Let’s talk about the 2025/26 Topps Chrome Sapphire Basketball box that hit the market this week on Topps.com. Huge shout out to Topps – I think – for selling this through an EQL lottery, which meant that everyone had the same odds at being able to purchase the box for the same exact price, $999.
They recently started testing out Dutch Auctions which is terrible for collectors, but of course favors resellers and breakers. Simply putting this in EQL gets a Borat “very niiice” from me.
The wild thing about it was that if you won the box for $1k you could immediately sell the box to Dave & Adams for $2,500, a quick $1,500 profit. And for those who waited, Dave & Adams is now offering $3,800 for the same box.
What then would Dave & Adams do with the boxes? Well, sell them on their website for $5,999, of course!
Wait, what? The box has 32 trading cards and only one guaranteed auto. For $5,999?! Who would buy that? Certainly not the people currently paying $4,000-$5,000 for those boxes on eBay!?
There’s an infinitely small chance that you can find a “life-changing” Cooper Flagg card in this box - you won’t, but you could. There’s a closer to 98+ percent chance that you’ll find a few hundred dollars worth of cards in that box.
I feel like the old man shaking at a cloud, but really it’s wild what “fomo” does to us in the hobby. But, also, shoutout to Topps for putting this in the EQL. Clearly they could have made a boatload more selling these for several thousands of dollars.
Topps giveth, and Topps taketh away.
A few weeks ago I wrote about the best cards to pull in the 2026 Topps Chrome Winter Olympics & Paralympic Team Hopefuls set - geez, I have a word count to keep, Topps!
And of course I got myself a hobby box and literally in the first pack, with the first two cards I noticed something and thought to myself, “wait, is this the same card back-to-back?”
It was a Kelly Clark card followed by another Kelly Clark card that looked like the same exact card. It wasn’t the same card, it was just same-ish, but others started to notice too that maybe Topps got a little lazy with this set.
Women on Topps on Instagram noticed this as well with two "different" Hannah Bilkin cards. This one was even more egregious than the one I pulled.
Hey, Topps, we don’t need a 200+ base-card checklist. We’d just as well buy this product without the dupes and laziness. Please, reconsider removing filler from these sets.
RIP to the Topps 582 Montgomery Club, whatever you were. I’m sure someone is upset about this. Right?
I’m a bit speechless about this one.
Crocs and Legos have collaborated on the Lego Brick Crocs, launching on February 16th. They’ll retail for $149, and they’re so ridiculous that they will sell out instantly.
If you’ve ever wondered “what is the easiest way for a non-athlete like myself to tear an ACL,” well, wonder no more!
Credit: Leaf Trading Cards
Finally, as we like to do, let’s check in with our friends at Leaf and see what they’re up to. Oh, nice, just in time for this year’s Semiquincentennial our friends at Leaf are launching a “Stars of America” set which includes American icons like Lamine Yamal, who was born in Spain and currently lives (and plays) there, and such cool designs as Livvy Dunne “posing” in front of the White House where she famously resides.
It may sound like I’m hating on Leaf, but I promise you I love how bonkers their ideas are. Give us more, Leaf!
