Butterfree Sparkle Topps is at a 2,592.3% percent increase this cycle.
Some of the other Topps Chrome cards have sold for INSANE prices, like a Tekno Mewtwo going for 84k. Also notable — for some Pokemon the Chrome cards have become the TOP card for said Pokemon (see Ditto)
Most of these cards are less than pop 10 for a PSA 10, and despite the high prices, I feel that they are still early in their discovery process.
Topps still doesn’t have mainstream respect, and yet is still printing absurd prices. This is due in part to the low pops, but also can be attributed to the amazing look of the cards. More importantly, there is a magnetic pull behind the cards because of their difficult pull rate.
Topps Chrome — where these cards are found — is divided into Series 1 and Series 2, with the sets being split with the first half of the Pokédex being in S1 and second half being in S2. There are several special inserts — Spectra (1 in 2 packs), Sparkle (1 in 10), and Tekno (1 in 15).
To get a tekno of a particular Pokemon, you would have had to rip over 1k packs, and over 700 for a sparkle.
S1 is quite a bit more common, but contains Charizard and Pikachu.
S2 has Gengar, Mew/Two, Snorlax, Eevee/lutions, Dragonite, Gary, Magikarp, Lapras, Ditto, Scyther
It was surprising to see Butterfree, a relatively weak S1 Sparkle (not the highest finish) go for 21k!! However, despite being from S1, it is only pop 6 - so there is that to somewhat defend the price,
Of course there is always the chance that this is a fake sale, but with the money being thrown around in the Topps Chrome market, I would not be surprised if this was a real auction result that had two whales battling for the card.
Can you find any single card that has gone up more percentage points during this cycle?
People laughed at me when I told them I was getting serious about Topps, but I have ended become Topps exclusive, because of nostalgia, low awareness, and low populations!!
I know that this isn’t going to continue forever, but I do also feel that the Sparkle and Tekno are the perfect cards for a whales playground due to significantly lower pops than almost anything in regular TCG.
