2018 Topps Gallery Collector’s Box Break & Review

Posted on December 17, 2018 by sportscardinfo

After a very successful revival last year, Topps Gallery makes it’s return in 2018. Once again this product is a Walmart exclusive. So if you’re out shopping for those last minute Christmas gifts, checkout the card section for Topps Gallery.

I really like this brand, and what Topps has done with it. It comes in three different formats – Collector’s Box, Blaster, and Jumbo Value Pack. A Collector’s Box is equal to what a hobby box would be, and is the only format that guarantees any hits. Packaged within each Collector’s Box are (20) packs along with (1) Oversized Base Topper. You should find at least (2) autographs. Blasters have exclusive Artist’s Proofs, while Jumbo Value Packs have Canvas Parallels.

The base set consists of (150) cards. Parallels include Artist’s Proof (Blaster), Canvas (Jumbo Value Pack), Private Issue #’ed/250, Green #’ed/99, Blue #’ed/50, Orange #’ed/25, Red #’ed/1, and Printing Plates #’ed/1. I’ve seen the Canvas parallels referred to as Wood sometimes. Short Prints are found between #151 and #200.

Nine artists came together in order to produce the images for this set. They are Gerry Garcia, Kris Penix, Mayumi Seto, Carlos Cabaleiro, Dan Bergren, John Giancaspro, Kevin Graham, Jeff Mallinson, and Evan Shoman. Lots of these artists have done work for Topps before. Mayumi Seto is responsible for all of the Topps Living Set cards.

On the back of each card you can see which artist did the work. Five cards actually list the wrong artist – Ted Williams #163, Ernie Banks #167, Nelson Cruz #169, Robinson Cano #199, and Jackie Robinson #200. These cards attribute Carlos Cabaleiro as the artist when in fact it should be Kris Penix.

In addition to the base set and autographs, there is a nice selection of inserts. The Impressionists inserts are quite impressive. Despite not having any parallels, just the inserts themselves get more attention on the secondary market than you’ed expect. I pulled (1) from my Collector’s Box.

Although difficult to pull, its possible to own the original artwork used to make these cards. You can only get these pieces in the Collector’s Boxes. It would be hiding in your box topper pack instead of an oversized card.

Topps Gallery is one of my favorite looking products. On-card autographs could improve it, but given that its a retail-exclusive stickers make sense. I believe it to be one of their most important retail releases.

Complete Checklist

Here is what I pulled:

Autos