2012 Fleer Retro Football Precious Metal Gems Hot List and Guide
It's time to dig out your Savage Garden and Puff Daddy CDs because 2012 Fleer Retro Football is taking collectors back to the late 1990s. Thanks in part to their massive success in 2011-12 Fleer Retro Basketball, many are expecting big things from one set of inserts in particular. While lightning may not strike with exactly the same force, 2012 Fleer Retro Football Precious Metal Gems are still gaining a lot of attention an intrigue.
Based on the 1997 Metal Universe parallels, the cards come in three brightly colored levels. PMG Red cards are numbered to 100. Blue, new to Fleer Retro, have half as many copies. The big chase, though, is for the 2012 Fleer Retro Football Precious Metal Gems Green cards, which are limited to 10 numbered copies.
The insert set's gridiron roots date back to 1996 Metal with the one-per-box Precious Metal parallel. The Gems name was added a year later in 1997 Metal Universe where Red PMG cards are numbered to 150 while Green cards are limited to 15 numbered copies. The format was tweaked in 1998 and 1999 to make just one Precious Metal Gems level numbered to 50. 1998 PMGs have a circular background while 1999 opted for a gold look.
Although moderately popular, early football Precious Metal Gems do not come close to approaching the popularity and value of their basketball counterparts from the same period. Those cards are closer to an unexplainable phenomena. When prices for Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant blew up, the rest of the set followed. Basketball also has much broader global appeal, which is likely a major factor in the extremely high prices. Football is popular primarily in North America, limiting the reach of the cards. Also, the sport didn't have a superstar of Michael Jordan's caliber. No other sport did.
As for the 2012 Fleer Retro Football Precious Metal Gems, it's likely that they'll follow a similar pattern to the late 90s PMGs. It is unreasonable to expect the top cards to reach the heights the 2011-12 Fleer Retro Basketball cards reached when they were first released. There may be a couple of exceptions, namely Robert Griffin III, but as a whole, the football versions will be popular, just not as much.
The 2012 Fleer Retro Precious Metal Gems checklist has 100 cards. The first 40 are a mix of contemporary stars and retired legends. The final 60 are 2012 NFL rookies, including RG3, Russell Wilson and Doug Martin.
Below is the full checklist. In case you're wondering what's hot, you can click on the tab above and see a real-time list of the 30 most-watched eBay auctions. It's also a great too for tracking and comparing prices for what's happening right now.
2012 Fleer Retro Football Precious Metal Gems Checklist
Click on the links below to shop for specific colors or key players on eBay.
Each card has three versions:
M-2 Joe Theismann
M-3 Jim Plunkett
M-4 Roger Staubach
M-5 Johnny Rodgers
M-6 Tim Tebow
M-7 Tony Dorsett
M-8 Dan Marino
M-9 Jim Kelly
M-10 Bart Starr
M-11 Billy Sims
M-12 John Elway
M-13 Jerry Rice
M-14 Ken Stabler
M-15 Johnny Lattner
M-16 Jerome Bettis
M-17 Anthony Carter
M-18 Daryle Lamonica
M-19 Don Maynard
M-20 Drew Bledsoe
M-21 George Rogers
M-22 Barry Sanders
M-23 Garrison Hearst
M-24 Charlie Ward
M-25 Dan Fouts
M-26 Roger Craig
M-27 Mike Rozier
M-28 Bo Jackson
M-29 Bruce Smith
M-30 Archie Manning
M-31 Rich Gannon
M-32 Vinny Testaverde
M-33 Steve Young
M-34 Archie Griffin
M-36 Joe Namath
M-37 Brian Bosworth
M-38 Doug Flutie
M-39 Earl Campbell
M-40 Drew Brees
M-41 Robert Griffin III
M-42 Trent Richardson
M-43 Justin Blackmon
M-44 Ryan Tannehill
M-45 Michael Floyd
M-46 Brandon Weeden
M-47 Doug Martin
M-48 A.J. Jenkins
M-49 Kendall Wright
M-50 Brock Osweiler
M-51 Nick Foles
M-52 Brian Quick
M-53 Case Keenum
M-54 Kellen Moore
M-55 Coby Fleener
M-56 Stephen Hill
M-57 Alshon Jeffery
M-58 Isaiah Pead
M-59 Ryan Broyles
M-60 LaMichael James
M-61 Rueben Randle
M-62 DeVier Posey
M-63 Russell Wilson
M-64 Mohamed Sanu
M-65 Bernard Pierce
M-66 Travis Benjamin
M-67 Kirk Cousins
M-69 Nick Toon
M-70 Juron Criner
M-71 Melvin Ingram
M-72 Dwayne Allen
M-73 Cyrus Gray
M-74 B.J. Cunningham
M-75 Dan Herron
M-76 Matt Kalil
M-77 Mark Barron
M-78 Luke Kuechly
M-79 Stephon Gilmore
M-80 Dontari Poe
M-81 Michael Brockers
M-82 Dre Kirkpatrick
M-83 Shea McClellin
M-84 David DeCastro
M-85 Dont'a Hightower
M-86 Whitney Mercilus
M-87 Andre Branch
M-88 Janoris Jenkins
M-89 Cordy Glenn
M-90 Mychal Kendricks
M-91 Bobby Wagner
M-92 Kendall Reyes
M-93 Lavonte David
M-94 Casey Hayward
M-95 Ronnie Hillman
M-96 T.J. Graham
M-97 Michael Egnew
M-98 Mike Martin
M-99 Devon Wylie
M-100 Alameda Ta'amu
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2012 Fleer Retro Football Precious Metal Gems Hot List
Below is a real-time look at the 30 most-watched auctions for 2012 Fleer Retro Football Precious Metal Gems cards currently listed on eBay.
Related Topics: Football Cards: Guides
Jeff | Mar 17, 2013 | Reply
Ryan,
A friend of mine was offered $220.00 for a Nick Foles green metal.Do you think that is a fair price?Thanks
Ryan Cracknell | Mar 20, 2013 | Reply
Jeff ยป Probably. One on eBay had an opening bid of $175 but got no bids.