The Dawn of the Chrome Age

1993 - the year Topps started making "chrome" cards. Except they weren't called Chrome, they were called Finest...

Card 989: Topps Baseball's Finest, 1993; #77

There were 199 cards in this groundbreaking set from Topps as they aimed for the "super-premium market" (in the words of BaseballCardPedia). Topps announced a limited print run of 4,000 for the entire 'Finest' set - apparently the first time a card publisher had annonced production figures. [EDIT - I got this wrong, thanks to Fuji for pointing it out in the comments!]

The cards are super shiny and glow under my overhead scanner.  

The back is less remarkable. Topps clearly couldn't be bothered about making the backs looks like a premium product. It does have a photo, although Tony has a "Sure, Jan" expression on his face as he strokes his chin.

Sometimes, looking at these evolutionary stages of baseball card design makes me think how things could have turned out differently. If this product had bombed, instead of being jumped on by eager collectors with magpie instincts, Topps might have written off the chroming process as an expensive mistake. That would have curbed their urge to produce 'chrome' versions of everything in sight in later years.

But Finest was a massive hit when it was released and from then on up to the present day hordes of collectors swoop on shiny cards every time they are released!

Total: 989 cards