Complete Details About The 2012 Topps Baseball Series 2 Gold Rush Wrapper Redemption Program

This year’s Topps Baseball product theme has been "Gold" with The Golden Giveaway, Golden Moments inserts, Gold parallels, real Gold cards and more.  When Series 1 was released, collectors rushed to get their wrappers back to Topps and all of the Gold Rush cards were gobbled up quickly.  With just 5 days left until the launch of 2012 Topps Series 2, collectors will have another shot at getting their hands on these popular wrapper redemption sets.

This Series 2 set continues with 50 new subjects and selected autographs from such stars Bryce Harper, Yu Darvish, Ken Griffey Jr. and more, but that is not all that is new.  This program comes with a major difference, which benefits all collectors.   Topps has announced it is offering a Gold Rush Wrapper Redemption program not only for redeemed hobby wrappers, but for retail wrappers too.

Just like with Series 1, Collectors sending in 50 Hobby wrappers (or 14 HTA Jumbo wrappers) of 2012 Topps Baseball will receive a 5-card cello pack of exclusive Gold Rush cards.

In addition, collectors who send in 50 retail wrappers (12-card packs only) will also receive a 5-card Gold Rush pack. 

And, no, you can’t combine Hobby and Retail wrappers to make the 50 required.  Hooby and Retail wrappers should be kept separated.

But supplies are limited. There are an incremental 10,000 5-card packs available for Retail in addition to the 10,000 Hobby packs.

The following are guidelines for the program,   

1 - All packages must be postmarked no earlier than June 6th, 2012.

2 -  Hobby and Retail wrappers must be packaged and sent to Topps separately and clearly marked “HOBBY” or “RETAIL” on outside of package.  Combined Retail and Hobby packages will not be accepted.

3 - Topps will accept 2012 Topps Baseball Series 2 wrappers only. This is limited to HOBBY, HTA and 12-card RETAIL wrappers.

4 - Each household will be limited to receive a total of TEN 5-card packs.

5 - This program is valid while supplies last.

Packages should be sent to:

Gold Rush

PO BOX 2008

Duryea, PA 18642

Make sure you are following Topps on Facebook and Twitter @toppscards for real time updates about the remaining availability of Gold Rush wrapper redemption packs .

2012 SAGE Autographed Football Cards Box Break Recap And Review

SAGE has done it again, providing tremendous value to prospecting autograph seekers with 2012 SAGE Autographed Football.  With some of the top names from the 2012 NFL draft in a short checklist, the probably of pulling the next big rookie is very high.

2012 SAGE Autographed Football fits into our Premium cards category. Each hobby box contains 14 packs with 3 cards per pack.  Each pack contains 1 autograph for a box total of 14 autographed cards.

Here are some of the cards we found in our box.

Base Set

 Robert Griffin III, RG3, front and back, Ryan Tannehill

 Trent Richardson, Luke Kuechly

The Hits

 Tauren Poole - Free Agent - Panthers, Davin Meggett - Free Agent - Texans

 Eric Page (#/100) - Free Agent - Broncos, Alfonzo Dennard - Round 7 (224) - Patriots

 Marvin McNutt (base and #/100) - Round 6 (194) - Eagles

 Ladarius Green - Round 4 (110) - Chargers, Nick Foles - Round 3 (88) - Eagles

 Dwayne Allen (#/100) - Round 3 (64) - Colts, Ryan Broyles - Round 2 (54) - Lions

 Janoris Jenkins - Round 2 (39) - Rams, Kendall Wright - Round 1 (20) - Titans

 Melvin Ingram - Round 1 (18) - Chargers, Robert Griffin II RG3 (#/100) - Round 1 (2) - Redskins

Overall Look

The base set cards are greatly improved, offering a variety of classic action and very different posed photos.  But collectors will be mostly concerned with the hits.   Again, SAGE benefits from the use of clear stickers.   I appreciate the backs of the autograph cards too.  The use of a different photo and the inclusion of stats and additional information adds to the appeal.

Quality and Variety of Checklist

With only 50 players on the checklist and 14 autos per box it seems like you have a 1 in 4 1/2 chance of pulling the big hits.  Add to that close to half of all first round draft picks and you’ve got the high probably of breaking a really nice box.

Do the Hits satisfy?

For autograph collectors, these hits will work really well both on a quality and quantity level.

Will you keep coming back for more?

Buy 5 of these boxes and you should wind up with most of the autographs you will be seeking this year.

Rating

4 1/2 out of 5

The sheer volume of hits makes 2012 SAGE Autographed Football an easy purchase.  

2012 Press Pass FanFare Football Cards Box Break Recap And Review

Just the hits.  That is what you will find in boxes of 2012 Press Pass FanFare Football.  5 cards, all autographs.  With a high percentage of first round draft picks, this is a good bet for pre-season prospectors.

2012 Press Pass Football fits our Premium cards category nicely. Each hobby box contains 5 autograph cards.

Here are the card we found in our box.

Case Keenum Blue Auto #/399 - Undrafted - Signed with the Houston Texans as free agent

Jeff Fuller Blue Auto #/399 - Undrafted - Signed with the Miami Doplhins as free agent

T.Y Hilton Auto - Drafted Round 3 - 92nd overall by the Indianapolis Colts

Stephen Hill Auto - Drafted Round 2 - 43rd overall by the New York Jets

 Brian Quick Auto - Drafted Round 2 - 33rd overall by the St. Louis Rams

Overall Look

These cards are impossible to scan with their wall-to-wall Chromium technology.  (If anyone has any neat tricks for scanning chrome/mirror/foil cards, please pass them along.)  The pictures do not quite capture how impressive these cards look in person, on the front, at least.  Turn over the card and you have a repeat of the picture with a congratulatory /authenticity statement.  Nothing more.  When these types of hit cards are part of a large set of regular trading cards, it is a non-issue.  As a stand alone set, it feels somewhat lacking.

Quality and Variety of Checklist

This is a short list with plenty of potential include anticipated standouts including Andrew Luck, RG3 and Trent Richardson.

Do the Hits satisfy?

Short of the back of the card design issue, these are very satisfying hits to pull and will get rookie speculators excited.

Will you keep coming back for more?

This could wind up like candy, a sweet treat, for those willing to take a chance, or even potato chips, you can’t just stop at one, for those who like to go for the win.

Rating

4 out of 5

2012 Press Pass FanFare Football might have worked better as the hits for another series of cards, but still works well for those looking to pull some nice on-card autos.