Every 1996-97 Finest card came out of the pack under a clear protective film printed with the words Topps Finest Protector, Peel and Remove Coating. Some collectors peeled it and some never did, and graded copies are described accordingly, with coating or without.
Issued under a film that said, in so many words, peel me.
Kobe Bryant's first Finest card is #74, in Series One, in the Apprentices subset, theme number A10. Finest sorted its cards into three tiers by scarcity, Bronze, Silver and Gold, and #74 is a Bronze, the common tier. Refractor versions of every card were inserted on top of that.
On a copy that kept its film, the words of the warning can still be read across his chest.
The front shows him rising for a dunk, as though breaking out through the face of the card. The back sets out his high school record, including the 2,883 points that passed Wilt Chamberlain's southeastern Pennsylvania scoring mark.
The coating is the whole condition story. Peeling it can damage the surface, edges and corners underneath, and scratches on the film itself can cost a grade even when the card beneath is clean.
