They're not a sponsor of this website, nor are they paying me to mention this, and no I'm not getting a cut of the sales.
But right now, you can buy a Hobby box of 2012 Topps Heritage for $46.95 (plus shipping, handling, and appropriate sales taxes) at Dave & Adams. That's less than two bucks per pack.
Let that sink in for a moment.
I can never, ever, recall Hobby boxes of Heritage selling for less than $50 -- and keep in mind, this was a product that was released less than four months ago.
Of course, there is a good reason for this. With all the variations, gimmicks, retailer-exclusive parallels, and meaningless "value added" content, Heritage has become a uncollectible bloated mess -- yet another "marathon" product that most collectors know they'll never be able to fully collect. So why even bother starting?
The $46.95 Heritage Hobby box is an indictment against the current product development regime at Topps. The Hobby has spoken with their wallets. But are they listening?
UPDATE: Blowout has matched D&A's $46.95 price. Not surprising if you ask me.
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5 comments:
I have to agree, there are many Heritage dedicated sites/blogs, and threads on various forums(C/U's epic) it's easy to follow the reasons for the downward slide(and corrections if wanted) of the once mighty product.
FWIW 2008 Heritage Hobby was going for $45/box about 20 months after release.
http://phungo.blogspot.com/2009/12/2008-topps-heritage-double-box-break.html
I got back in to cards via Heritage in the early 2000's. I quickly turned into a vintage/player-focused collector once the sheen wore off and I realized that the $ didn't justify the product. Like you said, at this point it's a bloated mess.
It's $46/box because anyone who was still buying Heritage stopped once Archives was released. Archives is awesome in my opinion. 2 autos per box, better inserts, and a set that can easily be completed. I'm 38 years old...so getting a box with an Al Oliver and Willie Wilson on card auto is a lot more exciting than pulling a Pablo Sandoval Clubhouse Collection relic. Plus...for everyone crying about the 50 short prints...my case yielded the whole short print set...as well as about 15 doubles I could sell to recoup some $$...and all of the insert sets. Cases were very reasonably pre sell...and a sure fire way to complete the set...and to easily make back half of your investment by selling off all of your doubles. If you are going to waste money on blasters from Target at 20 bucks a pop...then yeah...you'll never complete any of these modern sets. I'd give up on collecting too if that was my model.
I bought six Archives blasters during a 20% off sale at Modell's. And for some reason they didn't charge sales tax, so it was a flat $16 each. I have to say--the collation sucked, and while I got my SPs at the stated rate, I am disappointed with what I got for my $96. It'll probably cost me another $150 to complete the set, and I could have bought the whole set, with the cool insert sets, for about $200.
I love the Archives set, but even at a discount, blasters are _not_ the way to go.
I have to say, though, I did like the 2012 Heritage set, which I bought via a near complete set purchase on eBay followed by a bunch of follow-up purchases.
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