Kobe Chrome RC question

[bryantts]

Hey everyone,

I am going to be picking up a Kobe Chrome RC but I've ran across some questions I've had on them so if a Kobe collector could answer them for me that would be great.

I am referring to these two pictures of the chrome

the bgs 9:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

and the bgs 9.5:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

The BGS 9 has what appears to be a gold border around the card and the BGS 9.5 has a silver border around the card. I was under the impression that his RC from Chrome only had the regular verison and the refractor parralell. Someone told me through PM that there was a gold/bronze verison of the chrome, but the other auctions I've looked at show his Chrome RC card with a silver border. So my question is: The one with the gold border - is that a reprint of the Chrome (since they both say Chrome in the top right corner) or are there actually 4 verisons of his Chrome RC? I know people try to pass off the reprinted verison as his RC on ebay, but I havent' done too much research on it, but I know that the other auctions I've looked at the card has had the silver border.

any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,

Travis

[fzk]

I really don't know, but it could also be the lighting. Under a yellow light bulb, the silver border can look yellowish.

[tierre_brown]

There is no gold version of the card, it's more than likely just the lighting

[Theodor Madison]

I agree Have never seen a gold version. Like to have the 9.5.

There is no gold version of the card, it's more than likely just the lighting

[jack mooler1]

angle of the card plus the light is causing the gold look. you should be more worried about faded cards. happens alot on older clear coated cards like chrome and finest

[raging_bull]

^ +1..

The variation on the 96-97 Chromes are just the Refractors. No Atomic, No Gold Bordered, No Black Refractors, etc... (Its simple back then, hahahaha!).. And jack_mooler is correct. 96-97, 97-98 Chromes and its Finest counterparts fade easily. I suggest not putting them in display cabinets where lighting could disrupt its colors.

I have changed my Iverson Finest twice and my Kobe Finest twice already because of the fading. I have a Kobe Chrome RC, btw, but it ain't slabbed/graded. And I also suggest that even though your soon-to-be-owned Chrome RC is graded, do not put them where direct exposure to lighting is dominant.

[jeebus86]

Hey, to answer your first question, NO, there are no Gold parallels of the Kobe Topps Chrome, however there is a refractor version. Like it was mentioned earlier, it was just the lighting of the photo. These Topps chromes are very shiny when held up against a light. The one with the BGS 9.5 is scanned in, so the shininess of the card doesn't really show in the scanned version.

As for the fakes, as far as I know, there are no "fake" Kobe topps chrome. However, some people may confuse the Topps Chrome with the Topps Foil card. From a picture, they look kind of similar, meaning they both have a silver border, but the Topps Foil isn't chrome and it has a yellow topps logo on the upper right hand corner.

Also, like i said, there are no fakes of this card, but be very careful of the "altered doctored" versions of this card. I say this because some people have actually trimmed the borders of the Kobe Topps Chrome so it could have good centering. You really can't tell an altered version at first, but once you put the card into a screw down case, you would see that it's kind of loose and doesn't fit the holder all the way.

Because of this, I strongly advise you to get a graded Topps Chrome, even though they are slightly more expensive. The last thing you want to do is spend so much money on a card only to realize that it's trimmed. I had to learn this the hard way :(

Also, like raging_bull mentioned, I'll stay away from the faded Topps chrome Kobe's. They're not fake, but they just don't look right. Plus, in some extreme cases, I've seen the card so faded that Kobe ends up looking like a green Martian, lol.

So, once you do get the Kobe Topps Chrome, I'll store it right away, and avoid having it exposed to sunlight.

Hope you found this helpful!

[comgrchris]

^ +1

No, there is not a gold version of the Kobe Chrome Rookie, just a regular silver bordered one and a refractor version which is also silver bordered just colorful and more shiny.

Also you can see a faint shine of silver in the bottom right corner of the card.

The person who PMd you and told you there is a bronze and gold version is most likely referring to his Finest rookies which do come in a bronze or gold version.

[bryantts]

Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreicate it especially before I make a bigger purchase like this! And chris yea I knew the finest was gold/bronze verisons, but I just wasmn't sure about the Chrome or not, I didn't think there was a bronze/gold since beckett didn't mention anything about it.

And everyone that is mentioning the fading - is there part of the card I should look at taht fades the easiest or any way to tell how much it is faded? I would guess the ones that are graded do not have alot of fading problems or would I be wrong?

Thanks for all the help!

oh and PS - if anyone is getting rid of their kobe Chrome RC, i am def interested in picking one up so PM me please!

[jeebus86]

I've seen worst then this one, but here's a pretty bad faded Kobe Topps Chrome that's graded (It's really the skin tones of the players that begin to fade):



Here's one that isn't faded: