Ken Griffey Jr .... any collectors out there?

[Neal]

I am not really a modern card collector, but Junior may be an exception. With sooooo many to choose from and not really knowing this niche of the market, I would like to own a PSA or BGS graded card that was issued as an autograph card - has to be issued, not signed aftermarket.

That said, I have seen several issued during his Reds era. Anything from the 90s Mariners? Also considering refractors, as they are a guilty pleasure for this vintage collector!

Thanks in advance

[Rookiemonster]

Well the first one that jumps to my mind is 1994 upper deck autograph mantle Griffey combo. It comes dual signed or single sign by either one . The dual is like a grail autograph for a lot of people .

There has been a bunch of buybacks and after career autos with him on the mariners . My personal favorite is 1995 sp autograph it will run you like 50bucks . The auto tends to smear due to the high gloss . The foil edge chips very easy so perfect examples are not common. 1999 sp I think we're pack inserted buybacks pretty awesome .

[Neal]

Originally Posted by Rookiemonster

Well the first one that jumps to my mind is 1994 upper deck autograph mantle Griffey combo. It comes dual signed or single sign by either one . The dual is like a grail autograph for a lot of people .

There has been a bunch of buybacks and after career autos with him on the mariners . My personal favorite is 1995 sp autograph it will run you like 50bucks . The auto tends to smear due to the high gloss . The foil edge chips very easy so perfect examples are not common. 1999 sp I think we're pack inserted buybacks pretty awesome .

Thanks - will keep an eye out!

[packs]

He's not in a Mariners uniform but you might like the 1992 Classic auto. He's pictured in his minor league uniform.

[pokerplyr80]

I'm a griffey fan and have a few of his cards. One of these days I will pick up a 93 finest refractor. It was the first year they were issued. He has tons of pack issued autos available. I have a couple, but have focused on his rookies. I do have a psa 10, BGS 10, and a psa/DNA 89 ud.

[Neal]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

I'm a griffey fan and have a few of his cards. One of these days I will pick up a 93 finest refractor. It was the first year they were issued. He has tons of pack issued autos available. I have a couple, but have focused on his rookies. I do have a psa 10, BGS 10, and a psa/DNA 89 ud.

the 93 Finest is such a cool card! The subsequent Finest issues aren't bad either - the gaudier the better!

Here is my only example

1996FinestGriffey.jpg

[pokerplyr80]

Nice yea you can't go wrong with the others. Cool cards to own. I just remember 93 finest coming out when I was a kid. It was a pretty big deal, I think the packs were 20 bucks each maybe more, which was a lot of money for a 13 year old. And you only got one refractor per box. I opened a couple packs with no luck. But it would have been so cool to pull a Griffey.

[Deadman31]

Funny story about Griffey finest refractor. I went into my childhood LCS after these had come out. Hadn't been there in awhile but out of boredom I stopped in. They had Griffey finest in display case for $25. I asked the owner about it and he told me it was called a refractor and they were extremely rare. I bit and bought it. So for about 15 years or so I thought I had this super cool refractor card but turned out it was just regular one.

It's possible the owner was misinformed even though he was shady as hell sometimes, but that was last time I got to go there.

[pokerplyr80]

A griffey refractor was worth a lot more than 25 bucks even back then. He knew what he had. A base griffey selling for 25 bucks when that set came out is not surprising though. I probably would have bought it back then if I had the money.

[4reals]

I'm not a Griffey collector but have this unique item that I've held onto over the years

[Jantz]

Neal

This may be something you may want to look at (if you haven't already). Topps has been putting out a product called Archives that has 90s cards with autos. They have put out a few of Griffey Jr.

Jantz

[Neal]

Thanks, Jantz.
Will check em out

This arrived yesterday. Nothing huge, but a nice shiny, distraction to postwar cards!

1997BowmansBestGriffey.jpg

[Rookiemonster]

I also like 90s atomic refractors ! Nice card . Is the preview like a promo or something ?

I really was a fan of the 90s atomic refractors from football .

[Peter_Spaeth]

It's worth next to nothing but this is my favorite Griffey card.

[irv]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

It's worth next to nothing but this is my favorite Griffey card.

I was going to post mine when I posted my TSC Bagwell a while ago but never got around to it.
I have 2-3 copies and it is also one of my favorite cards, Peter.

[Neal]

Cool card, Peter! On my list btw

Just added another Atomic Refractor -

1996BBRefractGriffeyPSA10.jpg

[Neal]

Been looking for a factory produced auto, and was able to land this one

1999SP Griffey.jpg

[Rookiemonster]

Great looking auto Neal ! Congrats

[RayBShotz]

That sig is really clean. Nice card!

[rats60]

Originally Posted by Neal

Been looking for a factory produced auto, and was able to land this one

Attachment 260483

Nice card. I was going to suggest the 99 Legends, also with the mariners. Nice head shot with background for the sig.

[timzcardz]

I pulled this one from a pack a few years back.

[pokerplyr80]

One of the Griffey RCs I was missing just arrived today. Happy to be part of the $20 card collector club.

Edit: Do you guys want to turn this into an all Griffey pickup thread like the Mantle one in post war?

[Neal]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

One of the Griffey RCs I was missing just arrived today. Happy to be part of the $20 card collector club.

Edit: Do you guys want to turn this into an all Griffey pickup thread like the Mantle one in post war?

fine by me lol

1996BBRefractGriffeyPSA10.jpg

[terjung]

Great cards, Neal!
Here's my copy of his '93 Refractor. (Don't get to post this kind of thing much.)

[pokerplyr80]

Terjung that is an awesome card and one I intend to add at some point. Hopefully soon. PM me if you ever decide to sell.

[Neal]

Fantastic Finest Brian!

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Neal

Fantastic Finest Brian!

Refractor envy?

[Neal]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Refractor envy?

always lol

[tjb1952tjb]

If you'd like Junior's autograph on a larger card the 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces Box Topper set is nice, IMO. They measure approximately 5x7. A very limited release. There are two in the set.....these are mine. I like 'em!

I have a few other graded ones if you're interested.

[Neal]

nice autos!

latest inexpensive Griffey

1992 SC Griffey.jpg

figured to resurrect this thread as I am back on a Griffey hunt .... especially a 93 Finest

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Neal

nice autos!

latest inexpensive Griffey

Attachment 303520

figured to resurrect this thread as I am back on a Griffey hunt .... especially a 93 Finest

Whoever recommended that one to you had good taste.

[Neal]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Whoever recommended that one to you had good taste.

yes he does!

[Blackie]

Still have my 89 Upper Deck.........was one of the hottest cards at the time. Great player. Anyone know what he's doing now a days? Good quest I think

Here are a few

[Neal]

nice!
keep em coming

[DeanH3]

Nice Griffey's. I sold a lot of my Griffey's a long time ago. My fav has always been the '93 SP Platinum Power. Not expensive but love the color and design. Gotta go find and scan it.

OK, went dumpster diving closet style and unearthed these. Nothing high end, but these were always favorites of mine.

[Neal]

some more cool, shiny crap

1997 Fleer Griffey.jpg

1999 Griffey.jpg

[DeanH3]

Nice stuff Neal. I can see an uptick in 90's inserts. They had some really cool designs and prices are reasonable on a lot of them.

Some more an unused Wonder Bread bag with Jr enclosed, full count boxes and and a 6 card panel

[Neal]

Originally Posted by DeanH3

Nice stuff Neal. I can see an uptick in 90's inserts. They had some really cool designs and prices are reasonable on a lot of them.

Thx Dean

at the very least, it is a guilty pleasure for me as sometimes looking at the same postwar and prewar stuff gets old

cool cards fellas, I appreciate the effort!

[Neal]

just picked this up

1990TiffGriff.jpg

[ALR-bishop]

[

[Neal]

Cool cards Al!
What are they?

[ALR-bishop]

In addition to collecting Topps, Fleer and Bowman I also collected the various Conlon sets put out by The Sporting News and Megacards. This was a subset of one of the Conlon sets.

I think an eBay search for "Ken Griffey Conlon" will pull them up

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

In addition to collecting Topps, Fleer and Bowman I also collected the various Conlon sets put out by The Sporting News and Megacards. This was a subset of one of the Conlon sets.

I think an eBay search for "Ken Griffey Conlon" will pull them up

Don't give him any ideas, he's already on a spree.

[Neal]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Don't give him any ideas, he's already on a spree.

lol - true

Unmarked bag with Griffey Jr

[almostdone]

Just saw this thread for the first time. Back in the day I tried to get every mainstream Griffey card out there. Halfway through 1993 I gave up. I still collected many moving forward and picked up a few lots from time to time through the late 90’s just to expand but haven’t gotten any new ones since probably around 2002 when I discovered eBay and vintage.

I still have all of them. I think it’s somewhere between 400 to 500 different cards.

The last card shop in my town tried desperately to gain some new blood and asked if I could help organize for him. I went in a few times to help but to no avail he shut down a bit after that. He knew I liked Griffey so for payment he gave me a stack of cards he didn’t think he’d sell. In looking through them there was one I couldn’t ever find any info on. I know it was a variation card of a base set. From what I did gather they were fairly rare at the time. I need to go find it and post it here. Maybe some of you guys could help me out. It’s not a rush and I highly doubt I have some sort of “holy grail” for Griffey collectors but it would be interesting at least to find out exactly what I have after all these years.

Anyway I’ll try and dig it out and get some photos up in a day or two.

Drew

[homerunderby]

Nice thing about a Griffey collection is its not only about collecting a great player, it's collecting someone who was iconic in the hobby for about 7-8 years. You have the initial Upper Deck card which is the best known UD card in their history, you also have key cards in just about every set from 1989-95, you have some of the first in pack autographs when they went for $500-1000, you have the beginning of the limited and serial number insert craze, and for good measure you have 1 of 1's. He was also in virtually every food, regional, and postcard issue of the 90's that didn't focus on one team. And you also have the stuff that Al posted where he was shoehorned into a set which no other current player would appear.

I remember the initial 1 of 1's of superstars like Griffey going for $5-10k. Things like the Fleer Ultra 1/1's (or was it Flair?).

Griffey was a big part of the hobby in the 90's, maybe the biggest.

[Neal]

My first Desert Shield

1991 Griffey.jpg