1993 Topps Gold - Jim Edmonds

The early 90s were crazy about cards. There were at least 5 different manufacturers and most produced multiple sets each year. In this competitive environment, the quality of cards dramatically improved and the gimmicks were legion. They also got more expensive. In 1988, I could buy a jumbo pack of 90 Topps cards for a dollar. In 1995, I remember paying $4 for a pack of 5 premium hockey cards.

One of Topps early efforts to beat back the rise of Upper Deck was to do gold cards. These were their regular cards, but with gold foil stamped on them. You'd get one gold card per pack (and the entire set of 800 came with a gold variant), so the gold cards were considerably more scarce than the regular versions.

Pictured is Cardinals legend Jim Edmonds. This is his rookie card from the 1993 set. And it is the gold variation. Notice the full color back as well. Topps did not offer anything but a rough cardboard back until 1991 (I think). Fleer had been making cleaner backs for their whole run. Score came along in 88 with full color backs (and an additional photo). And Upper Deck began in 1989 with similarly flashy backs to score. Sports Flik also had nice back quality. I will comment more on them later.