The Ecstasy Of Gold

When some people think of “The Ecstasy Of Gold”, they think of the instantly recognizable music from “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly". Truthfully, I think of that too, but I also think of baseball card parallels. Specifically, 1992 Topps.

1992 Topps gold cards marked the first time that a whole set of parallel cards from a major company’s base set, purposely existed without another company’s involvement. Sure there were O-Pee-Chee cards every year that mimicked the Topps set. There was the 1984 Nestle set that paralleled all 792 cards. Those all involved another company in the process.

These cards created quite a stir in the teenage collecting community, which I was a part of back then. These cards came in two ways: winners and regular gold. We each tried to collect the entire set and failed miserably. We were so excited that we failed to do the math. It would take a minimum of 792 packs to complete the set. That was only if we never got a single double, which we all know is impossible.

Foil on a card was a relatively new idea in 1992. The only cards that incorporated foil on the cards were Bowman and Leaf prior to that. If I’m leaving anything out, I apologize. Before those early experiments, metallic ink was used to spruce up a card. These Topps gold cards were different.

Fortunately, I had quite a few card shops around my area back then. I was able to get my hands on a few gold cards that might not have crossed my path otherwise. There was a price to pay though. Card shops jacked up the prices on those Topps gold cards. Most had the stars for sale higher than the top price in the price guides. If there was a prime reason for the card shops dying out back then, it was greed.

Unfortunately, these two parallel sets gave birth to many others. Leaf came out with their black gold parallel later in 1992. By 1994, Stadium Club was nothing but endless parallels. Other card companies started getting in on the act and utter chaos ruled. There were rainbows of colors available for each card, it seemed. Some colors were specifically created for another pointless parallel.

If money is the root of all evil in society, then gold must be the root of all evil in the trading card industry. It does nothing but breed frustration and heartache. No longer will the fan be able to collect everything from his favorite player or team. No longer can the set collector collect the entire set. Now there are short prints, gimmicks and parallels to deal with. Not to mention numbered cards.

I’m hoping that these trends will eventually fade. I don’t mind one or two parallels, but not ten or fifteen. Even five seems like too many. There’s a saturation point where things don’t feel as special anymore. We've reached that point and went beyond. When will cards start to feel special again?

We may never get to that point again, but we can make the cards that come out special to us. We can study the cards like we did when we first started. We can find a certain quality about each card that sets it apart from the others. It’s certainly harder to do today, but it still can be done.

I don’t actively seek out parallels anymore. I don’t mind them when I get them, but I won’t be wasting time and money on them. I will acquire them by trade or by pack opening mostly. The only time that I can envision chasing a parallel card, is if it is the last card I need in a set. If I’m done with the regular sets, then I’ll worry about the parallels.

This all started in the mainstream with the 1992 Topps gold cards. With ecstasy comes madness. With madness comes foolishness. Foolishness brings a rainbow’s worth of one card. Foil begets parallels begets numbered cards begets rainbows. It all started with one set of gold.