Cold Gold and the Refractor factor

It's been a good while since I've made any significant additions to my Michigan Football inserts collection, so here's a post with a theme after I grabbed some cards from my "inserts to scan" pile.

Two of my favorite Topps-branded parallels are Chrome and Finest Refractors (and their various versions and colors) along with flagship's numbered Gold cards.  So that's exactly what I have here today:  nine of the former and six of the latter:

Refractors, etc.:

Tom Brady 2009 Topps Chrome Xfractor

Tom Brady 2012 Finest Refractor

Prescott Burgess 2007 Topps Chrome XFractor

I'll still take a regular old Refractor over the "X" version any day, but as usual with this type of insert, you can't go wrong.  I found one of each version of Tom Terrific, hailing from Chrome and Finest products produced a few years apart.  Former LB Burgess' card, meanwhile is a parallel of his '07 Chrome rookie.

Braylon Edwards 2006 Finest Blue Xfractor (#044/150)

Braylon Edwards 2006 Finest Green Refractor (#048/199)

Braylon Edwards 2007 Topps Chrome Blue Refractor

Here's three out of the four Braylons you'll be treated to today, with the first two coming courtesy of 2006 Finest, which had a few different patterns, colors, and accompanying numbering.  For my money I'll always take the hue used on the '07 Chrome Blue Refractor, though--and I bet lots of Dodgers fans are right there with me.  If there's a better color for Refractors I've yet to see it!

Braylon Edwards 2008 Finest Blue Refractor

Brian Griese 2008 Topps Chrome Blue Refractor

Leon Hall 2007 Bowman Chrome Refractor

Braylon's other Refractor is another color variation, though in this case it isn't numbered.  Griese's card from '08 also benefits from the ideal coloring used from the previous year's Topps Chrome set.  And Leon Hall joins Burgess in being featured on a 2007 RC parallel, this time from Bowman Chrome, a set whose design, as is often the case, led to some very nice looking Refractors.

Gold:

Jason Avant 2009 Topps Gold (#0309/2009)

Steve Breaston 2009 Topps Gold (#0271/2009)

Steve Breaston 2010 Topps Gold (#1309/2010)

Avant and and the first of a Breaston trio appear on cards from the '09 set, which was apparently the last one to use the "real" foil stamping instead of that stupid looking digital printing; then again, I'd argue that Fleer did the best serial-numbering of any manufacturer.  I should write up a post about that....  Anyway, while I'm sure this wasn't the case with the first two cards, I did pull the 2010 Breaston myself from a box break that was featured in one of my very first TMV (when it was TMG, actually!) posts more than six years ago.  Time sure flies, like Breaston did down the field!

Steve Breaston 2011 Topps Gold (#197) (#0153/2011)

Cato June 2006 Topps Gold (#0703/2006)

Chris Perry 2004 Topps Gold (#049/499)

Breaston finishes up his trio with a Gold parallel from the third consecutive year.  This one happens to be one of two on which he appears thanks to a Cardinals team issue, which explains why I noted the card number in the caption.  Next, I don't have many Cato June cards to my name but I do have this insert from 10 years ago, so that's a plus.  And finally, Chris Perry represents one final rookie parallel with this 2004 example.  The numbering on this card is the outlier as Topps has traditionally produced a number of copies that corresponds to the year the set's released, though some quick digging indicates this also wasn't the case in 2003 (also /499) and 2005 (/50).

So there's a nice bunch of some of my favorite types of inserts.  But if you're hoping for a look at some cards that are brand new to my collection, stay tuned for another excellent trade package from north(east) of the border!