Wednesday, May 6, 2020

So Close You Can Almost Taste It

Since the release of 2019 Topps Chrome Update, I've been chipping away at my first ever rainbow - that of Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds. I'm not sure what exactly constitutes a rainbow in the sports card collector dictionary but I'm making my own rules. I'm not looking for any printing plates (all that grey would sure dim a rainbow), and sadly I think I can write off the superfractor. It was pulled right around the product launch and immediately sold on eBay for a hefty sum. It hasn't resurfaced since so I'll infer that it has found a happy home with a big time Pirates collector. 


Yesterday in the mail I received the orange parallel (#/25). It came my way via eBay, and I believe this was the first time I've made a purchase on eBay in this fashion: The card was listed beginning at .99 for a standard 7 day auction. Interestingly, the seller had the "Make an offer" option enabled, so I went ahead and did just that - despite knowing that I would probably get the card for a lot less if I just waited out the auction. This was a risk I was willing to take. I've been looking for this card for all of 2020 and then some. This is the first time one has surfaced in over 6 months. I made a fair offer - right around what others had sold for - and it was accepted. I probably overpaid and I've never been more at peace with it!

With the addition of the orange parallel I am now just one card away from completing my rainbow. The final one is the red parallel which is numbered to just five copies.

And boy, is it elusive. I haven't seen any on eBay, ever. There also haven't been any postings on COMC and no activity on TCDB aside from it showing up on a few Wantlists. I fear that these five cards may very well be sitting inside packs inside of unopened boxes in a warehouse somewhere. And since this a retial-only product that could create even more complications. We can only hope that one of these "Breakers" out there does a massive, 100 box break and one of them makes their way to the resale market.


5 comments:

  1. It's so hard to chase rainbows. And for me personally, I couldn't do it without a 1/1 unless it's a specific PC player I am doing. Like Rodney Hampton where I am after all of the cards. I am currently hung up with him on three 1/1 I need to finish off rainbows. I have never seen them, may never lol

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  2. (hey I see you break a lot of basketball, if you have any allan houston or RJ barrett let's do another trade. It's been awhile. Of course i am still taking NY Giants to)

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  3. I'm not a big fan of all the parallels that get produced, but when a blogger shows off a completed rainbow it sure is a thing of beauty!

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  4. Everybody seems to make up their own rules when it comes to collecting rainbows, so I don't think there is any steadfast set of guidelines as to what constitutes a completed rainbow. I have no idea who this kid is, but the collection looks great!

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  5. Man that rainbow is looking sharp!!! I consider the rainbow complete when everything is in hand except the 1/1s. In today's parallel rich hobby there are too many 1/1s to chase. That being said if the Super ever comes up, good luck getting it.

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