How do you commemorate a runaway Rookie of the Year season? You give it a luxury trading card.
Topps is set to debut a new product—Mercury—focused solely on Victor Wembanyama, the brand told Sports Illustrated. Topps said that the product is the most "widely distributed" single-athlete set it has ever created.
The distinction is not a run-of-the-mill hanger pack or even a more sought-after hobby box. This is a high-end premium product for the most intense collectors. It will retail for $8,000. Each pack will feature eight cards individually foil-wrapped in a branded magnet case.
Here are more details about what will be in circulation in this product:
- 20 base cards
- Base card short prints (limited to 45 copies each)
- 45 cards in French, numbered
- 10 autograph card designs, some with inscriptions (numbered inserts). All on-card autos
- Jersey relics
- 10 copies or less dual on-card autos with David Robinson, LeBron James, and C.J. Stroud
The product is called Mercury in part because it's the first planet from the sun, and will commemorate debut seasons from athletes moving forward, with plans to feature rookies from other sports as well. The motif holds for another meaning of the word: Liquid silver, which inspires the color of the cards.
2023-24 Mercury is available from Topps on Oct. 9. Fanatics Live, a breaking platform, will have it Oct. 8.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Victor Wembanyama's Rookie Season Being Commemorated With High-End Trading Card From Topps.