The Transition to Modern Cards: A Project Completed!

[steve B]

Originally Posted by OhioLawyerF5

Interesting. Every source I can find states that production for 1994 was greatly increased over 1993, and that 1995 scaled it back. 4000 cases was the print run for 1993, so I find it hard to believe that is accurate for 1994. Just anecdotally, having collected them in those days, I saw 94 Finest regularly at my LCS for $5 a pack, whereas 93 Finest was very hard to find, and ballooned to $20 a pack. Coupled with the better odds for refractors (1:15 vs 1:9), and with the checklist only increasing by 20 cards per series, there would need to be even less 94 produced than 93 in order to have the same number of refractors. And I highly doubt that. But I'm definitely open to learning something new. I'll have to pull out my Standard Catalog when I get home to verify.

Not firsthand, but there were some complaints back in 93, some perhaps more reality based than others.

The set was offered to dealers at a point in the season when they were still looking to get past break even on other sets. And other "gimick" sets had done pretty poorly in the preceeding few years, leaving dealers who bought into those sets and didn't manage to move them in time stuck.

So the preorders were a "I'll think about it for a couple days and maybe get a case" and by then it was too late. They sold out to a handful of big dealers or wholesalers in a day or so. (Hard to imagine today that there were dealers whose main business was wholesaling to other card shops back then)
LOTS of complaining about how Topps had basically made it a deal for the big customers leaving the little guys out of luck.

Some collectors went with that, saying it was just greed to have packs at $20-25 each. And that Topps was in on it and they wouldn't buy the cards.

So mostly sour grapes that they didn't/couldn't get in on the hottest product in years.

I bought my pack for 25, thought the cards were cool, and ended up with maybe half the set over the years, and a handful of refractors.

I didn't really go for it after that, but did usually buy a few plus the football and basketball. On the darker borders of those and the all stars the refractors were a bit harder to spot and just weren't as interesting as the silver of the main part of the 93 set.