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An Old Profession Tries a New Face
A recent development has once again proven that not only is poker on the
rise in popularity, it also is on its way to being accepted in all circles
as a bona fide sport. A recent decision by sports cards specializing company
Topps to release a set of collector chip is also a move by an increasingly
desperate industry to recapture some of it old glory. Could a collector chip
depicting Doyle Brunson one day be as sought after as a card depicting Wayne
Gretzky or Babe Ruth used to be?
The market in sports cards has bottomed out in the 21st century. A cultural
juggernaut throughout the 20th, the sports card business reached a peak in
1995 with total sales of $1.2 billion. The advent of multi-league player
agreements and a tightening of endorsement deals led to a skyrocketing of
card prices, which made collecting the cards virtually impossible for the
school age boys that were the traditional customers of the market. As a
result, sales had plummeted to $270 million in 2005, and industry casualties
included long established companies whose hallmark was trading cards, like
Score and Fleer. Only Topps and Upper Deck remain of the once high flying
industry, and both continue to take losses in their appeal to the high end
collector of cards.
After the 2004 baseball season, Topps began to consider the idea of
developing a poker chip set. That year, they released a set of 26 chips for
each of the teams in that year’s National league championship series- the
New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros and the Saint Louis
Cardinals. Those sets are now selling for $50 to $100. In mid-December,
Topps released its first collector chip set. The chips are heavyweight and
made of clay, come in different colors, and are sold five in a pack, with
some autographed chips scattered throughout the packs which feature rookies,
all-stars, and legends.
The product seems to be doing all right, with some 800 Topps chip-related
auctions taking place on a recent check of ebay. It might be that the era of
trading cards is over, a victim of the greed of both the companies and those
they idolized. But at least Topps is trying for a new market, and not ready
to throw in the towel just yet.
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