Random Card Of The Day:1995-1996 Fleer Flair Hardwood Leader Glen Rice

Let's Talk About Sets Volume 52:More Adds

 

Sets Talk will take a hiatus after today's post. I don't have any more new set adds in to post about and may find a better way to post them.

Todays' Sets Talk includes set help from @OffBeatAllStars and Burbank Sport Cards Beckett Site (Emmitt Smith at the bottom that I saved 10% off on by using code 15Burbank at checkout).

First I get some Action from Action Packed. Great design, embossing is always a plus as well. But you combine that with the photography and you get an appealing set.

This was only some of the adds thanks to @OffBeatAllStars

Up next, we have some acetate action with 1996 Collectors Edge Presidents Reserve.

This will help some, but a long ways to go with this one. I should have just bought the full 400 card set for $20 instead of this torture chase lol.

And finally....

This Emmitt from Burbank closes me down to just a few left to this set.

I will also finish this post out with an update if you didn't see it on Twitter awhile back, I finally landed the last few cards for my 1995-1996 Flair Hardwood Leaders set. So that one we can finally call complete!

Shaq was the final card I needed and landed with a trade on Twitter. Names forgotten now but gave them a shout out already on Twitter.

A big thanks overall for all of the set help. Hopefully I can update everything soon on here.

The One

*it's time for a fresh cup of coffee and some cards. Sounds like a great start to the morning don't you think?*

Every Friday on Twitter, @collect_sport, I put up a I Want/Need Thread where you comment a specific card need and I will retweet it in hopes someone will Sell, Trade or even RAK (I have seen this) the card to you. Some people use the thread the way it was intended while others make a team/set demand. I just go with the flow regardless as long as it helps the collectors commenting.

On the thread every week, I also give an example of a specific cards I Want/Need. I have had some success in doing so, but one card I have tried a few times without any luck up I put up again and this time to my surprise had a response.

That's when I met @MattyBW who had what I wanted and so much more.

*takes a sip, gets excited about showing off these cards and takes another sip before doing so*

It wasn't too long after he had replied to my tweet about that specific card need that we had a nice conversation. The biggest point of the conversation was to make sure I got that card but we talked about much more that led to a trade as well.

I recently just started collecting more Jasson Dominguez for my Yankees PC. This was my second add to the collection.

This along with a few newer Cal Ripken Jr cards I forgot to take pictures of were the "newer" cards of the group. The main focus was on the 90's basketball. And if you know me, that hits the sweet spot and in comparison to coffee is the king of the cups.

John Starks adds. I always find it both saddening and odd to see John Starks in any uniform that's not a Knicks one. He was a fan favorite and a favorite of mine.

Finest Shaq. Don't ever let him post up, guy was unstoppable unless he had to shoot free throws.

Hakeem with the block!

And then Hakeem with the shot. Well, the Best Shot. These fell 1:12 packs and also had refractor parallels as well.

My first picture wasn't the greatest at showing how cool this card actually is. So I held it up to a window.

Now rolls in a beauty....

1996-1997 Bowmans Best Honor Roll Refractor! These bad boys fell 1:192 packs but it's not only the beauty of the card that grabs my attention, its the players. Patrick Ewing was one of the trio of Knicks I liked and Karl Malone I enjoyed his game and tried to mock it when I played with my friends back in the 90's. If I was to try that now, my body would ache for weeks.

*takes another sip before the coffee gets cold. I like Iced Coffee okay, but not my hot coffee getting iced. While I am it, I might as well toast a couple of english muffins*

I haven't even gotten to the main card of this post yet and I bet you are sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for me to show it off. Hold your mugs, we are almost there.

For now, I will tease this card as an intro....

Yup, a 1995-1996 Spx Gold Jason Kidd. Anyone who has followed me knows my deep passion for 90's Spx. I own set all three NFL Sets, one MLB Set, Both NASCAR sets, One and a half Hockey sets, and now......

Hold that thought.

*takes a sip of coffee*

I don't normally like jelly on my english muffins, I am a fan of bland so butter is my usual choice, but I will take a bit more excitement today when I show off the exciting card.

*takes a few bites, sip of joe and now onto the big reveal*

I think I have made you wait long enough to finally show the main card of this post. Not that the other cards above aren't sweet.

To finish up where I was with my Spx set chase, I also have one and a 49th basket....hold your horses...

What's this...

BOOM! You guessed it. The MJ has finally come home to finish up my second basketball set. He is smiling like I was when I finally got to hold this card.

 

And here he is resting peacefully among his Spx teammates.

With this set finally now complete, I am only missing the 1996-1997 Spx basketball set to complete the trio. That one also has my favorite design of the three but is also a dream set. I don't ever imagine myself being able to complete that one.

An obvious huge thanks goes out to @MattyBW for helping me finish up this set. It was a long time coming and it feels good to finally get there.

If you have Twitter, check out my Friday Thread and see what project you might be able to complete. You just never know what you may complete or who you may meet and become friends with. Isn't that the point of this hobby?

Coffee Card blogger out.

Seeking Help:1995-1996 Fleer Flair Hardwood Leader

 

All I need is..(thanks to a lot of help from The Diamond King)

12,19,22,26

I am so, so close to this set! Can you help? Let me know!

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES! Part 5:1995-1996 Fleer Flair Hardwood Leader

Welcome to the new series here on Sport Card Collectors!

I decided not only would I make a want list of each of the sets I am chasing in a tab, but I thought a little breakdown and feature may help get me more set help. I am sure many of the sets I am seeking are nickel and dime type of cards so I am hoping my trader friends can be on the lookout for any I don't have.

 

Every time I hold one of these cards, it takes me right back to my childhood. I remember going into the local box store Ames and picking up packs of Fleer basketball and finding one of these per pack. They are thick high gloss elegant looking cards as you would expect from the Flair name. At one point I had a good portion of the set built then came adulthood and it was lost.

Over the years I have added a few, but nowhere near the 27 card set.

My current haves are,

8,10,15,16,17

So I have many needs to go.

How many of you remember these or collected them?

“It Counts And The Foul"

As 1995 went on, I started to learn more about basketball. I started to sit down and watch games when they came on NBC-remember I didn't have cable and I only got NBC because of a makeshift outside antenna my dad had created-and the sound of Marv Albert's voice doing play-by-play was spectacular and it was really hooking me in.

I still didn't know everything about it like I did with football or like I did with the names of every Power Rangers villain, but it was starting to grow.

When growth and interest in a sport comes, so doesn't the growth and interest in collecting cards of a sport. I think we sometimes forget that no child will be interested in collecting sports cards in today's era if they have no interest in sports. Both things come hand in hand. You can't collect a Eli Manning if you don't know who Eli Manning is. Just like I couldn't collect a Charles Oakley if I didn't know who he was. Which I started to know more about the rebounding beast.

I was a little late to the party in getting 1995-1996 Topps Series 1 basketball, but the new Series 2 had just come out. So I had to give it a try and it was affordable as well. 10-card packs were $1.29.

It didn't take long before I was hooked on wanting more. The 110-card base set had a white border along with a full-color action photo and the player's name in gold. It was very eye appealing.

I was very fortunate to pull a Booster parallel after a few purchases-not the one pictured as I pulled this one a few years ago and just using this as an example-and that wasn't an easy pull falling 1:36 packs.

There were also a couple of really cool 90's looking inserts. One thing you could always count on in the 90's is inserts with foil. I wished more had foil today.

Joe Smith looks ready to Rattle And Roll into a new dimension

I am sure Marv would look at this one and say, "What a spectacular move by Michael Jordan!" Or being humorous like I am I would say, "What a sparktacular move by Michael Jordan!" Yes, I can crack myself up sometimes.

I was not fortunate enough to pull a Mystery Finest back then. I have since then pulled some as I busted two boxes of this back in 2015. I actually landed these cards as my Mystery Finest pulls:

It wasn't too long after busting some packs of these to go along with my Fleer where I needed to hunt down a basketball price guide. Luckily, my friends uncle had some older issues he handed me.

I don't collect or watch basketball anymore today. The game has changed, the announcers are lame, the cards are from one company that doesn't even own the rights to two of the biggest names autographs, and I just prefer my time being spent elsewhere.

I am very thankful to have grown up in what was the best era of basketball and best period of collecting basketball cards.

Random Card On My Desk:1995-1996 Fleer Metal Jeff Brown

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Random Card On My Desk:1995-1996 NBA Hoops Block Party Derrick Coleman

Wrappers Of Collecting Past:1995-1996 Topps Basketball Series 2

Well, this is the finale of the Wrappers Of Collecting Past segment. I hope you have enjoyed its place here on Sport Card Collectors over the past 6 months. But, as I stated in an earlier one of these, I have decided to let go of segments and free blog.

I felt this was a product I wanted to save for the finale as I busted so much Topps that year it wasn't funny.

I wanted the rookies, I wanted the MJ inserts and I definitely loved the Mystery Finest cards. I even opened a box a couple of years ago. The design was catchy, the rookie class was solid but it was those darn inserts that drew me in. Because of my never ending love of this brand, I own at least 3 base sets of Series 2-not much of Series 1- and still have most of my inserts today.

 

I look forward to hearing how you guys did with this product and if you ever hit a nice MJ or insert from a pack of it. Let me know in comments!

Random Card On My Desk:1995-96 SKYBOX E-XL BLUE PARALLEL INSERT Jamal Mashburn

Random Card On My Desk:1995-1996 Ultra All NBA 1st Team Center GOLD MEDALLION David Robinson

Breakin Wax:1995-1996 Topps Basketball Series 2, 2 Box Break (BIG HITS/MJ Heavy)

Well, well, well. Here we are finally. The last break from my auction lot back in May. Of course I stuck with the number one rule, you save the best for last. So here we go!

In every box of 1995-1996 Topps basketball is packed with 36 packs with 10 cards per pack. There are lots of shiny inserts and most importantly, Michael Jordan in the base and inserts.

The base cards design for 95-96 isn't too bad. There are some great action shots and the border is thin leaving the base card with a full photograph. The player's name may be a bit too big, but the gold foil it's done in makes it look nice.

Back of base card.

Rookie cards. They say draft pick on the side.

 

Rattle and Roll inserts look really cool. Very 90's look!

Spark Plugs! I finished an entire set in two boxes. You will find many, many of them as I had many doubles except of the one that's worth the most, you guessed it, MJ.

Mystery Finest. These fell at one-per-box or 1:36. Another MJ sighting! Woo hoo!

And finally, awesome looking Power Boosters. These fall one-per-box as well or 1:36. The next one I pulled from the VERY FIRST pack of the VERY FIRST box. Check that out......

BOOM MJ! Best first pack I have ever opened!

Overall, WOWZERS! This was probably the most impressive basketball break I have had for some time. After busting the first box, I couldn't wait to rip the second.

Now for the breakdown. I took the inserts, star players from the base and rookies,the sets (3 of them) and got a rough Beckett Book Value for it:

Here is what I paid: $4 per box, so $8
Here is what I roughly got in Beckett Book Value from it: $210

This was amazing break and value. No doubt my best break of the entire auction.