ornate fancy designs and autographs of top tier players.

Topps released preview images of 2012 Marquee last month, but renamed the set and issued additional images this week to drum up interest. Museum Collection is set for an early April release. The base set (seen above) will have a 100-card checklist and have four parallels.

 The jumbo swatches will return, and thankfully this time Topps is showing what most jumbo relics will be: a big hunk of normal gray fabric.

 The autograph list is impressive, as one would expect in a high-end release. Koufax, Mays, Ryan, Gwynn, Musial, Ripken, and Aaron are all touted as signers.

There will be booklets, with either dual swatches (seen above) or autograph/swatch combos.

 

 Non-booklet autograph/relic combos will also be inserted. I think this design looks more attractive than the jumbo relic autographs used this year. Jumbo swatches of plain fabric are dull (though jumbo patches are totally awesome).

 Quad relics are advertised, as seen in this Mantle above.

 Something relatively unique to the release are jumbo bat pieces - Topps doesn't issue cards like this too often. Again, it's just a big disc of wood, which would be great if it was a full bat slice - I'd love to see the finish around the edges of the cut. Of course, if Topps did that to a whole bat, it wouldn't have anything left to make bat barrel relics, but there must be plenty of other bat surface area to devote to this project.

Last, the centerpiece of the release, the Museum Collection autographs, will be in three different colored borders - gold /15, silver /10, and black /5.

I liked this year's Marquee release, as it had a more interesting design than Tribute. It looks like Topps is using a "frame" for every relic and autograph, in addition to the base set frame, to give it that "museum" look.  While Marquee might be out of my price range for group breaks or pack busting next year, I'll be looking forward to picking up cards on eBay in a few months. That is, if I can!

Topps Marquee: Yay or Nay? - Plus Finest and new Allen and Ginter sketches!

Three upcoming Topps baseball products have been revealed in the past week or so. Most people have already seen the details on Finest.

 I'm guessing the base cards will look something like the autographs. They look decent.

 I like large patches! And these two cards both  follow the same basic design, tying the set together.

 I've always been on the fence about the Finest Moments autographs/relics. They usually look decent, but I might want to recognize a different moment. With Halladay, I would want his autograph for my Perfect Game collection. This card kind of ruins that. On the other hand, if I just wanted the autograph for a Roy Halladay player collection, it wouldn't matter.

I haven't bought a Topps Finest pack/box in several years. I don't think I'll be any different this year, though I will enjoy this set more than in recent years. I don't think any set can compare to the 1993 edition, though. Depending on how those parallels really turn out, I may try for my first player rainbow with this set.

Now on to something totally new. Let's start with the Allen & Ginter. These are preview images of the "Baseball Highlights" sketches.

I like these sketches. Vibrant and lifelike, though they look more "National Chicle" style than Allen and Ginter. If this set isn't impossible to obtain I will probably put it together.

Last, the newest addition to the Topps line: Topps Marquee. Apparently it will be in the mid-level price range. What does that mean? If it's around $100 a box, you can count me in. I'll take a "risk" at $25 a hit. Each box should have an on-card autograph, autographed multi-relic, jumbo relic, and quad relic.

 The base card has a simple design. If the photography is on the level of Stadium Club, I want the set.

The on-card autographs. Are the gold autographs going to be ultra-thick? Will all cards be that way?

Here's a sample jumbo relic. I'm guessing most of the jumbo relics won't be patches. I would love to pull a nice big patch like this, though.

 These autographed relics look just like Tribute. This set kind of gives me the impression of being a poor man's Tribute. But that's okay - I like Tribute, but I'm a poor man.

Last, the quad relics. I need to get something out of the way, now that we've seen these three cards. Dual, triple, quad, six, twenty-five relic cards, you name it. If your card features one player, and there are two or more pieces of something that are exactly the same, those two pieces don't count as "dual" relics. In my mind, the Hernandez and Mauer autographed relic cards (as presented) each contain one relic. And the Ichiro has three. If you're going to include multiple swatches, use different colored jerseys, jerseys and bats, etc. Whatever happened to using gloves, shoes, balls, walls, etc? I loved some of the unique relics I could pull several years ago. And if they are using pants and jerseys, label them. It's not that hard. Donruss did it.

These could be my favorite relics ever. This isn't my card, by the way. But you have six different relics, from six different items.

Marquee is scheduled for a late August release.