The 1987 Topps baseball card set is one of the most iconic and valuable modern issues. While the standard version is widely collected, a special Tiffany parallel subset has become one of the holy grails for investors and enthusiast alike. The Tiffany cards were produced in extremely limited numbers and feature prestigious design elements that separate them from the common cards in the set. Their rarity and superior aesthetics have made 1987 Topps Tiffany cards highly sought after by collectors for decades.
The standard 1987 Topps set contains 792 cards as is typical for issues from the 1980s. Topps produced these standard cards using their normal paper stock and printing process. In 1987 Topps took the unprecedented step of experimenting with a luxury parallel subset using premium design and materials. Only 100 of each Tiffany parallel card were produced, for a total of only 7,200 Tiffany cards across the entire 72 player set.
Topps crafted the Tiffany cards from a heavy, high-gloss card stock more closely resembling premium card issues than a typical Topps baseball card of the era. The card fronts featured blue borders and typefaces to match the iconic Tiffany brand, which is famous for prestigious fine jewelry, glassware, stationery and other luxury goods. On the backs, Topps omitted stats found on the standard issues in favor of elegant deco-style borders and a classy monotone Tiffany blue palette throughout.
While limited information was initially provided about the Tiffany cards by Topps, tales of their extreme scarcity and opulence quickly spread among collectors. The cards carried an air of prestige far beyond common 1987s. Today, they remain iconically beautiful and symbolize the pinnacle of aspirational collecting during the late 1980s boom in the hobby. Getting one’s hands on a genuine 1987 Topps Tiffany parallel in high grade is considered a true milestone among seasoned collectors and investors.
Part of the mystique surrounding the Tiffany cards stems from the secrecy with which Topps produced them. According to former Topps employees and industry publications from the time, Topps kept the limited Tiffany subset a closely guarded secret. The parallel cards were quietly pulled from production runs and hand-crafted in extremely limited quantities for an elite niche of high-end collectors. Very few outside a select circle at Topps knew the flashy blue Tiffany cards even existed until after their release.
When collectors first began finding the rare blue parallels in packs or on the fledgling sports memorabilia market in the late 1980s, excitement around the set exploded. The combination of extremely limited quantities, luxe materials and design elements closely tied to the iconic Tiffany brand gave the cards tremendous allure. While the standard 1987s were hotly collected, the Tiffany parallels occupied an entirely different stratosphere in terms of value, prestige and collector desire. Prices quickly soared to new heights for the gems of the set.
Today, complete 1987 Topps Tiffany sets in gem mint condition regularly eclipse the $100,000 sales threshold when they hit the open market. Individually, elite gems like a Tiffany Roger Clemens or Ozzie Smith rookie routinely command over $10,000 alone in top grades. Condition is critically important, as the fragile foil-stamped surfaces show flaws very easily versus a standard cardboard issue. Population reports from grading leaders like PSA and SGC show fewer than a dozen Tiffany sets have even been completed and preserved in pristine mint condition to date.
While other parallel and insert sets from the late 1980s and beyond have come and gone, none embody the elite stature or obsessive following of the 1987 Topps Tiffany subset. Their timeless beauty, pioneering premium concept, and infamously limited production run have cemented these blue gems as forever iconic among serious collectors and investors. After almost 35 years, the lure and fascination with owning a piece of this ultra-premium parallel set shows no signs of fading for those who dream of acquiring cards more prestigious than gold.
