Topps - US - Star Wars Finest (1996)

This 1996 card set was originally meant to be the first of two "finest" or all chromium card sets. The first of the two sets was to represent the characters from Star Wars, while the second represented the vehicles from Star Wars. These all chromium cards were beautifully made, but proved to be too expensive for many card shops to sell in quantity. The second set of finest cards, has now been changed to a non-finest card set, the Star Wars Vehicles set. The Star Wars Finest cards provide a wealth of information about the many Star Wars characters from movies, books, and comics. The cards are stunningly done, and I most recently saw a clever use for spare Finest cards in a card store that had attached magnets to the backs of the cards, turning the cards into wonderful display items.

In addition to the Chase cards issued for this set, each box of cards contained approximately 6 Refractor cards. These cards had a gold-tone background for the card backs, and were slightly more reflective on the fronts. Ambitious collectors can attempt to complete full sets of the Refractor cards, creating a mirror set for the basic Finest set.