The first "shiny" cards
 

Are there any before the 93 Finest Refractors/93 SP Foil cards?

Hmmm guess it depends on definition. What do you think about the Donruss Elite cards? Maybe a proto-shiny? Or the 1992 Topps Golds? Not a totally shiny card, but shiny-adjacent?

I'll go with 1992 for my definition of "shiny" cards as well. The 1992 Donruss Elites are what I would consider shiny. The 1991 Elites didn't have that real shiny foil finish like the 1992 versions did. And in 1992 the Bowman set had foil cards as well that I would consider shiny.

I don't think the "dufex" printing that Pinnacle brands did came out until 1993, so that would be the same time as the Finest Refractors and SP foils.

The only other thing I can think of were the "hologram" cards. Some might consider those to be shiny. And they predate even 1992. An example would be the Hank Aaron Heroes Hologram from 1991 Upperdeck.

I'll go along with 1992. But why do we sometimes read that 1989 Upper Deck ushered in the ultramodern era? What was so different about those, other than perhaps the pricing?

Because 1989 Upper Deck was a game changer with the card stock (shiny white borders, not cardboard), quality control (little/no miscuts, o/c cards or printing flaws), foil packs that couldn't be resealed and awesome photography on both the front and back. They were the BMWs to the Fords (Topps), Chevys (Fleer) and Dodges (Donruss) that we were used to collecting. And they upped the game each year with better layouts, photography and autographed chase cards. That is when the trading card hobby vectored off in a different direction than the course it had been on for almost 40 years.

With all of that, would it have been a big deal without Griffey Jr.? I mean suppose the biggest rookie had been Sheffield.

I was 9 when Upperdeck came out with their first set and I remember my mind being blown at the quality of it. We looked at Topps, Score, Donruss and fleer as pure junk compared to UD after that lol

Agree with Tom. The term "shiny cards" isn't really supposed to be a literal description of what quickly became prevalent in what I think of more as the modern card era. People don't associate "shiny cards" till the '90s, and they started so close to 1989 that the two terms, "shiny card era" and "modern card era" became somewhat synonymous IMO.

No Randy Johnson, either? I would remember the set (in your example) as the one that missed two KEY rookies.

I'd still remember the innovations, though. It would be similar to the 1991 Wild Card Football release. That set included the first parallels (1,000 stripe version, anyone?) but largely fell flat.

I thought 1991 Stadium Club was really a breakthrough in quality, more so than Upper Deck.

Oh yeah those Stadium Club sets were really nice. I loved seeing the rookie cards included on the back of them.

This is still one of my favorite cards, it's just a thing of beauty.

I think 1988 Score doesn’t get enough love, in context. Action photos and a decent format and color on the reverse. Kind of weak on rookies but the Reggie subset was decent. Compare that to the late ‘80’s Topps, Fleer and Donruss efforts and it stands out. Insane overproduction didn’t help and UD stole their thunder the next year but, still…

I agree. I wouldn't call them "shiny" cards, but they certainly are premium compared to the other 1988 offerings.

Agree, any card with more than two bats automatically gets bonus points. Gotta love the lumber. And that Griffey is a gorgeous card.

In general though, I was not blown away with the Stadium Club sets. Photography was too dark, the backs looked amateurish and the cards tended to stick together.

Agree. I actually thought that Score would really take off and take over the top spot. I though the photography was great and the backs were the best of any card I'd seen up to that point. If they just didn't have those little nubby things on the corners. And if UD hadn't come out the following year. And..And.....

I call the 1990 Topps Mylar the first shiny.

If you have qualms with a test issue, then I would go with ProSet holograms. I think the 1990 Stanley Cup was the first of those. Then they went nuts in 91’ and the holographic cards were everywhere. I sure ate a ton of Denny’s to work on that Grand Slam set, lol.

For what it's worth (not much, last time I checked), I have an unopend case of Series III. :p

1965 Topps Embossed Baseball cards were shiny

"BMWs to the Fords (Topps), Chevys (Fleer) and Dodges (Donruss)". LOL love it.

I was just discussing this with another collector the other day. It is the first instance I can recall of a company issuing a progressively rarer version and urging collectors to collect the rainbow. The first one I got was a 50-stripe Troy Aikman.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...0%20stripe.jpg

FWIW, I have two unopened boxes of 1992 series 1 for sale at $30 each plus shipping.

Agree, i really like that score set.

Ah, you must have bought them early. The nubby corners were the first run, Followed briefly by ones with two nubby bits just off the corners and finally the rest of the year with normal corners.

Add in variations, and re-screening, and it's a wonderfully complex set that's still cheap enough to be collected that way.

Wouldn't the Topps Tiffany sets count? Or just pack issued stuff?

Shameless plug: I currently have consigned 40+ different PSA 10 and PSA 9, 1991 Stadium Club Baseball in the Sirius Sportscard Auctions ending Thursday.
Here's a few highlights:

The Topps 1990 Mylar Sticker test issue mentioned by Justin. This is all of them with their little sparkles:

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...res/img067.jpg
https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...res/img068.jpg

As for the 65 Embossed, they were very shiny but doubt even their mothers could have identified the players :)

These 1950s Good Luck Margarine Airplanes cards were shiny -- printed on the backs of foil coated boxes.

https://non-sport.com/images/weblg/78415.jpg

I can see 1989 Upper Deck being the leader in all of this but my mind can't escape calling 1991 Stadium Club as the beginning of the "shiny" era.

With that said, if anybody remembers those little mini-sets that Kay-Bee Toy stores put out, those things had some serious gloss/shine to them! At least one of their sets did anyway.

These 1950s Good Luck Margarine Airplane cards were shiny -- they were printed on the backs of foil-coated boxes.

https://i.postimg.cc/L5LT23C5/margarine.jpg

Those stickers of team logos put into Upper Deck packs are shinier than shiny...


Literally, the answer is basically for as long as cards have existed. Some Cabinets were given a lacquer coating to make them glossy and shine. T205 and other T cards have shiny shiny borders (at least, they were shiny when they were produced originally before time has faded the finish and effect).

In the sense of premium chromium type cards, 93 is the start.

1981 topps large photos have a glossy front as does the 1983 All Star Edition mail in

IIRC - The first shiny cards were the Foil Inserts in 1950 Topps Hopalong Cassidy

(not my card)
https://www.tcdb.com/Images/Large/No...-7556442Fr.jpg

T205

Stadium Club and Studio were both always focused on fantastic photography. In terms of "shiny" cards really depends on definition and whether you're talking about pack-pulled mass-produced sets (or inserts) with nation-wide distribution (Topps/Bowman, Donruss/Leaf, Fleer, Score/Pinnacle, Upper Deck) or regional / promos.

1992 Topps Micro factory sets had the full gold foil inserts and 1993 micro had prism cards which look like atomic refractors.


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There were quite a few "shiny" sets between 89 UD and 93 Finest, but 93 Finest really was a game changer. I remember the packs being over $70 each if you could find them.

1984 topps tiffany would be the first in my opinion. white card stock and super glossy fronts.

And because of the dyes Topps used, they are still 'changers' :D