blown away by the kindness of our resident Grant Hill supercollector(doublexthebeast)

[duron]

So about a month back I started a 90s card instagram page that mostly showcases low to mid end stuff, with at least 80% of it being pictures of stuff I actually pulled from packs when the product was brand new. Most of the better stuff on there (few mid-end MJ's) I've bought on ebay in the last couple years. I just try to take half-decent photography to try and show off the card designs. There are obviously a lot more intricacies to the cards of yesterday and I wanted to document that fact in the midst of a Panini/flipping obsessed climate.

Anyway, I had dm'ed doublex through IG asking what he thought of some of the current ebay prices on loose 90s packs, which turned into box discussion. A few minutes later he asked for my address. At no point did I even ask if he had stuff for sale, this is just a standup dude.

The most special to me is the Hill 95-96 Hoops Co-Rookie tribute card. There was a recent thread on here asking what card you wish you still had that you traded away. As you'll see, he certainly took note of what I mentioned in that thread.

Such an iconic box he chose to put everything in..


And there it is, my personal lost gem, right underneath the Walker boxtopper/jumbo...





The New Millennium Pierce is numbered to 1500


Here's a shot of everything he included. The Kukoc, Vince Carter Finest and Marbury TSC Chrome are refractors. I really can't thank him enough.

[Penny and KG]

Very cool. My address is... haha! I've been hooked up in trades a couple of times on this site, and I would like to give a shout out to jhardy and cornelljw! Got some great nostalgic cards from those guys.

[paul06901]

Wow - incredible gesture!


I'm with you. The 90's cards are so special. The detail, the style, the intricacies of the designs.

Foil, holograms, die-cut, etc. matched with awesome set names and truly LIMITED cards. They didn't need 15 color logo patches, full letter patches, huge tags or logoman patches. They didn't need 15-sticker booklets or low quality $5 diamonds for no reason put into the card.

They were truly works of art. All of the little things.

Look at Panini sets over the last 5+ years ... they all blend together. Nothing is special. Nothing matters. They all lose value and become lost among the flood.


Then look back at these iconic years when people collected, traded, and enjoyed the cards. Now there are guys who buy case after case of high end product and rip through $10,000 in a matter of minutes just to dig and try to find a huge product hit to immediately sell on eBay.



Just in that group shot alone there are so many awesome, minor details that Panini has never even come CLOSE to with anything they've sped off their printers.

The finest "peels" ... completely pointless and stupid, but so cool in their own way. The half-hologram background of the Hardwood Honors... INCREDIBLE! I mean, just such a beautiful design. WHY HAS PANINI NOT MADE HOLOGRAM CARDS?!?! They're some of the coolest looking cards. Honestly, I don't want them to because they'll destroy it ... but it's mind boggling why they haven't even tried.

Look at the photography of the Topps set - awesome! Panini in all of their cheapness and laziness should take a tip from that. The EX-2000 set. Panini did try to duplicate and copy it with Clear View ... but they failed big time because with almost every product they put out, they imply artificial scarcity and release a million product per year really keeping almost anything and everything from having true value.



Anyways, great story and hopefully people will continue to appreciate 90's cards even if they weren't lucky enough to be involved in the hobby and see it first hand back then, how cool it was!

[Harper]

Very very cool!!!

[kukocitb]

nice Kukoc LOL! Yeah I need to send him some stuff.

[rauchand]

Originally Posted by paul06901

Wow - incredible gesture!


I'm with you. The 90's cards are so special. The detail, the style, the intricacies of the designs.

Foil, holograms, die-cut, etc. matched with awesome set names and truly LIMITED cards. They didn't need 15 color logo patches, full letter patches, huge tags or logoman patches. They didn't need 15-sticker booklets or low quality $5 diamonds for no reason put into the card.

They were truly works of art. All of the little things.

Look at Panini sets over the last 5+ years ... they all blend together. Nothing is special. Nothing matters. They all lose value and become lost among the flood.


Then look back at these iconic years when people collected, traded, and enjoyed the cards. Now there are guys who buy case after case of high end product and rip through $10,000 in a matter of minutes just to dig and try to find a huge product hit to immediately sell on eBay.



Just in that group shot alone there are so many awesome, minor details that Panini has never even come CLOSE to with anything they've sped off their printers.

The finest "peels" ... completely pointless and stupid, but so cool in their own way. The half-hologram background of the Hardwood Honors... INCREDIBLE! I mean, just such a beautiful design. WHY HAS PANINI NOT MADE HOLOGRAM CARDS?!?! They're some of the coolest looking cards. Honestly, I don't want them to because they'll destroy it ... but it's mind boggling why they haven't even tried.

Look at the photography of the Topps set - awesome! Panini in all of their cheapness and laziness should take a tip from that. The EX-2000 set. Panini did try to duplicate and copy it with Clear View ... but they failed big time because with almost every product they put out, they imply artificial scarcity and release a million product per year really keeping almost anything and everything from having true value.



Anyways, great story and hopefully people will continue to appreciate 90's cards even if they weren't lucky enough to be involved in the hobby and see it first hand back then, how cool it was!

I agree with all of this. One set I think Panini nailed is Revolution. Especially the Galactic Icons Insert. I have 7 or 8 that I'll be showing off soon. They truly remind me of the 90s. Revolution isn't perfect, but it's a step in the right direction. The problem is, no one seems to care about the product aside from myself and maybe a few others.

[Doublexthebeast]

Your welcome man! I just love the 90's era and enjoy sharing the cards with other collectors. As far as the EX box, I snapped this pic from my closet. These are some opened boxes that I have kept.

[90sbasketballin]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This is just beyond beautiful. Oh My....... Great gesture doublexthebest and hopefully you pack something huge or find a great deal sometime soon.

[goehring9]

Turns out the BO community is pretty cool

[AbraCalabro]

awesome stuff and the cards are nice too, especially happy you got "that" card back in

always cool to see real deal collectors helping one another out

doublex, sell me a 96/97 and 97/98 showcase box

dead serious

[Doublexthebeast]

Originally Posted by AbraCalabro

awesome stuff and the cards are nice too, especially happy you got "that" card back in

always cool to see real deal collectors helping one another out

doublex, sell me a 96/97 and 97/98 showcase box

dead serious

You pay the shipping and they are yours. I'll be gone all day tomorrow. Shoot me a reminder PM and I'll get them in the mail on Thursday.

[AbraCalabro]

PM sent, this is going to be awesome

[tristan20]

Very nice gesture!

[duron]

Originally Posted by Doublexthebeast

I might as well be Pavlov's dog looking at this image.

[thepinoymamba]

Wow! That is a very cool gesture! Salute to you both! This is what the hobby is all about. Sharing cool moments and making friends on the way! God bless!

Sent from my SM-G925T using Tapatalk

[dasiegel]

awesome thing to do by double

[buckunteer]

Originally Posted by duron

I might as well be Pavlov's dog looking at this image.

LMAO I was thinking pretty much the exact same thing. There's a thread going in here about what your collection would look like if you were as rich as Bill Gates and honestly? Not much different because I would just buy up all the 90s wax I could get my hands on, bust it, keep any MJs I needed and of course every refractor, then just sell the other stuff on the cheap on the boards.


Crazy cool stuff doublex, and amazing gesture as well!

[Doublexthebeast]

Originally Posted by buckunteer

LMAO I was thinking pretty much the exact same thing. There's a thread going in here about what your collection would look like if you were as rich as Bill Gates and honestly? Not much different because I would just buy up all the 90s wax I could get my hands on, bust it, keep any MJs I needed and of course every refractor, then just sell the other stuff on the cheap on the boards.


Crazy cool stuff doublex, and amazing gesture as well!

What's funny about those boxes is I got the 96-97 EX boxes back when they were around $200 each. The 97-98 Flair Showcase boxes were around $125 back then. At that point I was busting upwards of 100-200 90's boxes per year. They were a GREAT buy at that point.........wish they still were. I even busted a 97-98 EX 2001 box for only around $85-90. How fun would it be to be busting them at that price now?

[duron]

Those past box prices make me regret not getting back into the hobby sooner. I honestly don't know what made me start up again, I think it was partially just browsing the boards for a while without even being registered and remembering just how good card designs were.