Is this Chrome’s Rookie Card?

It’s not much to look at today but could the card pictured below be the very first Chrome/Finest card ever? One collector seems to have a theory on the mysterious origin of hands down one of the most rare cards of the 90s.

As everyone knows, Topps changed the face of baseball cards in 1993 with Topps Finest and its beloved Refractor technology. But did you know Topps first produced “Finest” cards in 1992 Topps Football sans Refractor technology?

Below is a “promo” aka pre-production card featuring Dan Marino. Super fan, ‘MarinoCollector’ believes there were just ten copies of the card printed and with over 20 years since its creation, probably less than half are still around today, if that many.

As you can see, Marino’s Miami Dolphins’ logo has been airbrushed out and there is no mention of Topps Company on the front or back of the card, only a small message which reads “Signs and Glassworks, Inc. Google searches turned up nothing but while researching patents ‘MarinoCollector’ discovered that Signs and Glassworks, Inc. had successfully patented “chromium printing technology”.

So is this a case of a company creating a mock-up and selling both the technology and design to Topps Company? I will pose that questions to Topps’ Twitter folks in hopes someone, anyone knows the origin of this card, which may or may not have spawned a revolution in the industry.

Furthermore, I would LOVE to know the men and women responsible for chrome cards, their inspiration for creating them (besides monetary), and what they are up to today. I wonder if they are even aware of how much their technology forever changed the trading card industry? Finally, if the story is true … did they go to any other companies to shop their card around?

The world may never know …

My First (Hobby) Love

I began collecting baseball cards by accident in 1990. I was 10 years of age and shopping with my mother at Ames (1958-2002) when I noticed a small box of what I perceived to be playing cards. I had only been in America for two years and while I grasped the native tongue very quickly, I had not even began to explore the realm of sports, or sports merchandise. My young life revolved around going to school and coming home to kick it to Def Leppard and WWF (now WWE) wrestling.

As you can imagine, I became a fan of sports cards despite not knowing anything about the sport or its players. I did take a liking to one particular player so from that point on I bought as much baseball cards as my mother would purchase in hopes of finding more of that player, a guy two years removed from winning the Most Valuable Player award unanimously. My introduction to baseball cards was with Topps Company and over the years even though my love expanded to other companies, I was going to forever be a Topps guy. Pinnacle Brands came close to stealing me away but they were gone just 5 or 6 years after their debut.

With all that history, it wasn’t really until Topps introduced Finest that I fell head over heels in love with collecting. I had always just bought whatever I could afford or singles for my player collection but for the first time, I went after a particular brand and only that one brand when I discovered Finest in 1996, three years after their groundbreaking debut. By 1997, there were three Finest-style products to choose from and I delved deep into all three and Topps’ brilliant Refractor technology head first. For me, 1997 was the greatest year for trading cards as some of the most insane, 90’s style cards were released that year. That however is another story.

As you can imagine, 1993 Finest is one of the most important trading card products of all-time. It didn’t feature any certified autographs or game-used memorabilia, nor did it carry a great overall design but what it did have was the very first Refractor and they were seeded at just one per box. At $8-$13 a pack during its release, that was considered a huge gamble. By 1993 standards, that price tag was just insane for a young collector like myself who was gouging on cheap packs of Donruss and Fleer so you can imagine how badly I’d love to bust a full box of 1993 Topps Finest. Consider it on my hobby bucket list.

Unfortunately, this is one wish that is unlikely to come true. As the years continue to pass and Finest comes close to being 25 years old, there is of course much less unopened wax out there to find. Add to the fact that there wasn’t much of this stuff to begin (48,000 boxes) with and you’re looking at a product that will be one of the most expensive unopened products to bust before we hit 2020. Currently, there are two boxes on eBay with price tags of $350 and $429, respectively. As much as I love Finest, there is no card I could pull from that product short of a super star Refractor that will justify that price.

As for the Refractors, which were a true rarity in 1993 and not a throwaway card like it is today, there is supposed to be just 241 of each of the 199 cards in 1993 Finest. That being said, hobby legend goes that several Refractors hit California by way of the back door during Finest’s inaugural release. Unfortunately, no one will ever truly know except those involved and we are as likely to get a confession as we are to seeing the player below enter the baseball Hall of Fame.