CSG Registry Featured Set: 2003-04 Topps Chrome Basketball Set

It’s a slam dunk for TNewhart with his complete set of 2003-04 Topps Chrome basketball cards — 165 in all! Rookie highlights include LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh. Experienced collectors know that the card numbers for the 110 veterans and 55 rookies are listed on an unnumbered checklist card. Action images for the rookie cards are an update for the Topps Chrome set.

Click images to enlarge.

TNewhart’s collection includes highly graded rookie cards: #111 LeBron James (CSG 9), #113 Carmelo Anthony (CSG 9.5), #114 Chris Bosh (CSG Gem Mint 10), #115 Dwyane Wade (CSG 9) and several more graded CSG Gem Mint 10. Don’t miss our Q&A with the set owner; click here.

The CSG Registry launched in September 2021, and now has over 1,400 competitive sets available with over 2,300 registry users and nearly 65,000 registered cards. The CSG Registry continues to be active with requests for new sets and slots, and we appreciate your enthusiasm. Our CSG Registry team continues to add new sets daily and welcome your requests as it provides us with the opportunity to learn about your collecting interests.

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Q&A with the set owner, TNewhart

Question: How did you get into collecting sports cards?
Answer: I started collecting probably when I was about 11 or 12 years old. I was able to go to the grocery store with my mom every once in a while when she was pushing the grocery cart around and was able to pick up packs of cards back in the mid-’80s when things were starting to heat up.

Question: What are your favorite sports teams and/or athletes to follow?
Answer: Unfortunately, I am a die-hard Cleveland fan. Probably the most painful is the Browns.

Question: Do you have a favorite card in your collection?
Answer: It would definitely have to be one of my LeBron James rookie cards. Or I have a second year Jim Brown.

Question: We’re featuring your 2003-04 Topps Chrome NBA set. What drew you to collecting and building this set?
Answer: Obviously that has got one of LeBron’s key rookie cards in it, but there are three really solid rookie basketball sets for me and that’s one of ‘em because you’ve got not only LeBron James, who is arguably the greatest player of all time, then you have two additional solid all-time players in Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony.

Question: Is there a card out there you’re hoping to add to your collection? Similarly, is there a set you hope to complete someday?
Answer: That would be '96-97, which obviously has Kobe, Ray Allen and Steve Nash — you know, top 25 guys in that class as well. It’s a truly iconic card set. I just don’t know which ones or which direction, because I think Topps Chrome is like a 220-card set, so that’s a monster set. And I might do it at some point.

Question: What do you enjoy most about adding your cards to the CSG Registry?
Answer: I am really more of a set kind of guy. There are guys that do just individual cards, there’s collectors of just players. I have always enjoyed the challenge of putting a full set together.

Question: What would you say to other sports cards collectors who may be on the fence about adding their cards to the CSG Registry?
Answer: I just think it adds a lot of fun to collecting, and I think the Registry allows you to do that. It allows you to, you know, do some competing, there’s a lot of different price points, a lot of different cards that could be collected.

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