Topps Unveils New, Ultra-rare 'Liquid' Parallels
Topps never fails at design ingenuity, and their latest iteration comes in the yet-to-be-released 2024 Topps Diamond Icons. Images released on the official Topps X (formerly Twitter) account show two new parallels, liquid silver, and the 1/1 liquid gold.
While it's obvious the rarity of a 1/1, the post does say that the liquid silver is rare, going as far to say, ultra-limited. Although it remains to be seen what 'ultra-limited' actually means.
According to the post, Topps has been working with a third-party tech company. Their desired outcome is, what they are saying, a never-before-seen 3D effects on the card.
𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍: Presenting ultra-rare Liquid Silver and Liquid Gold cards.
— Topps (@Topps) February 3, 2025
We have been closely working with a third-party tech company to develop these cards that feature three-dimensional elements never before seen on a trading card. pic.twitter.com/GrH4i3aekT
It will be interested to see what these look like in real life. The post says 'never before seen' but it isn't the first time Topps has tried a three-dimensional image on its cards.
The latest was 2022 Topps 3D, which took 100 of the best players from the Topps Series 1 and Series 2 flagship, used the exact same images, and gave them a holographic effect.
Going back further Topps released a special set called Topps 3-D Baseball Stars. It was a 30-card set of top stars that year. While the more modern sets above have a holographic texture and 3D effect, the 3-D Baseball Stars set had more of an embossed effect and texture.
Given Topps' penchant for innovation, and Fanatics' hope to bolster the hobby, if this new design proves to be a success we could see it further developed and added to other sets. For now, it's wait and see until Diamond Icons releases. Diamond Icons has a release date of Wednesday, February 5th.
After graduating from the University of North Dakota in 2008, Cole worked as an advertising copywriter until shifting to print journalism a few years later. Managing three weekly newspapers in the Dakotas, Cole won numerous awards from the North Dakota Newspaper Association including Best of the Dakotas and, their top award, General Excellence. He returned to collecting in 2021 and has since combined his passion for writing with his love of cards. Cole also writes for the Sports Cards Nonsense newsletter and has made guest appearances on multiple sports card collecting podcasts including Sports Cards Nonsense, and the Eephus Baseball Cards Podcast. IG: coleryan411 X: @colebenz