Your first experience with "premium"cards

BBCgalaxee · Mar 21, 2016

Hard to believe that "premium" priced and quality card products have been around full time for over twenty years.

My first experience was 1995 Leaf retail packs which I think were like $2 or $3 at my local candy store.

I remember continuously going back and forth to the store every time I opened what I brought back.

At this time, I had just gotten back into collecting after being away from it for several years. And considering 1991 Upper Deck was the most "premium" I had experienced, you can see why I loved these cards.

Then, I found out about the inserts in this issue. And after I landed these ultra cool (and pricey) inserts, I was hooked.

So how about you?

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MisterT · Mar 21, 2016

I got back into collecting in the late 1990's (after "growing out of it" in the early 1980's), but it was all low end and base stuff - I wish I had known about high end/premium at the time, but I did not.

It wasn't until 2007 when I put my toe in the water of the high end world. I bought a box of Topps Sterling (I still love that product).

This card was in there and I got hooked on high end.

Nothing like a die hard Red Sox guy pulling a Mantle 1/1 as his introduction to high end.

rickeyfanatic · Mar 21, 2016

1989 Upper deck, buying a box and getting a Griffey RC in 89.
1993 going to the BostonCollege High winter card show and getting the Henderson finest refractor, before I knew what the big deal it was going to become.
2010 buying a box of 2005 Prime patches, and pulling a 4/4 Jim Edmonds dual button card.

These 3 moments are tied in premium lore for me.

olerud363 · Mar 21, 2016

I remember back in 1990 scouring the singles boxes at an LCS looking for the "hottest new premium card - Upper Deck". I remember stumbling across one and paying 20 cents for it. At home I put it in a toploader and I remember thinking, "This card is going to make me a lot of money!" The card? 1990 Upper Deck Billy Ripken.

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AmishDave · Mar 21, 2016

Paying a bunch, then, for a pack ? '92 Fleer Jumbo's. $10-$15/pack. And '92 Bowman Jumbo's, that were going for $25-$30, if you could find them. I found Walmart had these hodgepodge things with 2 jumbo's and some other packs for like $32.97. My first experience with lay-away

Premium cards ? Fleer Flair '93 in the little cigarette box. They were $6-$8 for 8-10 cards. Unreal that it was nearly $1/card.

linuxabuser · Mar 21, 2016

In 1998, Skybox E/X2001 seemed pretty steep at my LCS. 2 cards per pack if I remember right.

michaelstepper · Mar 21, 2016

MisterT said:
I got back into collecting in the late 1990's (after "growing out of it" in the early 1980's), but it was all low end and base stuff - I wish I had known about high end/premium at the time, but I did not.

It wasn't until 2007 when I put my toe in the water of the high end world. I bought a box of Topps Sterling (I still love that product).

This card was in there and I got hooked on high end.

View attachment 60757

Nothing like a die hard Red Sox guy pulling a Mantle 1/1 as his introduction to high end.

Amazing. Was that the player specific boxes? Some players transcend their teams. Mantle, dimaggio, ruth, williams, aaron, mays.. guys of that nature anyway.

I bought plenty of 1991 upper deck and pulled many a frank thomas at $8 a pop. But the first spend one I remember doing was 94 flair series 2 I believe. Pulled some good stuff for the time plus the Arod waves of the future. Thing booked for like $80 at the time.

George_Calfas · Mar 21, 2016

1993 Finest
I was stationed in Korea and would clear the Post Exchange out of cards whenever I was on liberty down from the DMZ to Camp Casey. When Finest hit I opened the box of cards that were in the shelves. I really liked the cards and asked if anymore were in the store. I left that day with the reminder of the case and was able to have the manager collect up the other cases headed to the other stores. I returned two weeks later and bought 8 cases at the direct rate and tax free, a nice military benefit. Most of these cases sit unopened in the wax case stash. I should have sold them about 10 years ago but alas I could not bring myself to do so, they will rebound in the distant future which is fine since I am in no hurry to move them.

predatorkj · Mar 21, 2016

I think it was when I went from paying 50 cents for a pack of donruss at Fiesta mart to the $1 a pack upper deck. Then 91 stadium club and studio came out. Unfortunately, I didn't get many of those but did land a few.

Most I ever spent was on a box of 2007 UD premier. Got some good pulls thank god. However, I tend not to bust much high end stuff because the high end stuff now is purely high end on the cost only.

cgilmo · Mar 22, 2016

It was 1990 leaf for me. Changed my perception on cards.

MisterT · Mar 22, 2016

michaelstepper said:
Amazing. Was that the player specific boxes? Some players transcend their teams. Mantle, dimaggio, ruth, williams, aaron, mays.. guys of that nature anyway.

I bought plenty of 1991 upper deck and pulled many a frank thomas at $8 a pop. But the first spend one I remember doing was 94 flair series 2 I believe. Pulled some good stuff for the time plus the Arod waves of the future. Thing booked for like $80 at the time.

The Mantle was not from the player box - but I wish it was! The player box, as I recall was a Nolan Ryan triple relic. The Mantle was from the Mystery Pack.

I seem to have done better with the Myster Pack than the player box. This card was from a box of 2006 Sterling I picked up - also from the Mystery Pack:

The player box was Mattingly. That one had an auto relic. I seem to have had great luck with Yankees in those Sterling Boxes.

Does anyone know what that Winfield cut was numbered to (or any cut cards like it from Sterling)? I cannot find any numbering on it and don't recall seeing any like it on eBay. I don't recall anything about the cuts being 1/1, but they may have been.

Thanks

joey12508 · Mar 22, 2016

I remember in 2001 paying $ 7.50 a pack for SPX thinking that was a lot.

Joey_peapod · Mar 22, 2016

I remember when 93 Finest and 93 SP came out. The Finest where $30 a pack and one LCS had singles all over the place. I couldn't afford those so I was buying a lot of SP. Pulled a couple Jeters that I got $20 each for which was huge when I was 10!

My first major pull was from 94 Leaf, I pulled a Don Mattingly Gold Leaf Stars and sold it for $40 on vacation.

The next year I pulled a Greg Maddux White Hot from 95 Pinnacle, probably why I love that set so much

smapdi · Mar 22, 2016

I remembered seeing packs of 1989 UD at 7-11 for 99 cents and literally scoffing at the price. Two years later, when I got back into the hobby after stopping in 1983, it was exciting. UD's cards were really nice, I liked Fleer's design (yeah, I said it), and Topps was awesome. I went to the comic shop, where I went weekly anyway but had always ignored the baseball card section, and found a Beckett. Flipping through it, I was amazed how much my childhood collection had exploded in value, especially the parts I had sold off years before. Then I went to another, lesser comic shop around the corner and they had Stadium Club. I was done. The sharpness of the photos, the glossiness, and the borderless, foil-stamped design was really game-changing for me. I remember being transfixed by the Ryne Sandberg card. They had packs for $5, which was quite stiff considering I was making $7.25 an hour at my summer job, but they were the only shop in town that had it. I bought 2 packs and pulled a Frank Thomas. Consulting my new bible, I found it was worth something like $20, and it was amazing looking besides. I was hooked.

psj · Mar 22, 2016

Mine was 1991 fleer ultra I believe.

sierra79 · Mar 22, 2016

Got into the more expensive stuff in '93 with SP and Flair (as an 8th grader at the time Finest was way too expensive for me). I always loved the '93 Platinum Power and the '94 Hot Gloves inserts. I found this one that had been cut the wrong way a while back.

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Your first experience with "premium"cards

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