90's Box Breaks

Price: $24 shipped
Packs: 24, 10 cards per pack
Cards for set: 173/180; 96% complete
Duplicates: 58
Rating: 4/5

This was, perhaps, one of the weird box breaks for me. Not a bad thing, but when you’re used to product that has stated odds on the box/wrappers, it’s a little hard to guess what insert(s) you could/could not get. Even more, using the online checklist through Beckett said the same thing as the Donruss packs: ‘randomly inserted into packs’. Thanks, Donruss!

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Finally wrapping up my review of 1997 Donruss Update. Still having a hard time with the odds on the inserts, since the back of the packs only claim “randomly inserted in packs”, and Beckett reflects the same thing.

Not to worry though, the review is on the way.

A few days ago, I won an auction for a printing plate of Tony Clark. Considering this is a 1/1, I was expecting to pay quite a bit for it, in the frame of $25 or more. Boy, am I out of it when it comes to collection from this decade (well, I guess it’s now technically last decade). For a mere $11 and change, the plate is mine.

Well, that’s good news for me, as I have a framework to follow when it comes to obtaining other plates. However, it pales in comparison when it comes to the 90’s 1/1 cards. Why? As you can see in the screenshot below, I won a 1999 Flair Showcase Row 2 Legacy Masterpiece 1/1 for $175. That’s right, $175. And this isn’t the first 1/1 Masterpiece, as those were released in 1997.

I guess I don’t really have much of a point here, just wanted to show how much it seems the market was saturated in the last 10 years to where a 1/1 plate could be had for a little change. Well, that’s if you don’t collect prospects or sought-after players such as Griffey or Jeter.

Compare the 1/1 cards, just 6 years apart

Price: $24 shipped
Packs: 24, 4 cards per pack
Cards for set: 82/220; 37% complete
Duplicates: 1
Rating: 4/5

I think I officially quit collecting by 1998, as I don’t recall much about cards from the 1999 season. Hell, I don’t even remember anything about the bankruptcy of Pinnacle Brands in August of 1998, if that says anything.

My first venture into 1999 of course is a box of 1999 Bowman Chrome Series 1. At just $24 delivered, it seemed like an innocent enough buy that I could hand while looking for other boxes to obtain. While waiting for it to arrive, I was reading up on potential inserts and parallels that might be included, that way I would know what to look forward to when I opened the box.

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I just received an email from the fine folks over at BBC Exchange that my 2 boxes have shipped today, so hopefully they arrive in time for the weekend so I can break and review them.

What did I order, you ask? Nothing too special, just a box of 1997 Donruss Update and a box of 1999 Bowman Chrome Series 1. Not looking for any special hits in the boxes, just to have fun opening them.