Help Received

My intention when I posted the Sets Of My Childhood series was hoping other collectors would be able to help me locate or trade for set help. What i didn't know was how generous they would be about it.

When I posted set help for 1995-1996 Fleer Flair Hardwood Leaders, I had a ton of quick feedback that help could be on it's way. What I didn't expect was that it would involve so much generosity.

@pdxGraphin on Twitter was the first to jump on sending me some set help. He knocked three down off from my needs with Mitch Richdmond, Dana Barros and Cedric Ceballos.

 

Then he tossed in some sweet Knicks cards as well. They consisted of my favorite 90's Knicks players that I enjoyed watching and "being" in the backyard. I used to be the Knicks starting five playing against the NBA. They wouldn't always win either because where is the fun in that? Rivalries were more intense and I would statistically keep everything in a note pad of who score what and what the final score was. I used to determine quarters by whoever got to 20 points first.

 

Seeing these cards really took me back to that time...

I would make a few spin moves and then a jump back shot and yell out..

Allan Hooooooooouuusstooonnnnn

 

Then I would take a deep shot and go Starks for Three....NAILED IT! (except sometimes it was a complete miss. By the way, this is one of the greatest Finest designs ever)

 

Then other times I would get under the hoop for a rebound and/or do a hook shot. It was Ewing time.

Thanks goes out to @pdxGraphin for the set help, the Knicks cards and for taking me back for some great times in my life.

Other set help came via PWE in a surprise I wasn't expecting. Actually, that was a pretty solid Monday in June. I came home to roughly 8 packages. Most I have ever seen in a single day. It was from all of the trades I pulled off and a couple contest wins.

Thanks to Jon over at A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts passed these along to me:

Chris Webber. The Washington Bullets. I will admit I do like the Wizards uni and name better. But, it's nice to see a throwback.

 

Speaking of Throwback, the Seattle Supersonics. I know many were upset when they left town. Maybe they will make a come back some day like the Hornets did.

 

Cedric Ceballos. Well, I tried to cross off these as I get them but it may lead to a couple of doubles. But, I don't mind at all.

 

And finally one of the greats, David Admiral Robinson.

 

 

Thanks for the set help Jon!

 

It simply amazes me the amount of generosity we have in our hobby community. I am glad to be on the both ends of the giving and receiving. So much fun. 

You can check out all of my Sets Of My Childhood needs here,

http://sportcardcollectors.blogspot.com/p/sets-of-my-childhood.html

Michael's A Rising Star

In posting the Sets Of My Childhood series I was hoping that it would lead to some trading and some set help. What I wasn't expecting was it to lead to completed set.

Some of the sets I was hoping to complete faster than others. 1995 Pinnacle Clear Shots, 1995 Fleer Ultra Rising Stars and 1995 Summit Ground Zero parallel set were my top hopes to narrow down fast. That Ground Zero one may be close to impossible to do but I want to badly try.

Fortunately for me, one of the three was knocked down fast after I posted it.

My buddy @JGfan24ever once again pulled off another trade with me, this time he did the unexpected. He picked up the last seven cards in my set and we worked out a fast trade soon afterwards.

So here are the last seven cards in my 1995 Fleer Ultra Rising Stars set. These cards are acetate printed with a space appeal. They were not the easiest finds in terms of 90s cards. They fell 1:37 packs which was more than one-per-box and at one time the Marshall Faulk in the set was my biggest pull of the 90's.

The set consists of a group of interesting players. You have superstars like Brett Favre and Marshall Faulk. Some decent guys like Drew Bledsoe and others you are waiting for them to rise to be a star.

Drew Bledsoe

The Bus!

Bam Bam Morris

Eric Turner

Ben Coates in a throwback uni

Natrone Means I always liked. He was a solid underrated back

Jeff Blake

And here is that beautiful nine card set all together by number.

 

A big thanks goes out to Michael for helping me finish up one of these sets and especially one of the top ones I was aiming for.

You can check out all of my Sets Of My Childhood needs, HERE.

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES! Part 24:1995 Fleer Aerial Attack

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES is a spinoff from just a want list. 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.

Yes folks, we are back with 1995 Fleer. Sorry to all the hatah's out there. I liked the product and the inserts, especially today's. This was by far my favorite insert from the product.

 

Inserts in 1995 Fleer fell one per pack. But, not all were that easy to find. Aerial Attack only has 6 cards in the set, but they fall one per box as opposed to easier pulled inserts from the product. Out of hundreds of packs I have busted including one box, this was the only one I found even though they fall 1:36.

Rare, no. Tough to pull, I would say so. But, I have one out of six so I am hoping this one should be an easy one to tackle with some help.

The design is pretty simple. A groovy 90's etched color-themed footballs foil background with a featured player up front. But, it looks unique up close. Sometimes it's really hard to show you how great a card is with a picture.

My current haves are,

6

Only five left to go! Can you help, just let me know!

How many of you remember or collected these?

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES! Part 22:1996 Laserview Football

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES is a spinoff from just a want list. 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.

In 1996, full motion cards were the "thing" and I was all-in on it chasing what I could.

In 1996, Pinnacle put out this 40 card set that looked impressive. Black outside with a full motion hologram off to the side. This set is small so it shouldn't take much to build and may be one I lose patience with and buy outright or preferable trade outright.

One thing to note along with this product, it also produced on-card autographs of BIG TIME stars in its Laserview Inscriptions.

My current haves are,

7,8,11,23,28,29,30

I have a very, very, very long ways to go here as you can see. Hoping for your help!

How many of you remember or collected these?

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES! Part 21:1997 Spx Holofame

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES is a spinoff from just a want list. 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.

This set may be one of the most obvious ones from the series as everyone knows my chase of late 90's Spx with its glam of hologram technology. I have put together many of the base sets spread across a couple of sports, but I haven't mentioned how I am also chasing the insert and parallel sets too. One of those sets are the Holofames.

 

Falling at 1:75, this set won't be an easy task to chase. Most cards run $15+.

I really like the design of these. They took the X design from the base and gold foiled it. Added in the expected face hologram and a fx foil on the side with player. I tried to capture the magic the best I could with my camera but these things never look the same without seeing them closer.

I did find a full 20 card set on eBay, but they want $125. I think I can possibly build the set cheaper than that. At least I hope. I don't have the funds to buy that right now and the point of this is to build the sets. Well, most of them. Some I may buy outright if I only have a card or two and if they are affordable.

My current haves are,

1

How many of you remember or collected these

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES! Part 18:1996-1997 Stadium Club Welcome Addition

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES is a spinoff from just a want list. 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.

Today's set I don't have a lot of info on like past sets, but it is still one I am seeking so let's take a look!

I bought a ton of 1996-1997 Stadium Club back in the day chasing down some Kobe's. However, over the years what I had disappeared from moving and my father staking his claim in the collection when I moved out of home after high school.

One of the sets I was seeking at the time was Welcome Addition. I had roughly half of it done but now have one single card from the 25 card set.

The checklist is of players who moved to a new team and made the biggest impact for them. One of my all-time favorite Knicks is included in the set in Allan Houston. Another reason I need to chase it down.

My current haves are,

10

I have a very, very, very long ways to go here as you can see.

How many of you remember or collected these? I am sure Billy must!

Rock Solid Gold Finds

You ever just have a few too many cards that sometimes you may miss something you already have?

I ran into that recently.

When trying to put things away, I stumbled up on two card needs for my Sets Of My Childhood.

One is this Rondell White Rock Solid insert from 1996 Upper Deck. I am surprised that the shine that reflects off from these didn't catch my attention the first time when I was searching.

So now I can add number 13 on my haves list.

Up next, that awesome Fleer Metal Golden Fingers insert that not many remembered I found a biggie towards that set in the GOAT Jerry Rice. I thought I had it all along but couldn't locate it til now.

This will add card number 6 to my haves.

For more needs for these two sets and others, go right HERE to see if you can help.

Have you guys ever found needs whether it's for sets or PC that you discovered in your collection later on?

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES! Part 17:1994 Donruss Diamond Kings

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES is a spinoff from just a want list. 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.

Okay, okay. Today's Sets Of My Childhood post isn't telling the truth. Honestly, I never chased the Donruss Diamond Kings set from 1994. Not even a single card. However, since I got myself into the hobby that year and the fun design it represents, I threw this as apart of my series.

Today's insert fell 1:9 packs of 1994 Donruss. They were split into two series just like the set was. As with most of the paintings like these back in the day, they were done by the famous Dick Perez. He is even included in this set.

The design is simple. Artist drawn front, but it's the colors and the shine from the Diamond Kings word that is the biggest draw in for me for this specific set vs others like it.

I somehow put together a good handful of this 30 card set and now just need to finish it.

My current haves are,

16, 18,19,22,23,25,26,30

How many of you remember or collected these? 

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES! Part 16:1997 Skybox Impact Boss

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES is a spinoff from just a want list. 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.

Can't believe we are at post 16 in this series. Once again, we will take a look at another football set but I do promise other sports do exist in this series but football was my main and still is collecting sport. Today we take a glance at an insert from Skybox Impact in 1997 that was the BOSS.

 

At 1:6 packs in 1997 Skybox Impact, you could find these super colorful embossed inserts.  The 20 card set had both rookies and veterans in it. So far my only haves are the three rookies, so I have a long ways to go. 

I am not sure what caught my attention or still catches my attention about these, but something does. It's not something I would have been into today as much but being apart of my cardboard history and the embossing kinda gets me, I am on the chase for the rest!

My current haves are,

1,5,and 20

How many of you remember or collected these? 

Sets Of My Childood THE SERIES Part 14:1995 Score Red Siege Parallel

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES is a spinoff from just a wantlist. 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.

We take a look back to 1995 at the Red Siege parallel from Score. It's simply just the base Score cards, which I liked by the way, and tossed with red foil over the top with the words Red Siege on the back. Pretty simple, but I likey!

 

Falling only at 1:3 packs, this parallel set makes an already good looking base set even better. I have never once thought about pulling together a base set, but I think this one may be affordable enough to do so. However, I have only 6 of the 275 card set so please check those nickel and dime bins for me!!

My current haves are,

24,137,176,249, 219,273,

How many of you remember or collected these? 

Sets Of My Childood THE SERIES Part 13:1995 Fleer NFL Prospects

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES is a spinoff from just a wantlist. 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.

Yes, we head back to 1995 Fleer for Part 13 of this series and more football. Don't worry, there are other sports to but the main beef of my needs will be football. Today's insert line captures the rookies of 1995 in a Saved By The Bell design.

 

 

1995 had a few good prospects, but many turned out to be bums. Other's I liked just because they grew on me like Kerry Collins. I felt I liked him more than the Giants pick Wheatley that year.

This 20 card set fell 1:4 packs back in 1995. The front as a gloss and not gloss texture. The background is rough while the player and the writing is glossy. I think these look awesome but not all will agree with that statement especially coming from 1995 Fleer.

My current haves are,

2,3,4,5,6,7,13,15,16,19,20

I have some, but still have a ways to go and will need help doing so!

How many of you remember or collected these? 

Sets Of My Childood THE SERIES! Part 12:1995 Fleer Gridirion Leaders

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES is a spinoff from just a wantlist. 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.

Today's needs come from every bloggers love/hate product, 1995 Fleer. Which by the way I am on the love end of it.

 

With it's groovy checkerboard design, this 10 card set was found in 1995 Fleer at a rate of 1:4 packs. As you can tell, I bought a ton of 1995 Fleer and only am missing four cards from this set now.

My current haves are,

1,2,3,8,9,10

How many of you remember or collected these?

Sets Of My Childood THE SERIES! Part 10:1995 Skybox Paydirt

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES is a spinoff from just a wantlist. 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.

Part 10 already in this series! Still have much much more to go. Today's set I have been chasing since 1995 so it's about time I finish it up already.

 

 

Skybox Paydirt's fell 1:4 packs of 1995 Skybox Premium. A product that stood by it's name that year as the base set looked awesome and so didn't the inserts like this one. These also had very tough colored parallels as well. 

For years I assumed it was the background that decided the parallel when it really was the name printed. Instead of being in the base gold, it was printed in purple, red, blue, green, etc. Those are not easy to come by. I luckily own a red of Rodney Hampton but don't expect to ever find another parallel to it.

But, today's set needs are focused on the regular 30 cards in the base set. I have a good start but still have some gaps to fill.

My current haves are,

1,2,3,4,6, 8,11,13,14,16,20,22, 23,25, 26, and 27,

How many of you remember or collected these?

Sets Of My Childood THE SERIES! Part 9:1995 SportFlix Man 2 Man

We are into the 9th installment of this surprisingly popular series.This time we go back 23 years to 1995 and check out an insert line from 1995 Sportflix football. The lenticular technology is on the list of extinction of today's use. Another sad loss.

So let's check this one out.

For Sets Of My Childhood, 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.

My local grocery store carried tons of packs of SportFlix football back in 1995. The fun thing about buying cards from a grocery store was that the display was all the way up front as soon as you entered the store. While my parents shopped, I stood at the display and checked things out. I didn't seem to have a lot of luck pulling good cards from SportFlix, but I really enjoyed how the players moved on the cards when you flipped them just so.

My best pull at the time from the product was the Man 2 Man card of Dan Marino and Troy Aikman. These cards don't move when you flip them like other SportFlix cards, but has a cool 3D appeal especially with the football jumping out at you. These cards fell 1:8 jumbo packs. At the time card I pulled even had a $25 book value so it was at the top of my most valuable cards then. The card has since dipped some along with others in the set but that's okay. This will hopefully make the chase a tad easier for me.

There are only 12 cards in the set. I have 5, one I pulled myself and four added thanks to the help of my good friend Bryan over at 90's Niche Football Card Blog.  So I only have 7 more to go and would love to finish this one up.

My current haves are,

1,4,7,8,12

This project I think can be completed with some help :)

How many of you remember or collected these?

Sets Of My Childood THE SERIES! Part 8:1997 Collectors Choice Turf Champions

The Sets From My Childhood continues today with a new post and it is brought to you today by the year 1997. The year that I was a big 8th grader collector seeking cards and items of all types.

For Sets Of My Childhood, 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.

Busting a ton of 1997 Collectors Choice helped me dive right in with collecting this set. They were easy finds at one-per-pack but sometimes that lead to many doubles. There are actually 4-tiers to this set but I am not sure how far my chase will lead me. I want to at least conquer the first 30 which fell 1:1 packs. Tier 2 which is cards 31-60 fell 1:21 packs. I was fortunate enough to pull the Hostetler above (which has the Fx feel to them), Tier 3 is cards 61-80 that fell 1:71 packs, and Tier 4 ends the set with cards 81-90 that fell 1:145. I have never seen Tier 3 or 4 and not sure how many out there even exist.

My current haves are,

2,3,5,8,9,11,13,15,16,17,18,19,20,25,26,27,28,29,30,35

This project can either be easy or tough depending on how far I want to pursue it. The first tier I am not off to a bad start with, however, the other three have miles to go.

How many of you remember or collected these?

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES! Part 7:1997 Upper Deck Hot Coommodities

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.

My current haves are,

5,9

These cards are hot, hot, hot! Well, maybe not so much on the market but on the cardboard with flames they are. There is just something about the black border and fiery flames from behind the players featured that jumps out to me. I busted a ton of 1997 Upper Deck, so much that I completed both series sets. Those I still have today. Sadly, I only had one card from this set but it was a good one. Some guy named Ken Griffey Jr. The Smoltz I have since added in a contest win on Twitter last year.

There are 20 cards in this flaming hot set. They fell 1:13 packs in 1997 UD Series 2. So not overly tough pulls but for some reason I never found them. 
 

So I have many needs to go with only 2 cards out of the 20.

How many of you remember these or collected them?

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?

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES! Part 20:1995 Summit Ground Zero Parallel

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES is a spinoff from just a want list. 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.

 I don't normally chase parallel sets but when one looks as good as these Ground Zero parallels, I say Oh Yeah and I bust through the wall like the Kool-Aid man.

 

How serious am I you ask about collecting the entire 200 card set. I am dead serious. I want them all! 

Ground Zero parallels fell 1:7 packs of 1995 Summit. The product had a high end appeal to it with it's thick base cards and elegant design. The inserts also looked very nice and some appear on this list. But, none I want more than this parallel set. I wished my pictures could have captured their magic a bit more.

I have a long, long, ways to go with this one with only 8/200 so far. So any form of donations or trades for the rest I will welcomed open armed.

My current haves are,

1,23,28,78,82,92,154,164

How many of you remember or collected these? 

Clear Shot At Spending My eBay Bucks!

As you guys know, I am a very low budget collector so when I got my eBay bucks certificate back recently, I didn't get a triple digit return, I didn't even get a double digit return. I got $1.88. Yes, one dollar and eighty-eight cents.

Some of you may laugh and some of you may not even bother using an amount so low, but for me, $1.88 opened up some possibilities and to me, money is money. No matter the amount.

I knew I wasn't going to add to my Psych or Ghostbusters needs with that amount, but since I collect so much the windows were open to many things. First I checked for Rodney Hamptons. Nope, all the ones that cheap I have. Second, I looked at NY Giants in general, nope, got em. So lastly I checked out Sets Of My Childhood cards and knew I could score some kind of help there.

But, I didn't want to spend my big bucks on just any card randomly I needed, I wanted something unique from my needs.

That's when I discovered a 1995 Pinnacle Clear Shots card I needed for my set. These cards fell 1:60 packs and are printed acetate with a touch of silver foil.

 

So far I only had Jerry Rice for the set. Now I have Marshall. So 2 out of 10 done. This set will be featured on Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES at some point and hopefully I can get some help to finish my set.

I was pretty happy with my choice and finding a set need under $2. Most of these in the set are over that price even for a non Hall Of Famer.

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES! Part 4:1996 Fleer Metal Gold Fingers

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.

 

Fleer Metal. If you were a card collector in the 90's, this product was the sizzle. Especially when they released out the PMG (precious metal gems). Which by the way I will take any of those no matter team or player from 1996-1999.

I was fortunate enough to find some at the local pharmacy and pull an insert called Gold Fingers. Other than the PMG's, these things are the best insert ever in that product line. They are made of etching and the gold hand in the background is a 24-karat etch. They look even cooler in person. 

There are 12 cards in the set and fall 1:8 packs.  I only have 2 of 12 so far so this will be quite the chase.

My current haves are,

10 and 11

I have a very, very, very long ways to go here as you can see.

How many of you remember or collected these?