I think this card is an orphan, a one-shot and out thing that doesn't belong to any set. Presumably, PE1 denotes Presidential Election card number 1.
I'd like to know how this card was released and whether this could have been secured through eTopps. There seems to be a tenuous relationship between Bush Wins and Topps Chronicles. It's not a promo, but more of a prototype that *could* have gauged prospective interest in a Topps Chronicles release schedule.

quote:

Originally posted by sthomas:
I think this card is an orphan, a one-shot and out thing that doesn't belong to any set. Presumably, PE1 denotes Presidential Election card number 1.
I'd like to know how this card was released and whether this could have been secured through eTopps. There seems to be a tenuous relationship between Bush Wins and Topps Chronicles. It's not a promo, but more of a prototype that *could* have gauged prospective interest in a Topps Chronicles release schedule.

Every time I see this card, its labllled as 'etopps', so I'm assuming that yes, it was an eTopps card.

Hello all, I am looking for some of the Jack Nicklaus Topps Chronicles President's Cup cards for myself and a couple buddies. If anyone has any available, could you please let me know!

Thanks again and Happy Holidays!
bearcats4

From what I recall, the Bush Wins card was never offered on eTopps, and certainly not as an IPO like most other cards on the site. However, that would have been believable, as eTopps has, in recent years, offered Allen & Ginter cards of political figures on the site, and did make two other Barack Obama cards for individual sale (2008 playing basketball and the 2009 ASG first pitch in mom jeans).

In addition, the 2005 Topps Chronicles cards were not offered for sale through eTopps either. However, I do recall emails originating from eTopps that promoted and advertised Chronicles. eTopps sends cross-marketing emails about other Topps products to account holders (set as an opt-in preference on the profile page) a few times a year.

Both the individual Bush card, as well as the Topps Chronicles cards, were available individually(and exclusively, I believe) through the direct Topps Shop / Online Store website (or whatever it was called in 2005). If you pre-subscribed for the year, the cards would be mailed to you as they were published, and you would get the binder as a free bonus. Throughout the year, cards previously published were left available for purchase until they were "sold out". I recall that the card that had the most popularity at the time was the USC Reggie Bush / Matt Leinart, promoted then and now on eBay, as an XRC-type card.

Ironically, there is a link between eTopps and Topps Chronicles that exists today, long after Chronicles' initial release. As part of the purchase and in-portfolio ownership of eTopps cards, eTopps offers reward points that can be spent on a catalog that refreshes every Wednesday, open only to eTopps account holders. Reward points typically are earned as quasi-rebates on your purchase dollar amounts of cards at IPO, as well as players hitting statistical performance targets.

For at least the past year, the catalog has been including Topps Chronicles cards, with a nominal stated value of $2.00, regardless of subject. This amounts to the cost of 2 reward points, which supposedly have an approximate internal value of $1.25 each, but purchase prices in points are rounded up, so excess 'value' is just lost (e.g., 2 points supposedly equals $2.50 in value, but it requires 2 points to get a $2.00 Chronicles card).

Even the catalog that opened today, the supposedly less-seen end-of-the-year cards of Topps Chronicles, like weeks 47, 48 and 52, were made available in the "Merchandise" section of the eTopps catalog. In the past, I've even seen once upon a time "sold out" cards like the Bush/Leinart made available in the eTopps catalog. So, there's currently a pretty steady trickle of 2005 Topps Chronicles cards going into the wild through eTopps.

Also, to my recollection, the Bush Wins card has never appeared in the eTopps catalog. However, that doesn't mean I'm correct, as it could have shown up in a catalog I didn't check in a particular week. It also doesn't mean that it won't make an appearance later, although there's no indication one way or the other.

I do think it makes sense to lump the Bush Wins card as part of this set. Although not a formal part of the weekly checklist, it was sold through the same venue regarding similar subject matter at around the same time. That's a better alternative to having it be this lone uncategorized card, regardless of how anyone feels about the outcome of the 2004 Presidental election, especially now seven years later (already).