By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor

Topps plans to continue making Olympic trading at least through the next two Olympic Games, according to a published report.

The Sports Business Daily caught up with Topps CEO Ryan O’Hara, who said the cards would continue with the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia and 2016 Summer Olympic at the Rio Games.

“They were more popular than we expected,” O’Hara told Sports Business Daily. “We are definitely looking forward to doing this again.”

Topps produced nearly 654,000 packs of Olympic cards, according to the report.

The cards appealed to more than just collectors and sports fans, but casual fans of the games who are captivated every couple of years.

Some of the most popular cards in the set were autographs from athletes such as Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, Missy Franklin, the 17-year-old swimming gold medalist, or Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings, who have won three gold medals in beach volleyball.

Hobby boxes are available at local card shops, but the retail stores have them as well. Fans found a number of different items in $20 loose packs or blasters such as relic cards, stamps or commemorative pins.

For a free comprehensive price guide on 2012 Topps Olympic cards, click here to view the PDF.

UPDATE: Topps made the announcement official on Friday (Dec. 14), four months after the initial report. It will continue with its with the United States Olympic Committee and will make Olympics, Paraolympic cards. Topps will continue to direct a portion of each purchase to supporting the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams. The Sochi 2014 Team USA cards will be available for purchase starting in 2013 at the same locations as the London 2012 product line.

Susan Lulgjuraj is the editor of Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazine. You can email Susan here with ideas, comments and questions. Follow her on Twitter here.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor | Commentary

The world’s showcase event, The Olympics, are nearing their close on Sunday but there’s little doubt that one shade can be used to describe the meteoric movement on some of the key autographs from this year’s Topps Olympic card set.

Golden.

We’ve seen it already with the autographs of emerging stars such as American swimmer Missy Franklin — the world’s spotlight and those watching can make what had been an affordable autograph one that’s suddenly not — and with the 2012 Topps U.S. Olympic Team set the only place to find autographs of many Olympic stars? Well, it means those cards can fluctuate wildly.

At the link below, you can download a price guide for the entirety of the product, a sampling of what you’ll find for everything here on Beckett.com for everything that’s there every single day if you have an Online Price Guide.

Click here to download a free comprehensive 2012 Topps U.S. Olympic price guide.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor

When Ryan Lochte beat out the field in the 400 individual medley, which included Olympic swimming Golden Boy Michael Phelps, he became The Guy. Essentially Lochte became a household name and not a commercial break goes by without seeing him swimming to London.

Sure, Phelps is the most popular and his sponsorships with Subway probably won’t go away anytime soon. However, Lochte won the first gold of the Olympics for the Americans. While Phelps took fourth in the same race.

Collectors looking to snag a couple of Lochte’s cards are in luck. Lochte is featured in 2012 Topps U.S. Olympic Team, but his first card came in 2007.

He appeared in 2007 Upper Deck Goudey Sport Royalty. He had a regular card and an autograph in the insert set. The autos from Goudey are a little tough to come by, but more of them have appeared on eBay over the last few days with his rise in popularity.

Cards of his also appeared in 2009 and 2010 Sports Illustrated for Kids.

However, his hottest cards right now are from the current Topps set, and there seems to be plenty to go around for everyone. His base card is plentiful and there are parallels of Gold, Silver and Bronze.

In addition to the base, Relics and autographs are available from the U.S. Olympic Team set. However, expect to shell out around $200 for an autograph.

Susan Lulgjuraj is an editor for Beckett Sports Card Monthly. You can email Susan here with ideas, comments or questions. Follow her on Twitter here.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor | Commentary

A half-dozen or so U. S. Olympians featured on Topps cards already have captured the hearts of more than a few Americans more than two months before the opening of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

How do we know? They’re already going for gold.

It’s apparent just by looking at the values of their autograph cards found in packs of 2012 Topps U.S. Olympic Team as the basic autographs for seven cards (showcasing six athletes) have reached or topped the $100 plateau since the product’s release. (Need a checklist or OPG to find out what your cards are worth? Click here.) And that’s not including rarer parallel cards.

The leader so far among the standard autograph set is U.S. Women’s Soccer star Alex Morgan, whose autograph card has sold for as much as $250, according to the prices tabulated by Beckett Media (ranges based on actual sales prices, not current asking prices — which are rather stout in online auctions). Coming in second is medalist record-holder Michael Phelps at $200 (or less), while his Champions (insert) autograph has sold for as much as $300 and sprinter Carl Lewis‘ autograph from the set has sold for as much as $150.

Gymnast Shawn Johnson checks in at $150, while teammate Jordyn Wieber has gone for as much as $100. The final notable card (so far) is of swimmer Ryan Lochte also at $100.

In all, the basic 50-card autograph set is commanding more than $2,000 with the real potential action not coming until the Olympics themselves. In the last Summer Games, Phelps’ few autographs commanded several-hundred bucks after languishing after release in previous years.

(Watch the Box Busters episode here.)

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Join Beckett Media’s Chris Olds and Bryan Hornbeck as they rip into a pair of 2012 Topps U.S. Olympic Team & Hopefuls boxes in this latest edition of Box Busters.

What will they find inside? Watch and find out …

By Chris Olds | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor

If you’re interested in going for the gold autographs in Topps‘ new Olympic card set, then the company did you one better.

The company announced on Thursday that its newly released 2012 U.S. Olympics Team & Hopefuls product now includes an additional autograph every other hobby box.

The set was previously announced to have one autograph, one Relic and a commemorative Relic per box.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Update: The jersey sold for more than $167,000 at auction.

By Chris Olds | Baseball Editor

A jersey worn by former home run champion Hank Aaron during his rookie season in 1954 will be up for grabs in a Heritage Auctions sale next month and is expected to fetch six figures.

The autographed Milwaukee Braves flannel is the headliner in the Dallas-based company‘s April 21-22 Signature Sports Auction and the company projects at least a $200,000 sale for the consignor. The jersey previously had a No. 5 stitched into hit — which Aaron wore during his rookie year — before his familiar No. 44 replaced it. That means this jersey is likely to have been worn over two seasons.

“Short of Babe Ruth there are few baseball players more important or beloved than ‘Hammerin’ Hank Aaron,” said Chris Ivy, Director of Heritage Sports Collectibles, “and this is the gamer that was likely on those shoulders on April 23, 1954 when he hit the first of his [755] home runs.”

Other notable items scheduled to hit the auction block include:

– A 1947 game-used vault marked bat from Ted Williams estimated to hit $75,000.

– A swim cap worn by Michael Phelps in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as he won his eighth Olympic Gold estimated to top $20,000

– An Oakland Raiders jersey worn by Hall of Famer Jim Otto during his rookie season, which is also estimated at $20,000.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.