Doing the Math - Topps Chrome Formula 1 2020 vs. 2021

Short summary? Click here!

The Topps Chrome 2020 Series brought a lot of joy and new perspectives to the trading card market - startig at 200 Euro/160 GBP/250 USD the prices where immediately gone and are currently 10-12 times higher than that. Not only for that reason the 2nd year series is long awaited. In March the product started in 2 version:

Hobby Boxes (1:2 Boxes for Autographs) 18 Packs a Box: 550 Euro UVP

Lite Box with focus on Parallels, 16 Packs a Box: 220 Euro UVP

Gone after seconds on the official Topps websites all over the world the discussions headed to the actual print run of the product - more parallels, more box types, higher print run.

Bute how rare is the product and how will the prices be moving forward?

Bei Entstehung dieses Contents bewegen sich die Preise für Hobby Boxen bei rund 650 Euro, während Lite Boxen noch für 275 Euro am Markt erhältlich sind.

While working on that content the prices where at 650 Euro and 275 Euro for the two different boxes.

Some softfacts:

2020 shows the noteworthy Rookies in F2 Outfit – 2021 in F1 Outfit – What is the „True RC“ of Mick Schumacher?

We view the 2021 series as a True Rookie as is suggested by the Topps "RC" Logos.

But lets talk about the printun...

The odds on the hobby pack are showing data for the limited parallels - shout out to Topps - this is great information for the customer to have!

(Purple Checker Flag /199 for example 1:30 Packs)

Not a lot of different things on the lite Pack - difference shown is the Ray Wave parallels which are Lite Exclusive.

For the print run calculaction it is important you have seen: Green Ray Wave (limited to 99) 1:29 Packs, Purple Checker Flags 1:48 Packs

So the 2021 Odds are well documented - a view back to 2020 shows:

In Topps Chrome Formula 1 2020 consists of a 200 card baseset - limited Purple Refractors to 399 in 1:9 Packs means, the print run was 718.200 Packs / 39.900 Boxes or 3.325 Cases of first year Topps Chrome Formula1.

In 2021 it is a little bit more complicated to check - we can get total number of Lite boxes by calculating the 175 card baseset has a /99 Ray Wave for each card and they fall 1:29 Packs. So that gives you the total of around 496.000 Packs / 31.000 Boxen oder 1.940 "LITE Cases".

With these Lite Cases you are able to calculate a print run for hobby, too - using a parallel available in both versions - Checker Flag Purple for example.

The 199 Purple Checker totally existing per card and the ratio of 1:30 Packs plus a 175 card baseset result in total 34.825 copies. 10.333 of these are included in Lite Boxen (around 30%), the remaining 24.491 Purple Checker are in Hobby Boxes.

To get 24.491 Purple Checker Flags at 1:30 Packs means there are 734.750 Hobby Packs / 40.819 Boxes / 3.401 Cases

Topps Chrome Hobby 2021

~3.400 Cases

Topps Chrome Lite 2021

~ 1.940 Cases

Topps Chrome Hobby 2020

~3.325 Cases

After all mathematics we know the difference between the years is not as big as you may have thought. The Hobby Boxes are as rare as 2020 boxes - what has been produced additional is the Lite version which comes in addition to the hobby cases produced. The 2021 Chrome is of course the 2nd Year but True RCs (F1 Outfit) and the overall better card quality speaks for a foreseeable rise of the prices.

Will the Rookies perform well? Is the 20202 season as spectacular for the vieweers as 2021 was? How will this affect the number of collectors and investors on the products? We cannot find answers for all questions, but certainly for all F1 Vieweders, Collectors, Topps Fans or the people looking at the hobby from a different perspective we have a short overview on the different type of cards and print runs.