2010 Sportkings National VIP Promos Duke Snider

Set size: 25 cards

Front Design: An artistic sketch of the subject is placed in the upper left, with the Sportkings Series D logo along the right border in a black banner. The player's name is printed just beneath the sketch, followed by a gold-colored 2010 National VIP logo.

Back Design: The card number is at the top with a VIP prefix, followed by a box with a congratulatory/advertisement message, the Sportkings name, and copyright data.

Parallels and Similars: None known.

Distribution: Cards were distributed at the 2010 National to visitors who purchased VIP ticket packages. Each VIP gift bag held five of the 25 promos.

Thoughts: I enjoy the pencil sketch images used in this set, and wouldn't mind a full set done in this style at some point. Perhaps when Topps brings back Gallery or Panini brings Diamond Kings back, they can do a "pencil sketch parallel" which would be the same image as the painting, done in a pencil sketch. Now that is a parallel idea. While we're at it, they could get those caricature artists from amusement parks to do goofy sketches too for a third parallel. I'm sure there are tons of art students who'd love to do this for cheap and turn out some relatively good work.  As far as a set issued only for the purpose of distribution at the National, this is a pretty decent one. Since Sportkings didn't just take cards from their sets and foil stamp them and call them National Exclusives, this set has its own importance (ahem, Panini/Donruss).

1948 Topps Magic Photos

Set size: 252 total, 19 baseball subjects, 7/8" x 1-1/2"

Front Design: The vertical card fronts have a black and white photo with the subject printed over the photo.

Back Design: The horizontal black and white backs indicate which "series" it was from (in this case, "Aviation Pioneers"), as well as a trivia question relating to the subject on the front of the cards. The cards are numbered as part of each series. Baseball players feature a -K card number suffix.

Parallels and Similars: 1955 and 1956 Topps Hocus Focus cards feature the same concept and similar card front designs, though the backs of each issue are unique.

Distribution: Cards were issued in packs/wrappers with instructions on how to develop the photos. The photos were originally blank, and would need to be developed by spitting on them.

Thoughts: Gross. Really gross. Totally cool, but incredibly gross. Let's hope this is one concept Topps never brings back as a retro insert set. This issue contains the first baseball cards issued by Topps - four years before the iconic 1952 set. Not only is this the first baseball issue, it's the first card issue from Topps. Well-developed near-mint cards are worth $60 (and can easily bring more), but non-sport subjects in lesser condition with poorly developed photos are thankfully easier to pick up.


From Wikipedia: The subsets by group letter are: A Boxing Champions, B All-American Basketball, C All-American Football, D Wrestling Champions, E Track & Field Champions, F Stars of Stage & Screen, G American Dogs, H General Sports, I None issued, J Movie Stars, K Baseball Hall of Fame, L Aviation Pioneers, M Famous Landmarks, N American Inventors, O American Military Leaders, P American Explorers, Q Basketball Thrills, R Football Thrills, S Figures of the Wild West, T General Sports.

1910 T218 Champions

Set size: 153 cards, 2-1/2" wide by 2-7/8" tall.

Front Design: A white border surrounds a painting of the subject; his name appears in capital print in a corner.

Back Design: The backs contain a simple frame with fanciful loopy corners. Inside the frame is the subject's name in caps and a short career highlights biography. Beneath the biography is an advertisement for a tobacco brand, and some identification of the card series. There are multiple series and tobacco brands (Hassan and Mecca); as a result the tobacco advertisement can vary slightly from card to card.

Parallels and Similars: None known, though there are multiple series and tobacco backs. I don't have enough experience with tobacco cards, especially of this size, to know if there are other similar issues.

Distribution: Tobacco cards were distributed with packs of cigarettes as "premiums" designed mainly to keep the cigarettes from being crushed.

Thoughts: There are no baseball players in this set, but it fits into the multi-sport part of my type collection. The art is high-quality, and a baseball set or other interesting subject of the same style would be a great set to pursue. Since this set doesn't contain baseball players, information is scarce.

Additional Images: Card back: