The first major insert card crazes early 90s
 

Let's here some stories about how nuts you were about pulling those rare insert cards from regular common packs in the early 90s. In 1990 Upper Deck released the UD heros Reggie Jackson auto and little did we know back then, there were only 2,500 copies made. Then came the 1991 Donruss Elite set. 92,500 copies were made only 5,000 of the Sandberg auto so there was not enough to go around. Nowadays 92,500 is plenty enough to go around for collectors but back in the early 90s there were millions of collectors.

I personally spent all my money on 1991 Donruss trying to pull one, just one, Donruss Elite card, and it never happened. I went to Jewel Osco all the time in the summer of 91 trying desperatly to pull one. Back then card packs were around .50 cents.

The game used inserts started with 1996 Upper Deck. Ken Griffey Jr was the highlight of this set, for the first EVER issued game used pieces in cards. This card still brings in a great premium as the card that started all the craze.

Interesting, I quit the hobby in 96 so I do not remember the game used inserts, that was the extra push toward all out domination of inserts and expensive packs probably.

I remember hunting for those Donruss Elite cards as well . Out of all the years I finally pulled one from a pack a Fred Mcgriff sometime in the mid 90's . What a pull that was at the time out of about 10,000 ! Bought a box 2 years ago from a dealer that was going out of business and it had a Frank Thomas Elite in it with the old price still on it $ 80.00 . Ha! Probably be lucky to get .80 cents for it now! Donruss is one of the company's I miss the most the seemed to have some of the best looking inserts in the 1990's . Brett

Refractors
 

Don't forget 1993 Finest. First set where they announced the print run. First real chrome cards. First refractors. Key set in modern card history. Packs were so expensive at the time I never bought any.

I think it's time to add some pics

Same story here. 1991 was when I really got into collecting and spent basically all of my 'newspaper money' on 1991 Donruss. Just before the second series came out, I learned about Upper Deck and the whole 'find the Nolan'. And then a whole lot of 'newspaper money' went there. Never pulled anything from either set.

And now that this thread has been started, I'm thinking of buying a box or two of 1991 Upper Deck just for the fun of tearing into a few packs.

Thanks a lot for starting this new forum, Leon. This is the last thing I needed ;)


Regards,

Richard.

Although it really wasn't an insert, I think that the '89 UD Griffey may have actually started the craze. It was all people could talk about, and pulling just that card could make a person's year. It's no co-incidence that the insert craze started in it's wake, as a way for card companies to generate that kind of interest without needing a once in a lifetime type prospect to drive it..

I love digging around eBay at the higher end early-mid 90s inserts. Take a look at 93 Refractors at any point or 96 Select Certified Mirror Golds. The selling prices are still incredible.

The prices dropped from their going rates of 15-20 years ago though. My Sandberg and Jackson I posted above costed $225 for the two. 20 years ago they costed like $500 a piece or more. I love how I can now use ebay to go back and get these cards without opening pack after pack. I feel like I am cheating :o

It was Fleer's rated rookies for me-only found in Cello Packs. Never was able to finish a set.

94 Upperdeck Mantle and Griffey dual auto. I was still a kid, but I collected the 94 set and coveted that card.

The 1993 Fleer Tom Glavine highlights series, with auto. I was a big Braves fan back then and glavine was one of my favorite players. I completed the set, but never got the auto till I was much, much older.

I remember buying LOTS of the "Classic" and 4 sports cards desperately looking for the tri cards and #/# early cards of players like Shaq, Penny, Webber, etc...!

I don't remember the set...maybe in the leaf brand..but I have a Roberto Alomar with a little diamond on it...thought that was cool.

Those cards that were "limited" to something like 5000 or 10000. I have a couple of the Classic Draft Pick sets that are "limited" to something like 145,000 sets. Does Topps even produce 145,000 of its base set anymore?

I did manage to snag a Dawson Elite from the 1991 set. Sadly, it had a dinged corner, but I still managed to sell it to a dealer for $10 at the time. I remember Fleer's ProVisions being briefly popular, and they advertised the hell out of them. Every hobby publication must have had a full page add pushing those cards.

Fyi
 

The finest refractor print run number was never announced by Topps, instead people took the print run, the number of boxes and did some math. Topps never confirmed nor denied the 241 figure for 1993 reftactors.

Rich

1986 Fleer All star cards
 

These are the first inserts I can remember pulling from packs - they were really colorful and they came only in wax packs. Both National League and American League were represented and they came maybe 2 or 3 in a box. They weren't like the Topps All-stars that came on the top of rack-packs that every one had.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1986-Fleer-G...item19d12958e9

my first chase card was the '92 upper deck ted williams auto'd heroes card. never felt the ecstasy of pulling the card out of the pack but owned my first one a couple years back.

1996 Zenith had the little diamond on it. I had one. Zenith was a brand of Pinnacle. I remember having a 1995 Zenith Z-Team card with an etched metalic finish.

The 1994 (I think) Holoview Die Cuts were hot.

The 1995 Bowman's Best Refractors are nice looking cards.

I remember the coveted and rare Pacific Cramer's Choice inserts (see below)

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/TONY-GWYNN-19...Vjt3sg~~_3.JPG

The Donruss Elite card was the one I remember most. After hearing of them, I ran to the local shop and bought a pack. Amazingly, I pulled a Dwight Gooden Elite! Best of all, Gooden was my favorite player and I had over 400 Gooden cards. I couldn't believe it. I spent the next 6 months trying to get another...never happened.
The 1992 Fleer Rookie Sensations was the other insert that I remember the most. I think Frank Thomas was the hot card to get in that set.
Thanks for the post. Brought back some good memories of the beginning of the end of collecting for fun.

1991 Score had Mickey Mantle auto cards inserted in the Series 2 packs. I recently busted a case and didn't even get one of the non-auto Mantle cards.

At one time, the complete refractor set listed in Beckett's for a cool $100K--we thought it had to be a typo! So much for speculative and transient demand!

Happy collecting, guys,

Larry

I spent a ton of my money as a kid on 1993 and 1994 UD SP when it came out. I never paid any attention to the Jeter or A-Rod RC's...all I wanted was the Platinum Power die cut cards and the FX Holoviews. To think I traded off the Jeter and A-Rod with everything else and kept my Cecil Feilder PP and Juan Gonzalez HV Blue! :eek:

Welcome to Net54 Scott...glad to see you're a collector as well as an artist. Everyone loves the Chase T206 you did for me...thanks again...Matt