QUESTION about 1998 Zenith 5 x 7 Cards

[Calripkenjrcollector]

I bought ten Cal Ripken Jr 1998 Zenith 5 x 7 #Z50 cards. When I received the package, the first I noticed was that the jumbo cards was not flat. Not noticeable with one card but place on top of each other, you can tell the cards have something inside each one. Even though it's Cal Ripken, curiosity got the best of me and before I knew it, I was looking for the worst condition out of the ten and tried to be careful to split the jumbo card. The card was so glued together that there was no way of saving the Jumbo card. Lo and behold, I started with this card,

and ended up with this regular sized card of none other than......

WTF! I destroyed a Cal Ripken card for Jason Kendall. Dang!

Question is, how many of you guys opened a bunch of this jumbo cards and what was the best card you got from inside?

 

[Hawk8]

I never rip

 

[Fandruw25]

I never opened one but I seem to remember that the easiest way to get the card is make small slit on the back of the 5x7 with a sharp razor.

 

[mrmopar]

Cards inside another card has to be one of THE dumbest ideas ever marketed. Gamblers love them though, since often there is a chance to get better or special cards, but why do we need to destroy another card to make this happen? I assume most collectors tend to hate them like I do.

I do remember these new and it was not uncommon for people to slit them (which leaves a semi-decent copy to collect, even though it is slit, if you can get the small card out with our further damage) or even just cut the top off entirely to reveal the prize within with no consideration for the jumbo card. I guess because odd sized cards are an acquired taste for most, this was the best was for people to not care as much about destroying the original card, unlike the more modern rip cards. I saved some of the better players I had (Thomas, Piazza, etc) in tact, but I do admit that I did end up slicing some more common players I otherwise wouldn't care about and don't remember getting much beyond a few silver parallels.

 

[athletics07]

The only cards packed out were 5x7. ALL regular sized cards began in a 5x7.

 

[athletics07]

Here's a box I broke awhile back.

http://www.blowoutcards.com/forums/baseball-box-breaks/615160-1998-zenith-dare-tear.html

 

[Waxov]

Lol, I think I have 2 cards from that set (Tejada/Arod??) didn't ever realize they have cards in the middle, curiosity is getting the better of me.....

 

[RStadlerASU22]

The ZGold parallels are tough.

Ryan

 

[Waxov]

ok I found a Martinez one, it is wavy a little but doesnt appear thick enough to have anything in it, as is /100. Im guess this variant doesnt have anything inside.

 

[athletics07]

ok I found a Martinez one, it is wavy a little but doesnt appear thick enough to have anything in it, as is /100. Im guess this variant doesnt have anything inside.

My experience was that all 5x7 inserts were in the middle and all regular sized inserts were in the middle 5x7 so my guess would be that a middle 5x7 insert wouldn't have a regular sized insert. But you never know!

Either way I wouldn't rip /100 Gold Impulse. Picked up a Clemens, Lofton and a couple commons the other day, myself.

 

[Will Style 13]

Hated the whole dare to tear. I believe all 5x7's had a card in them even if they were paralells.

 

[athletics07]

Hated the whole dare to tear. I believe all 5x7's had a card in them even if they were paralells.

Correct. My comment above was referring to whether ripping a parallel would lead to something greater.

 

[corockies]

Correct. My comment above was referring to whether ripping a parallel would lead to something greater.

I wouldn't recommend ever tearing any of the 5x7 base cards since the majority of them out of packs have been searched. You can take these cards into a dark room and use a flashlight to shine light through them to determine if there's an insert card inside them or a base card. Very easy to tell the difference when you do this as the light shines directly through the base cards and illuminates a darker card silhouette if it's an insert. Luckily this doesn't work on the Z-Silver and Z-Gold 5x7s.

This was fairly common knowledge when this product was new.

Aside from this I absolutely loved this product:

 

[Calripkenjrcollector]

Cards inside another card has to be one of THE dumbest ideas ever marketed. Gamblers love them though, since often there is a chance to get better or special cards, but why do we need to destroy another card to make this happen? I assume most collectors tend to hate them like I do.

I do remember these new and it was not uncommon for people to slit them (which leaves a semi-decent copy to collect, even though it is slit, if you can get the small card out with our further damage) or even just cut the top off entirely to reveal the prize within with no consideration for the jumbo card. I guess because odd sized cards are an acquired taste for most, this was the best was for people to not care as much about destroying the original card, unlike the more modern rip cards. I saved some of the better players I had (Thomas, Piazza, etc) in tact, but I do admit that I did end up slicing some more common players I otherwise wouldn't care about and don't remember getting much beyond a few silver parallels.

I agree with this 100%. Destroy a card to get a card. WOW!

I must be the only one who just found out (just today) that this 5 x 7's have a card inside.

 

[Waxov]

My experience was that all 5x7 inserts were in the middle and all regular sized inserts were in the middle 5x7 so my guess would be that a middle 5x7 insert wouldn't have a regular sized insert. But you never know!

Either way I wouldn't rip /100 Gold Impulse. Picked up a Clemens, Lofton and a couple commons the other day, myself.

I think my other one is an A's player, are there any A's from this set that you still need? (or the Gar one, I dont player collect him anymore)

You'd think a 5x7 card would be hard to lose but I managed to pull it off . Will let you know when I find.

 

[magicpapa]

I think even the Sample Cards have the card inside too