coolest parallel sets

ORANGE

What are the coolest parallel sets?
I like the 2005 topps black refractors and the orange refractors of this year (only orange baseball cards?)

jmbkb4

My vote should be fairly obvious...

ORANGE

Yeah, the things were green, right? Bright green... very hard to find well centered, no?
Here's another that I liked the 99 ultimate victory parallel 100s (sounds like a cigarette)

Brian48

1991 Topps Desert Shield. SEMPER FI!

TheMcgwireMuseum

<< <i>(only orange baseball cards?) >>



2003 Victory also had an orange parallel set I believe

bjork73

There's an O-Pee-Chee hockey set out this year; the rainbow parallels numbered out of 100 are stunning. Not only is the rainbow effect cool, but the card design adds a sweet art-deco factor. Even though they aren't incredibly rare, I could imagine the size of the set and the rookie class would push the cost to about $3000 to complete the set so no O-Pee-Chee rainbow set for me

Jdurg

This is a tough one. I'm actually quite fond of the 1992 Topps Gold set simply because it was the first really publicly known parallel set. Sure you had the Desert Shield set for 1991 Topps and all the Tiffany sets out there before then, but the Gold Set was really the first parallel set that the public was widely aware of. I also think that the 1993 and 1998 Inaugural sets are kind of neat. Topps put a special stamp on each card of the sets that year for each of the inaugural teams. (And I just found these sets for sale a few weeks ago and have all four of them still factory sealed. )

Cubby

"2003 Victory also had an orange parallel set I believe"

You are correct.

fandango

Without a doubt, the 1993 Finest Refractors...especially the McGwire card! that card is so rare i am trying to corner the market......Wait this must be a bad dream..i woke up as jGarci.....nooooooooooooo!

Wabittwax

My favorite is the 1997 Totally Certified Gold numbered to 30. And, late 90's Topps Chrome Refractors.

twoinar

03-04 Topps Basketball Gold Parallel/99

CDsNuts

The 95 Select Artist's Proofs set is awesome- very underrated. Great design and 1 per box.

Lee

Volver

1994 Flair Hot Glove for me. Small set (10 cards) but cool and different.

jmbkb4

<< <i>1994 Flair Hot Glove for me. Small set (10 cards) but cool and different. >>





Also, agree with Lee -- Love the '95 Select Mirror Gold set -- have 3 PSA 10s of Thomas.

TNP777

I've always had fun doing the Fleer Ultra base, gold and platinum medallion parallel sets for the Dodgers and Rams. Very challenging, but always a thrill to track down some of the rare early issues.

Geordie

f2tornado

Pinnacle Museum (Baseball), Trophy (Football), Rink (Hockey) Collection. These are the duffex parallels.
1997 Pinnacle Artist Proofs - Various products and themes. The New Pinnacle Green and Blue Artist Proof cards are stunning.
1998 Donruss Crusades (I like the green #/250 the best but there are also purple #/100 and red #/25)
2002 and 2003 Topps Chrome Gold Refractors (from baseball... very nice gold finish. The Black versions are nice too)
1997/1998 EX Essential Credentials... Wow!
1998? Topps Gold Label Gold parallel
1995-96 Summit Ice Artist Proofs (hockey)... glittering gold and hard to find.
1997 Bowman Chrome International Refractors... very nice country of origin flag in background.
1994 Playoff Contenders Back to Back (football)... perhaps the start of the two sided card theme.
2005 and 2006 Topps, Finest, Bowman Chrome Superfractors #1/1. The Finest Framed Refractors #1/1 are also nice.
Probably many others I really like that don't come off the top of the head.

I also have soft spots for the 1992 Topps Gold (not the winner version) and 1992 Leaf Black.
The 1975 Topps Minis are cool too but I don't consider them parallels like the 90's to presnt inserts.

helionaut

2000 Ultimate Victory Golds, 2005 Origins Old Judge Golds, and 2001 Topps Heritage Chromes. Bowman Chrome is a nice parallel to regular Bowman, too. It's so cool they released it as its own brand.

Estil

(in no particular order):

1992 Leaf Black Gold, one of the very first parallel insert sets. The regular 1992 Leaf set just doesn't do anything for me, but the Black Gold set is drop dead gorgeous, and is surprisingly affordable considering you only got one per pack.

1992-94 Topps Gold; the 1993 set in particular. Again, the 1993 and 1994's came only one per pack (the 1992s could be bought as a factory set) yet again, the sets are amazingly affordable considering how difficult it'd be to build these by busting packs.

1994 Score Gold Rush (and 1995 to a lesser extent): One of my favorite parallel sets back in my "could only buy a few packs here and there" days. I still hope someday I can get this set.

1996 Fleer Tiffany: I love how much more vibrant the colors in the photos are in this set compared to the regular "matte finish" set. Unfortunately, these don't show up very often on Ebay and regretably, I missed a good chance to get one pretty cheap. I would only get this set as the Tiffany version because IMO, the regular set is just plain boring design wise.

1995-present Ultra Gold Medallion: I already have the 1995 edition, but the ones from 1998 onward with that neat gold background/finish are quite interesting. Again, a challenging set to build at one per pack, but not impossible like their numbered to 100 platinum medallion cousins. Then I think there was a year or two they were die-cut also?

RetroCards

Topps Heritage black refractors