Fernando Mendoza's 1/1 Bowman Chrome Superfractor auto surfaces on Facebook

The biggest card in Fernando Mendoza's rookie checklist has been found. On Monday afternoon Topps posted that the Raiders quarterback's 1-of-1 Bowman Chrome Superfractor autograph "has surfaced on Facebook," sharing a photo of the card taken by its new owner, Chris Leben.

The card is a Bowman Chrome rookie autograph, serial-numbered 1/1, showing Mendoza in his No. 15 Raiders jersey over the gold Superfractor pattern. Topps did not say which product it was pulled from or where, and there is no reported sale.

Superfractors are the top parallel in Bowman Chrome, one copy per card, and the Superfractor auto of a first-round quarterback is usually the single most valuable card in a product. For a headline rookie like Mendoza, the hobby tracks these the way it tracks the player: until it is pulled, it is a rumor; once it surfaces, it becomes the benchmark.

Why collectors should care: the 1/1 being accounted for removes the chase from the remaining boxes and sets up what is likely to be a six-figure conversation if the owner ever sells. Lower-numbered Mendoza Chrome autos tend to get re-priced when the top card appears.

Sources

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