Clearly the hottest piece of cardboard that can be pulled from a 2011 Bowman product of any kind has Bryce Harper‘s autograph on it and 2011 Bowman Platinum has delivered another chance at the highly touted prospects autographs. Platinum’s autographs are much more appealing than the 2011 Bowman with a shiny finish and a great clean spot for the autograph.

Bryce Harper Platinum Auto 399

While the Platinum Autographs aren’t as hot out of the gate as his base Bowman Autographs were they are very close.  It’s tough to say if they will pick up steam or not but a Green Refractor Autograph /399 is listed at $450 BIN with no takers at this point. Platinum refractor autographs are selling in the $300-400 range while base Bowman autos are still in that same range most of the time.

One of the more perplexing parts of the Bowman Platinum release is the mix of live Harper autos and redemptions. Does that mean that the refractors of /399 could end up being more like /199? Or perhaps that the unnumbered regular refractors will be just as limited as the non-numbered if the redemptions don’t come back or people don’t pull them all in time to be redeemed.

Bryce Harper 2011 Platinum Redemption

The highest sale on ebay since release is $999 for a regular refractor. Considering those are selling for 1/3 that price now it’s tough to tell if that sale was honored. A Blue Refractor /99 has since sold for $735. These cards are much more visually appealing than the base 2011 Bowman and I see no reason other than sticklers to tradition that they shouldn’t be selling for more than Bowman. They come from a more expensive product, they’re still on card, they look better and look chrome-ish which prospectors love. If I could afford one I’d be all over it.

Brent Schultz is the founder of the Card Geeks Blog and longtime Jerry Rice collector. Follow his Blog and Twitter for more updates and conversation.