Topps adds autographs to 2012 Bowman Sterling and will allocate cards to Japanese print run
By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor
This year’s Bowman Sterling baseball product will include some new additions and part of its press run will be headed directly to Japan as part of a special offering.
Topps announced Monday that 10 percent of Sterling’s production run will be packaged into a configuration for distribution in Japan, while it will include an extra incremental autograph and more on-card signatures in the product.
“We have high expectations for this product,” the company said a statement. “We are making a concerted effort to create global demand for our products.”
In the 2013 Topps Museum Collection product information released on Friday, Topps also noted there that it will be sending a percentage of the print run to Japan.
According to Topps, it will be adding 134 new 1/1 Superfractors — 34 of those signed — to the product.
Set to arrive on Dec. 12, each pack will include one rookie or prospect card and a combination of three hits — a mix of autographed prospects, autographed rookies, dual autos and more. There will be six packs per box.
New this year will be Sterling Showcase autographs — a card embedded in a sterling silver frame limited to just 25 copies. These also will be found with 1/1 sterling silver parallels made entirely in silver.
Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

