100 Days of Barry Larkin

[OhioLawyerF5]

Originally Posted by todeen

1995 Select Certified Mirror Gold. The start of something important. Later years cards have become very popular in the nostalgia card market. 1995 was easy to find Select Mirror Gold. Love the look to this card.



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To follow up on this post and the comment that it was the start of something important, I wanted to share the 1996 Select Certified rainbow. To say it was important is an understatement. I don't believe its importance can be overstated. It changed the game, and was the precursor to nearly everything we see in the hobby today.

According to baseballcardpedia.com, 1996 Select Certified was a 144-card hobby-only set released by Pinnacle Brands in the summer of 1996. This set contained a staggering (for the time) six levels of parallels and was one of the first sets that allowed individual player collectors to "chase the rainbow".

'96 Select Certified also redefined the standard for rarity for subsequent baseball card sets - up to the time this set was released, only a handful of inserts/parallels had either announced print runs or serial-numbering, which ranged from the high hundreds to high thousands. However, '96 Select Certified pushed the envelope by limiting the number of boxes distributed and drastically limiting the availability of all parallels, especially its Mirror parallels, which successfully contributed to establishment of the brand as a super-premium one, as intended a year prior. As a result, this set could be viewed as the impetus for the low serial numbering/print run craze that soon followed and harmoniously coincided with the "Insert Mania" wave of the mid-to-late 1990s that gave rise to cards numbered to ten, five, or one (e.g., Flair Masterpieces).

The announced print runs for the various parallels is as follows:

Certified Red (limited to 1800 copies)
Artist's Proof (limited to 500 copies)
Certified Blue (limited to 180 copies)
Mirror Red (limited to 90 copies)
Mirror Blue (limited to 45 copies)
Mirror Gold (limited to 30 copies)

These were stated print runs from the manufacturer as the cards were not serial numbered. Although the cards are not serial-numbered, many collectors believe that the announced production figures are accurate. This is based on sales data over the years and availability on the market. It also matches relatively closely to the stated odds for each parallel, considering a calculated print run of 64,800 total boxes produced, a figure that also appears accurate based on market data.

To my knowledge, there have only been 2 prior public sales of the Barry Larkin Mirror Gold, one in 2005 and one in 2019. Otherwise, this card is extremely scarce and I'm fortunate to have it. Mine is from the personal collection of the former CEO of Pinnacle that was sold at auction recently.

Many consider this to be the first real rainbow in the hobby. Here it is in all its shiny glory:

Base:



Certified Red:



Artist's Proof:



Certified Blue:



Mirror Red:



Mirror Blue:



Mirror Gold:



Complete Rainbow: