Rain Out Theater: Clear Cut Card of the Week

2007 Topps Sterling #68 Framed White Suede

David Wright

Materials: Suede + Foil + Cardstock

The Card: I always find one thing especially difficult when buying cards from COMC.com, figuring out from the picture and description exactly what I am going to get. I took a bit of a chance on this one. Clearly from the card label as "Framed White Suede" I thought this would be an ideal addition to my collection of cards made of alternate materials. At the same time I have been fooled before by nice looking pictures and misleading labels. I took the risk since the print run was low and the 1/1 cherrywood cards from Sterling (which I am sure I will never get my hands on) were clearly made of cherrywood. Fortunately for me, this purchase had a happy ending as the card really is made of suede and so looks and feels great! The only think I enjoy more than cards of alternate materials are cards of players I collect made from alternate materials.

The Suede: So this is white suede with foil on the front of the card mounted on very thick card stock. The suede layer itself is no more than a few millimeters thick, about the thickness of a normal base card, but the card itself is a couple centimeters thick. The back is a matte finish cardstock.

Suede itself is sort of the opposite of normal leather, made from the inside of the animal hide rather than the exterior side and as a result relatively delicate rather than tough like traditional leather. Whereas leather is tanned with the addition of a chemical and/or heat, suede is produced by manually raising, or napping, fibers from the surface of the animal hide to give suede its characteristic napped appearance. While I am not sure of the natural color of suede, which I am sure does vary, I am reasonably sure that one must bleach the animal hide to get it to be this white.*

All in all, it is a nice card of Wright who I still think will end up having a great 2010.

Anyone know if 2008 Sterling "base" cards are actually made of black suede as well? If so, if anyone has any Mets for trade from that set let me know.

*Got my background information on Suede here