Finest Test Refractors

[dengbang]

A collector from Australia recently sold his 1994 Test Refractor collection on eBay. It's been a decade since I've seen this many up for sale at one time. Side note, who remembers paul06901 flipping a bunch of these 10 years ago?

I thought it would go unnoticed since the end time was around 9-10 am cst but the Shaq Lottery Prize sold for a whopping $2600.



Had these been inserted into packs, they would have been the first insert refractors produced.
Very cool to see the collectors still going at it for these cards after all these years.

[AbraCalabro]

dengbang, I remember paul having a ton of these and dumping them after posting them on the Censorship Forums lol.

I'm actually glad he shared pics of them, I think I still have the pics somewhere on an old hard drive. I love these test refractors. Rack Pack was one of my 'impossible' sets as a child when this stuff first came out, so to own the set in refractor for was a goal...but that was short lived.

Also part of my gripe with Topps because they made such a bone head decision when they didn't include refractor parallels of the inserts. It sucks that they're so expensive...sucks even more about the discoloration.

Looks like he unloaded a TON of these, stopped searching for them years ago because they seldom showed up. Man, they all look so great as refractors.

[darz90scardz]

I saw the Penny sale. Apparently, according to the guy who sold it to the eBay seller, it took about a 1k haircut.

Would love to own it but there’s no way I’m dropping that much even at a “discount.”

I’ve never spent 4 figures on a penny and I hope to keep it that way, lol.

[dengbang]

dengbang, I remember paul having a ton of these and dumping them after posting them on the Censorship Forums lol.

I'm actually glad he shared pics of them, I think I still have the pics somewhere on an old hard drive. I love these test refractors. Rack Pack was one of my 'impossible' sets as a child when this stuff first came out, so to own the set in refractor for was a goal...but that was short lived.

Also part of my gripe with Topps because they made such a bone head decision when they didn't include refractor parallels of the inserts. It sucks that they're so expensive...sucks even more about the discoloration.

Looks like he unloaded a TON of these, stopped searching for them years ago because they seldom showed up. Man, they all look so great as refractors.

I saved those photos too! haha

I used to own the Glenn Robinson Rack Pack, Barkley Cornerstones, Ewing Lottery Prize, and a few others. Sold them all to player collectors back then as I saw it was better in their collection than mine. Now I am looking to make a run at the 1994 test refractors again.

They have gotten pretty expensive for sure, but at least it's not driven up by artificial hype or speculation...at least I don't think so. Can't imagine there's more than 10 different people bidding on these cards
It does suck that there's discoloration but I've come to accept that the early Finest cards are all prone to it (been looking for a non greening MJ 93 Finest Refractor with no success).

I saved the search so but the 1995 Mystery Finest Orange one pops up most of the time. I almost crapped myself when I saw how many of the 94's were listed at once.

I saw the Penny sale. Apparently, according to the guy who sold it to the eBay seller, it took about a 1k haircut.

Would love to own it but there’s no way I’m dropping that much even at a “discount.”

I’ve never spent 4 figures on a penny and I hope to keep it that way, lol.

I know it did sell for a little bit less than how much Bryan (shipmycards) sold it for a while back.

It's just one of those cards that you have to pay up when they come up for sale, I suppose.

I know you've been collecting Penny for a while so I'm surprised you've never spent $999+ on a card. Even back then there were Penny cards that were above $1K. Crazy how $1K+ for a card is so common nowadays, back in 2014 it was considdred high-end and you had to sell some cards to be able to buy one lol

[darz90scardz]

I know it did sell for a little bit less than how much Bryan (shipmycards) sold it for a while back.

It's just one of those cards that you have to pay up when they come up for sale, I suppose.

I know you've been collecting Penny for a while so I'm surprised you've never spent $999+ on a card. Even back then there were Penny cards that were above $1K. Crazy how $1K+ for a card is so common nowadays, back in 2014 it was considdred high-end and you had to sell some cards to be able to buy one lol

Yea, it was the same copy afaik. I don’t disagree that you have to pay up for the truly rare stuff these days, I’m just cheap. I’ve gotten close to the mark a couple times, but thankfully never crossed the 1k threshold. I’ve only spent that much twice, but with Jordans.

My brain really is still stuck on the 2014/2015 market in many ways. It definitely still hasn’t reconciled with what happened during and after Covid. I also hate to sell pc stuff, so it’s super rare for me to put cards back into more cards, it’s always straight out of my pocket.

I remember the BO photo dump of all the test refractors too. The allure of rarity is cool and all, but in the end I’d much rather they were standard issue and went for like 250 instead 2500.

[AbraCalabro]

I saved those photos too! haha

I used to own the Glenn Robinson Rack Pack, Barkley Cornerstones, Ewing Lottery Prize, and a few others. Sold them all to player collectors back then as I saw it was better in their collection than mine. Now I am looking to make a run at the 1994 test refractors again.

They have gotten pretty expensive for sure, but at least it's not driven up by artificial hype or speculation...at least I don't think so. Can't imagine there's more than 10 different people bidding on these cards
It does suck that there's discoloration but I've come to accept that the early Finest cards are all prone to it (been looking for a non greening MJ 93 Finest Refractor with no success).

I saved the search so but the 1995 Mystery Finest Orange one pops up most of the time. I almost crapped myself when I saw how many of the 94's were listed at once.

Wow, must have been great to have had those cards at some point. I was actually thinking the same thing, it's rare to see cards organically go up in perceived value and these particular cards we're discussing are such an example. I think they're rare and obscure enough, that there just isn't enough 'cattle' to pander to for driving the values up. The big spender hype men won't get a lot of attention from getting these, so it's not worth it for them.

Agreed about the discoloration, but I let the MJ refractor go when made available to me a number of times, same with the Hill RC, two iconic cards in my opinion, because of the possibility they might change color at some point. I would not pay top dollar for either one, simply due to the risk inherent with them.

Good hunting and please do share if you land any.

Yea, it was the same copy afaik. I don’t disagree that you have to pay up for the truly rare stuff these days, I’m just cheap. I’ve gotten close to the mark a couple times, but thankfully never crossed the 1k threshold. I’ve only spent that much twice, but with Jordans.

My brain really is still stuck on the 2014/2015 market in many ways. It definitely still hasn’t reconciled with what happened during and after Covid. I also hate to sell pc stuff, so it’s super rare for me to put cards back into more cards, it’s always straight out of my pocket.

I remember the BO photo dump of all the test refractors too. The allure of rarity is cool and all, but in the end I’d much rather they were standard issue and went for like 250 instead 2500.

Dude, I'm exactly the same way. Although I don't think I ever dropped a g note on a card, I may have to do that in the near future because of the types of cards I want to add at some point. I'm still stuck on 2009/10 pricing lol.

And count me in on the sentiment that they should've been standard pack issued. A real blunder on Topps' part, same with the now infamous non-refractor RCs from 95/96.