Clipperfan3
10-02-2012, 12:35 AM
On 4/14/12, I took this picture of my wax collection.
http://imageshack.us/a/img59/2918/boxesj.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/59/boxesj.jpg/)
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I have since sold all 3 fleer ultra's, sold 2 skybox premiums, sold 2 Z-Force's, opened the other 2 Z-Forces, and opened one of the UD's.
I have done a lot of traveling around Southern California, made a couple connections, and have done quite a bit of haggling and this is where I stand today.
http://imageshack.us/a/img442/4735/img3105qx.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/442/img3105qx.jpg/)
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http://imageshack.us/a/img822/6123/img3107nf.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/822/img3107nf.jpg/)
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97-98 TSC Series 1 x2
98-99 Fleer Brilliants x2
97-98 Skybox Premium Series 1 x4
97-98 Skybox Premium Series 2 x4
97-98 Metal Universe Championship x4
97-98 Z-Force Series 1 x1
97-98 Upper Deck Series 2 x1
98-99 Ultra x2
98-99 Finest Series 2 x3 (1 jumbo)
96-97 Flair Showcase x1
My goal is to get 100 boxes that I think are worth keeping or anything that has high resale value. The boxes you see literally represent only about 20% of what I have found. I have probably opened about 12-15 different boxes in that time and have sold well over 100 more. I keep as much as I can once I get my money back + some profit depending on the boxes.
I have actually learned something quite interesting about the 90's market during this time and have developed a theory. I have only gone around Southern California looking for this stuff. It is amazing how many sealed boxes I have found in this time. It shows there is a lot of this wax laying around. All of the big chase cards are extraordinarily hard to pull out of packs. I have come to the conclusion that unless it is a product that was very popular and opened by many then a card that is /100 probably has at most 50 pack pulled copies. Considering that nearly 15 years has passed for many of these sets, it is safe to assume that an average of 4-5 have been lost, destroyed, or are unaccounted for due to time. I am assuming this for the top players in these sets such as Kobe and MJ. Lesser players I would assume the number that are no longer in existence to be higher. If the product was very unpopular like a 98-99 UD Choice or a 97-98 Skybox Thunder I assume that upwards of 75-80% of the chase cards have not been pulled.
It also explains why some of the biggest MJ inserts aren't hitting the market more often. I know that many of them are buried away in PC's, but when I hear that only 4-5 different MJ PMG Red's /100 have hit ebay over the last several years that leads me to believe only 40-50 of the cards are really out there right now. The original Metal Universe was a very low-end product and was not very popular so it wouldn't surprise if many of the PMG's are just sitting in boxes still assuming those boxes are still around.
This is an example of what I mean by when I say unaccounted for... I recently visited a card shop in LA that I had never been too. The store had about 20 3200 ct boxes that had unsleeved cards that were priced at $.10 each. I stuck my hand in the middle of one of the basketball boxes and saw an ultimate collection base card of a common player. Since I saw something decent at the $.10 price level I decided to go treasure hunting in the 8 boxes that were available for basketball. I spent about an hour going through the boxes and pulled out 93 cards.
This was by far the best card I found in the box. I actually almost missed this card but only caught it because I am familiar with the set. The fact that it looks like nothing more then a base card is probably the reason why this card was in the $.10 box.
http://imageshack.us/a/img195/8122/img3070mb.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/195/img3070mb.jpg/)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
http://imageshack.us/a/img706/2844/img3071i.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/706/img3071i.jpg/)
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This is a 99-00 UD MVP Super Script parallel /25. Some of the players in this set they didn't have a facsimile signature for. So for the ones that they don't have the sig for they just put a little stamp that says there name on the front bottom of the card that is not on the regular base card. Also, the foil on the front of the card flashes so that's another way to tell it's a super script. I only caught this one because I saw the foil flashing and had to do a double take.
99-00 UD MVP was a low-end unpopular product. I wouldn't be surprised if less then 10 of the Potapenko's /25 were actually pulled. This particular card was sitting in a $.10 box at a card store. The store I had found it in had been opened for over 25 years. This card may have been sitting in the box untouched for a decade. There's a chance that at some point all the unsleeved cards would have been tossed and this card would have been lost forever. Since this is a no-name player there is a higher likelihood that even though the card was pulled it ended up being unaccounted for and had a chance of being lost forever unless an informed collector came by and rescued it.
If my theory is right that many of the big chase cards have never been pulled, then it makes the actual cards that have surfaced even more rare then they actually are. I guess you can call it perceived scarcity. I can see the big 90's cards going up in value even higher in the future as there are probably less cards to fight for then what it says on the back of the card.
http://imageshack.us/a/img59/2918/boxesj.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/59/boxesj.jpg/)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
I have since sold all 3 fleer ultra's, sold 2 skybox premiums, sold 2 Z-Force's, opened the other 2 Z-Forces, and opened one of the UD's.
I have done a lot of traveling around Southern California, made a couple connections, and have done quite a bit of haggling and this is where I stand today.
http://imageshack.us/a/img442/4735/img3105qx.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/442/img3105qx.jpg/)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
http://imageshack.us/a/img822/6123/img3107nf.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/822/img3107nf.jpg/)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
97-98 TSC Series 1 x2
98-99 Fleer Brilliants x2
97-98 Skybox Premium Series 1 x4
97-98 Skybox Premium Series 2 x4
97-98 Metal Universe Championship x4
97-98 Z-Force Series 1 x1
97-98 Upper Deck Series 2 x1
98-99 Ultra x2
98-99 Finest Series 2 x3 (1 jumbo)
96-97 Flair Showcase x1
My goal is to get 100 boxes that I think are worth keeping or anything that has high resale value. The boxes you see literally represent only about 20% of what I have found. I have probably opened about 12-15 different boxes in that time and have sold well over 100 more. I keep as much as I can once I get my money back + some profit depending on the boxes.
I have actually learned something quite interesting about the 90's market during this time and have developed a theory. I have only gone around Southern California looking for this stuff. It is amazing how many sealed boxes I have found in this time. It shows there is a lot of this wax laying around. All of the big chase cards are extraordinarily hard to pull out of packs. I have come to the conclusion that unless it is a product that was very popular and opened by many then a card that is /100 probably has at most 50 pack pulled copies. Considering that nearly 15 years has passed for many of these sets, it is safe to assume that an average of 4-5 have been lost, destroyed, or are unaccounted for due to time. I am assuming this for the top players in these sets such as Kobe and MJ. Lesser players I would assume the number that are no longer in existence to be higher. If the product was very unpopular like a 98-99 UD Choice or a 97-98 Skybox Thunder I assume that upwards of 75-80% of the chase cards have not been pulled.
It also explains why some of the biggest MJ inserts aren't hitting the market more often. I know that many of them are buried away in PC's, but when I hear that only 4-5 different MJ PMG Red's /100 have hit ebay over the last several years that leads me to believe only 40-50 of the cards are really out there right now. The original Metal Universe was a very low-end product and was not very popular so it wouldn't surprise if many of the PMG's are just sitting in boxes still assuming those boxes are still around.
This is an example of what I mean by when I say unaccounted for... I recently visited a card shop in LA that I had never been too. The store had about 20 3200 ct boxes that had unsleeved cards that were priced at $.10 each. I stuck my hand in the middle of one of the basketball boxes and saw an ultimate collection base card of a common player. Since I saw something decent at the $.10 price level I decided to go treasure hunting in the 8 boxes that were available for basketball. I spent about an hour going through the boxes and pulled out 93 cards.
This was by far the best card I found in the box. I actually almost missed this card but only caught it because I am familiar with the set. The fact that it looks like nothing more then a base card is probably the reason why this card was in the $.10 box.
http://imageshack.us/a/img195/8122/img3070mb.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/195/img3070mb.jpg/)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
http://imageshack.us/a/img706/2844/img3071i.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/706/img3071i.jpg/)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
This is a 99-00 UD MVP Super Script parallel /25. Some of the players in this set they didn't have a facsimile signature for. So for the ones that they don't have the sig for they just put a little stamp that says there name on the front bottom of the card that is not on the regular base card. Also, the foil on the front of the card flashes so that's another way to tell it's a super script. I only caught this one because I saw the foil flashing and had to do a double take.
99-00 UD MVP was a low-end unpopular product. I wouldn't be surprised if less then 10 of the Potapenko's /25 were actually pulled. This particular card was sitting in a $.10 box at a card store. The store I had found it in had been opened for over 25 years. This card may have been sitting in the box untouched for a decade. There's a chance that at some point all the unsleeved cards would have been tossed and this card would have been lost forever. Since this is a no-name player there is a higher likelihood that even though the card was pulled it ended up being unaccounted for and had a chance of being lost forever unless an informed collector came by and rescued it.
If my theory is right that many of the big chase cards have never been pulled, then it makes the actual cards that have surfaced even more rare then they actually are. I guess you can call it perceived scarcity. I can see the big 90's cards going up in value even higher in the future as there are probably less cards to fight for then what it says on the back of the card.