Breakin Wax:1996 Playoff Trophy Contenders Football Box

Time to break another box from the auction lot. This time I am breaking my most sought after box from the auction, a 1996 Playoff Trophy Contenders football. Looking on eBay and seeing the average cost of a box for $60 made this box an even more of a wanted rip for the price I paid. What did I pay and what did I pull...well, you are gonna have to view the gallery before you get that answer.

So what are you waiting for?!!

In every box of 1996 Playoff Trophy Contenders there is 24 packs with 6 cards per pack.You should get 4-5 inserts in every box.

The base card design, well, you guessed it, was trophy related. The cardstock is a bit thicker and the cards themselves have a high-end feel.

Back of the card

"Rookie" cards. You didn't see this too often in football, where the cards are marked rookie but are actually not rookies. That's more of a baseball thing.

Foil inserts are nice finds. Mini Back to Backs fall at 1:17 odds. I pulled two. Nobody spectacular, but still cool. And yes, they are mini.

Card 1:

Card 2:

My next insert find was a Rookie Stallions of Zack Crockett. These fall 1:24 or one per box.

Finally, my final pull, 1:24, is a Playoff Zone of Chris Warren.

Overall, not as exciting as I thought it was going to be. It was actually a bit disappointing that left me wanting to bust another to compare. At least my price was good and the cards look nice.

Now for the breakdown. I took the inserts, star players and rookies and got a rough Beckett Book Value for it:

Here is what I paid: $8 for the box
Here is what I roughly got in Beckett Book Value from it:$79

I did okay for what I paid, but I expected so much more in my mind.

That 90's Card: 1996 Playoff Trophy Contenders Neil O'Donnell

There is nothing like base card designs in the 90's and how great they look, this is another prime example.

Playoff branched off their successful Playoff Contenders brand from 1995 and came up with the idea for Trophy Contenders. The base cards looked very cool with the layered look of gold trophies, then blue (and other colors depending on the player) counter top look, and a player on top of that. The base cards were also a bit thicker than most which made for a high-end product back in 1996.

You can find most base card singles now for roughly $1 and boxes can run you upwards of $90.

To me, this product was a little under rated. It not only had a fun base card design, but some excellent inserts which is what the 90's were all about. Just like the under rated player I chose today.

Neil O'Donnell played 14 seasons in the NFL with 4 NFL Teams. He led the Pittsburgh Steelers to Super Bowl 30 where threw two costly interceptions leading to a Steelers loss. Despite those two interceptions in the Super Bowl, he ended his career with the lowest interception percentage in NFL history, averaging just 2.11 interceptions for every 100 pass attempts. However, since then, Aaron Rodgers has broken his record.

Let's hear your thoughts on today's 90's card!