The Topps Company has signed a three-year deal with PSA, a Division of Collectors Universe.  Under terms of the agreement PSA will provide Topps with graded cards, which will be sealed in clear plastic, tamper-evident cases and included in product sent to retail.  Topps will provide PSA with cards before distribution, and then include the graded cards in actual products sent to market. Topps has provided certificates redeemable for graded cards before, but this is the first time they will actually be including graded cards in retail product, though other manufacturers have done so.

 

The way it will work is very simple.  For example, each box of the forthcoming Topps Reserve Basketball will include a graded rookie card (guaranteed '9' or above).  Topps will supply the rookie cards to PSA in advance, and then pack the graded cards it receives back from PSA as box-toppers in each box of Topps Reserve NBA.  Since the plastic holders, which preserve the card's graded status would be easily indentifiable in a pack, Topps use of the cards as box-toppers makes perfect sense.

 

Why do we consider this news from the world of sports cards important for retailers of entertainment cards?  Simply because trends in chase cards from holograms to relics have all begun in sports cards only to be incorporated later on in non-sports cards.  No one at Topps is saying so, but it is entirely possible that boxes of cards for Star Wars: Episode 2 due out next year could indeed contain graded cards.  'Grading' is a growing trend in back issue comics and cards, and is relatively well-established in coins.  Now Topps and the other sports card manufacturers have found a way to utilize it on the front end as a way to create a desirable premium that draws attention to their products.