2012 Topps Museum Collection Brings Fine Art Back to Baseball Cards

2012 Topps Museum Collection was an instant-hit among collectors, offering a strong autograph and memorabilia card checklist. However, it's one of the non-hit inserts that is garnering lots of attention, particularly among team and player collections. Rather than traditional photographs, 2012 Topps Museum Collection Canvas Collection opts for artistic renditions of 48 past and present stars.

We checked with Topps and they confirmed a total of nine different artists worked on the set: Dan Bergren, Kevin Doyle, Charles Hall, Brandon Kenney, Gary Kezele, Rhiannon Owens, Lawrence Reynolds, Brian Rood and Russell Walks.

The 48-card Canvas Collection set comes with two versions. The more common cards are reproductions, inserted at a rate of one per box. Each card also has ten original art cards that are recreations done directly on the card, much like hand-painted sketch cards. A couple of original art Albert Pujols and Hanley Ramirez cards done by Doyle have also popped up on eBay.

Through a little detective work and contacting the artists, we've matched up most of the cards with their artists below. We'll continue to update as we confirm more. We've also compiled a complete gallery of the entire set.

2012 Topps Museum Collection Canvas Collection Checklist - By Artist

Dan Bergren

CCR-1 Babe Ruth
CCR-13 Tom Seaver
CCR-21 Nolan Ryan
CCR-29 Ozzie Smith
CCR-46 Johan Santana

Kevin Doyle

CCR-4 Stan Musial
CCR-32 Jim Palmer
CCR-45 Eddie Murray

Original art cards of Albert Pujols and Hanley Ramirez by Kevin Doyle have also surfaced on eBay, although they weren't part of the final 48-card checklist.

Charles Hall

CCR-2 Lou Gehrig
CCR-5 Adrian Gonzalez
CCR-19 Ken Griffey Jr.

Brandon Kenney

CCR-25 Ichiro Suzuki
CCR-34 Derek Jeter
CCR-36 Al Kaline
CCR-38 Harmon Killebrew
CCR-39 Reggie Jackson

Gary Kezele

CCR-6 Willie Mays
CCR-7 Mickey Mantle
CCR-22 Eddie Mathews
CCR-27 Joe Mauer
CCR-31 Willie McCovey
CCR-48 Carlton Fisk

Rhiannon Owens

CCR-20 Rickey Henderson
CCR-24 Tony Gwynn
CCR-28 Josh Hamilton
CCR-40 Vladimir Guerrero
CCR-43 Roy Halladay

Lawrence Reynolds

CCR-11 Miguel Cabrera
CCR-16 Yogi Berra
CCR-30 Ryan Braun

Brian Rood

CCR-3 Ty Cobb
CCR-14 Roberto Clemente
CCR-15 Steve Carlton
CCR-33 Rod Carew
CCR-41 Robinson Cano

Russell Walks

CCR-9 Bob Gibson
CCR-12 Frank Robinson
CCR-18 Jackie Robinson
CCR-23 Cal Ripken Jr.
CCR-37 Alex Rodriguez
CCR-47 Mariano Rivera

Cards yet to be confirmed:

CCR-8 Warren Spahn
CCR-10 Johnny Bench
CCR-17 Jim Thome
CCR-26 Carl Yastrzemski
CCR-35 Duke Snider
CCR-42 Robin Yount
CCR-44 Wade Boggs

2012 Topps Museum Collection Canvas Collection Card Gallery

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2012 Topps Museum Collection #CCR-40 Vladimir Guerrero Canvas Collection Expos

$14.76

2012 Topps Museum Collection Canvas Collection Willie Mays #CCR-6 HOF

$6.49

DEREK JETER 2012 TOPPS MUSEUM COLLECTION #CCR-34 CANVAS COLLECTION AJ6303

$14.99

BABE RUTH 2012 TOPPS MUSEUM #CCR-1 CANVAS COLLECTION CARD AY4659

$7.99

Mariano Rivera 2012 Topps Museum Collection Canvas Collection #CCR-47 NYY HOF

$5.59

TONY GWYNN 2012 TOPPS MUSEUM COLLECTION CANVAS #CCR-24 PADRES NM-MT+

$6.22

2012 Topps Museum Collection Canvas Collection #CC23 Cal Ripken Jr. - NM-MT

$20.00

2012 Topps Museum Collection Canvas Collection #CC6 Willie Mays - NM-MT

$10.80

2012 Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum RCAF Size M Black PressBack Baseball Hat

$19.99

Olympics-CANVAS Print-"The Spirit...US Olympic Team"-Charles Fazzino-London-2011

$275.00