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The box: 2018 Topps U.S. Winter Olympic Team & Hopefuls cards (hobby box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com
Packs per box: 24
Cards per pack: 8
Cards in this box: 181
Base US set completion:
48 of 48 (100 percent)
Base USA set completion:
45 of 45 (100 percent)
Duplicates (both sets): 36
Inserts & short-prints: 49
Achievement Medallion (1) – Bode Miller (/99)
Lindsey Vonn Career Milestones (2) – 2002 Olympic debut, 2009 second World Cup win
For Pride & Country (5) – Gracie Gold, Nathan Chen, McRae Williams, Brittany Bowe, Alex Shibutani
Did You Know? (8) – Long-track Speedskating, Snowboarding, Freestyle Skiing, Nordic Skiing, Figure Skating, Skeleton, Bobsled, Alpine Skiing
Podium Image Variation (1) – Bode Miller
Flag parallel (2) – Elana Meyers Taylor, Madison Chock (/99)
Silver parallel (both sets) (6) – Gracie Gold, Rico Roman, Heather Bergsma, Nathan Chen, Jessie Diggins, Joey Mantia
Bronze parallel (both sets) (24) –John Daly (both), Charlie White, Jamie Greubel Poser, Maddison Hubbell, Vincent Zhou (2), Zachary Donohue, Chloe Kim, Meryl Davis, Lindsey Vonn, Danelle Umstead, Mike Minor, Chris Lillis, Elana Meyers Taylor (2), Shani Davis, Gracie Gold, Brittany Bowe, Alex Shibutani, Devin Logan, Jon Lillis, Julia Mancuso, Declan Farmer
Autographs/Memorabilia: 3
Autograph (1) – Keith Gabel (/30)
Gold Autograph (1) – Bode Miller (/25)
Relic (1) – Nathan Chen
What’s Buzz-worthy: This is an interesting one with essentially two base sets (US-# and USA-#) that are loosely portraits and action photos but you can’t really limit them to just that. They’re not the same size, either, in this Hobby-only product so you can’t really call them parallels or anything like that, but the good news is that you get twice as many shots at the big names found here. (Who those big names are begins revealing itself on the Winter Olympics stage soon.) This was clearly a Bode Miller box with a Gold auto, a gold-medal manufactured Relic and an image variation. There are some serious surprises to be found in these boxes in terms of scarcity and emerging names such as Chloe Kim who haven’t had cards before but figure to be in focus quite heavily once the action begins. For the price, this is a kind of a product that should deliver pretty well for the duration of the Winter Games and then also later on as the wax dries up. (No blasters this time.) If you want to add some unique stuff to an autograph collection, this kind of a product is a no-brainer. If you’re a flipper, this one could be a money-maker, too, at its present low price. All in all, it’s pretty solid and there’s a lot of potential and attention to come for the stars in these packs very soon. Now’s the time to rip.
Product Grade: A-
Box Grade: A
Fun Grade: A-
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