90s Inserts

[mgm27]

Hoping to get some suggestions on interesting/good looking/rare insert sets from the 90s.

My collecting life has sort of come in three phases: as a kid 88-94 (junk wax era); a brief stint in 01-02, which ironically was probably he golden age (true GU, rare autos, etc); back in 14-15 til now in what I like to call the "junk auto, junk GU" era. But, as you can see, I missed the 94-01 era and all the insert chase cards that came out during that time. I'd like to add some to the collection and look forward to your suggestions.

Thanks in advance!

[PensFan29]

Pinnacle EPIX are awesome and cheap!

[rrk100]

Originally Posted by mgm27

Hoping to get some suggestions on interesting/good looking/rare insert sets from the 90s.

My collecting life has sort of come in three phases: as a kid 88-94 (junk wax era); a brief stint in 01-02, which ironically was probably he golden age (true GU, rare autos, etc); back in 14-15 til now in what I like to call the "junk auto, junk GU" era. But, as you can see, I missed the 94-01 era and all the insert chase cards that came out during that time. I'd like to add some to the collection and look forward to your suggestions.

Thanks in advance!

I know you said you stopped as a kid in 1994, but I am going to mention a couple inserts from that time period that I still like:

1992-93 Upper Deck All Rookie Team Pavel Bure Top Vote Getter
1992-93 Upper Deck All World Team
1992-93 Upper Deck Gordie Howe Selects
1992-93 Upper Deck World Junior Grads
1993-94 Upper Deck SP (1 per pack in 1993-94 Upper Deck S2)
1993-94 Upper Deck Silver Skates (there was also a gold mail-in version)
1993-94 The Leaf Set Hat Trick Artists
1993-94 The Leaf Set Studio Signature Series
1993-94 Pinnacle Nifty Fifty
1996-97 Upper Deck SPX Holoview Heroes
1997-98 Upper Deck McDonald's Game Film
1997-98 Upper Deck Game Film

Honorable mention: Wayne Gretzky/Patrick Roy 1990-91 Prototype cards. Arguably better pictures, front and back, than the final versions that went into 1990-91 Upper Deck hockey.

That is off the top of my head. I kind of stopped collecting after 1997... only got back into it because of McJesus.

Hope you find this helpful.

[seth2720]

Z-Teams, Masks, Rink Collections, Artist' Proofs, Epix, refractors, just to name a few. I suggest buying an old beckett and scrolling through sets and looking them up. That's a good way to get a an idea. Or look up 90's cards on COMC.COM that's so many on there.

[k13]

Bowman Chrome had some refractors one year. Look like baseball ones.

[Angus Con]

You talking about the Bowman CHL Chrome from 98?

[k13]

No, it's 2003-04
I guess not technically 90s but they look nice.

[mgm27]

Thanks for the responses guys. Much appreciated. I will definitely check out some of these sets.

Unlike basketball it seems like you can pick up 90s hockey inserts for pretty low prices.

[ThoseBackPages]

"1993-94 Pinnacle Nifty Fifty"


THIS THIS THIS!!!!!!!

Dufex was AMAZING!

[Internazionale]

Originally Posted by ThoseBackPages

"1993-94 Pinnacle Nifty Fifty"


THIS THIS THIS!!!!!!!

Dufex was AMAZING!

I concur about Dufex. So nice and shiny!

[Rorschach]

Originally Posted by ThoseBackPages

"1993-94 Pinnacle Nifty Fifty"


THIS THIS THIS!!!!!!!

Dufex was AMAZING!

Awesome header card is awesome.

[BestRCs]

Put me down for nifty 50 too. I loved those.

Some of my personal faves from that era were...

1991-91 Pinnacle B
1993-94 Pinnacle Team Pinnacle Canadian
1993-94 Ultra Speed Merchants.
1993-94 Score Dream Team
1994-95 Donruss Elite.
1994-95 Score Check-it
1995-96 Zenith Z-team
1996-97 UD Game jerseys.
1997-98 UD Game jerseys.
Any Masks insert from that era. The 1997-98 has a nice die cut parallel too.

[Starman101]

Originally Posted by BestRCs

Put me down for nifty 50 too. I loved those.

Some of my personal faves from that era were...

1991-91 Pinnacle B
1993-94 Pinnacle Team Pinnacle Canadian
1993-94 Ultra Speed Merchants.
1993-94 Score Dream Team
1994-95 Donruss Elite.
1994-95 Score Check-it
1995-96 Zenith Z-team
1996-97 UD Game jerseys.
1997-98 UD Game jerseys.
Any Masks insert from that era. The 1997-98 has a nice die cut parallel too.

Just picked up a Gretzky & Fedorov 1995-96 Zenith Z-Team

Per Beckett there were less than 400 produced of these

Pinnacle / Zenith created some of the Greatest Hockey inserts EVER IMO

Beautiful Cards!

[ThoseBackPages]

"1991-91 Pinnacle B"

i hit a Leetch the day of release. we were all like... WTF is this? LOL

[jmarascojr]

Originally Posted by ThoseBackPages

"1991-91 Pinnacle B"

i hit a Leetch the day of release. we were all like... WTF is this? LOL

My dad used to take me to the Toronto Expo show once a year and a grabbed a box of Pinnacle Canadian (would never see it in the states).

Driving home, opening packs, pulled a Lemieux, sold it for like 100 bucks...
Lot of money for an 11 year old kid at the time

Could never get my hands on a Gretzky, until eBay, that was like my holy grail...

Still need a 95-96 Topps Gretzky #375 (O-Pee-Chee variant) if anybody has one!!!

[Starman101]

Always loved Nifty 50s too

But we're forgetting 93-94 Pinnacle Captains (Another Awesome Pinnacle set!)

Some of my personal favorites from that era are....

1992-93 Upper Deck Gordie Howe Selects (the first insert set I ever loved, of ANY sport!)
1993-94 Donruss Elite
1993-94 The Leaf Set Studio Signature Series (agree on these...very cool looking cards with the holo sig across the card)
1993-94 Parkhurst Cherry's Playoff Heroes (these were the $HIT back in the 90s)
1993-94 Upper Deck SP (1 per pack in 1993-94 Upper Deck S2)
1993-94 Ultra Speed Merchants (these were the $HIT back in the 90s)
1993-94 UD Silver Skates (i got the redemption card and still have the gold mail-in set)
1994-95 Be A Player Auto Set (Important Set As It Contains The 1st Autos of many 80s & 90s HOF'ers. A very undervalued set IMO)
1994-95 Flair Hot Numbers
1994-95 Score Dream Team
1994-95 Donruss Elite
1994-95 Leaf Gold Stars
1994-95 Score Franchise (these were the $HIT back in the 90s)
1995-96 & 1996-97 Zenith Z-Team (Love Em both!)
1996-97 UD Game Jerseys (Important Set As It Contains The 1st Jersey Cards of many 80s & 90s HOF'ers. A very undervalued set IMO. These are very tough pulls at 1:2500. My favorite hockey Jersey Card set EVER....BY FAR....)
1996-97 Upper Deck SPX Holoview Heroes

Also love the first day issues, refractors, rink collection, artist proofs, and select mirror gold parallels

90s Hockey Inserts remain undervalued, especially compared to basketball and baseball

I still have ALL of my 90s hockeys inserts from going to Brooklyn card shows back in the mid 90s. During the hockey lockout on 1995 is when I began PCing MJ. I stopped collecting Hockey back in the late 90s when Pacific oversaturated the market with product. But recently Ive switched back to collecting 90s hockey again as 90s basketball has just become too expensive. 90s Hockey is just as nostalgic for me as 90s basketball. Also picked up a few cool PSA graded key 80s cards I as couldnt afford then back then as I was only a late teen making only $5 an hour in those days! Lol. I also think 80s OPC Hockey remains undervalued as well.

Im glad somebody started a thread about 90s hockey cards (inserts & parallels). A very innovative time in card collecting!!

[chezball]

k13 just got a vaca.

[ThoseBackPages]

man, i love this thread.

born and raised in NYC here, in 1988 i became a Joe Sakic fan and was able to collect 99.8% of his cards from 1988 to 1996. Pinnacle Press Plates marked the end of my reality that id be able to collect everything

and yes, Pacific put parallels into OVERDRIVE! lol

[Rorschach]

My favorite was the SP Premiere from 94-95 SP, the set with Iginla and Samsonov RCs.

I also love all of the UD SP inserts from the base brand.

[JMarchand1981]

I love the 98-99 bowman's best atomics.

I also like the....I believe 98-99 finest red lighters refractors.

[Starman101]

Originally Posted by JMarchand1981

I love the 98-99 bowman's best atomics.

I also like the....I believe 98-99 finest red lighters refractors.

Funny you said that

I just got a Fedorov 98-99 finest red lighters refractors mailday today

Yes they are sweet cards

[JMarchand1981]

Originally Posted by Starman101

Funny you said that

I just got a Fedorov 98-99 finest red lighters refractors mailday today

Yes they are sweet cards

I am glad I'm not the only one that likes them. I have the entire set minus gretzky.

[Starman101]

Originally Posted by JMarchand1981

I am glad I'm not the only one that likes them. I have the entire set minus gretzky.

Yes these are very nice cards

The 98 Finest base refractors are very nice as well

Big 90s / early 2000s refractor fan here

I just received a 00-01 Chrome Refractor of Yzerman in the mail yesterday.....

Man what a beauty in hand

[daxwills]

I can't remember if it was 93 or 94 score but the platinum parallels are cool and can be a nightmare to track down due to how they were distributed.

[BostonNut]

90's = DUFEX!!!