If you were unaware of the Sam Bradford Topps Chrome 1/1 Superfractor auction, you may have been living in some rural area devoid of hobby coverage and lacking internet. This card was literally everywhere. Receiving major coverage on here as well as many of the hobby message boards, this crown jewel of the 2010 Chrome release sold for a price reminiscent of the Strasburg superfractor earlier this year. The problem is, this auction looks to be more of a publicity stunt by some bidders who were unhappy with either the seller or the way it was going. So, with that being the case, is this card actually being sold for the crazy price it ended at?

The answer is most likely a resounding no, as there is no way this card could generate that kind of value. The seller’s choice of a private auction, along with his major feedback problems, many red flags were present. When you think about football cards in general, they rarely are able to break the $10,000 modern card ceiling that I first started talking about two years ago. See, when it comes to modern football, the ceiling is actually closer to $5,000, and that is only reachable by major modern rookie cards sold in pristine condition, or ridiculous 1/1s that   could never be replicated for the NFL’s top stars. This is almost impossible for unproven rookies in this day and age, mainly as a result of the way prospecting is run by different standards in Football.

In baseball, things are much different because of the size of the fan base, and because of the number of prospecting collectors who have a mountain of cash. With players like Sam Bradford, he had a great rookie season, but he is far from the top of the rookie card mountain, inhabited solely by guys like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Joe Montana. If Bradford had led the Rams to a 14-2 record and broken a few records, a price like what was achieved may have been possible if the conditions were right. Outside of those circumstances, its basically impossible.

When you also factor in the shear number of Superfractor style cards present on the Topps release calendar, the phrase “watered down value pool” comes to mind. As of yesterday, some four superfractor style examples from Finest, Sterling, and Platinum had crossed eBay’s selection of available cards, and that is just the base versions. In Sterling alone, one of my least favorite products ever created, there are close to 10 different superfractors, which cheapens the overall value of the Chrome version.

In the end, this Bradford Superfractor is definitely a $2-3,000 dollar card, but to think that it sells for more than the Bryce Harper Super is not thinking with your head.