Tim Duncan has a respectable list of base rookie cards from his 1997 draft year – Topps Finest, Flair Showcase, SPx, Ultra, E-X2001, SP Authentic and Topps Chrome. There are more not listed but if you were to start a Tim Duncan rookie card collection, these would be the top 7 cards on your list. And everyone you ask, the consensus is that Topps Chrome would come in as #1.
Well, if you had started your collection in 2018 or 2019, you could have easily bought a PSA 10 1997 Topps Chrome Tim Duncan base rookie card in the ballpark figure of $135. However, for those wanting to start a Tim Duncan RC PC now in 2020, you might have to pay a little bit more than that – more like $725. For some unknown reason (well, we at Step Brothers Collectibles have theories but we’ll get into that later), the prices are steadily increasing.
- 1997 Tim Duncan Topps Chrome PSA 10 Average Prices (2016 – 2020)
- 2016 – $213.95
- 2017 – $172.43
- 2018 – $120.13
- 2019 – $138.76
- 2020 – $725.54
- Average Monthly Prices in 2020
- January – $226.28
- February – $337.94
- March – $416.92
- April – $534.78
- May – $969.04
- June – $917.24
- July – $1,026.25
We didn’t see this coming but we were lucky enough to have bought 2 PSA 10 copies in the mid $500s range in April 2020 – mad flex on our part! Back to our theories as to why this card is seeing an exponential increase in price. One, this follows the upward trend for all NBA HOF’ers base rookie cards. Two, with present stars rookie cards going for crazy dollars, collectors see a cheaper opportunity in older rookie cards. And finally, we believe that the Big Fundamental’s Topps Chrome rookie card has always been underappreciated and undervalued and it was just a matter of time until everyone else sees this as well.
So, what is Step Brothers Collectibles’ recommendation? Skip this card, wait for the prices to go down to the $350-$500 range and go for Timmy’s other base rookie cards instead. His SP Authentic PSA 10 is trading at an average of $240-$250, Topps Finest PSA 10 in the low $100s or if you’re bold enough – grab a copy of his Topps Finest Refractor PSA 10 instead. Good luck !
