90's Box Breaks

Price: $29 shipped
Packs: 24, 5 cards per pack
Cards for set: 121/432; 28% complete
Duplicates: 0
Rating: 4/5

I don’t think I ever opened any packs/boxes in 1999. I was a senior in high school and was trying to save my money for other things, like books and a computer. So, I never got to see how well a product like 1999 Flair Showcase was put together.

I ended up winning this box for just under $30 on eBay last week. I thought that was pretty good, considering 1) the price tag on the outer seal was marked at $110 and 2) most boxes on eBay or through www.bbcexchange.com were at least $45, if not more, plus shipping (this is not a knock against BBC Exchange, as I’ve ordered from them in the past with great service). Imagine my surprise when the mailman actually rang the doorbell to let me know I had a package. Took a total of 4 days to get here; pretty quick considering Monday was a holiday.

Just as the set debuted in 1993 with each pack having the cards wrapped and then placed inside a mini-box and then sealed again, the 1999 box was pretty unique also. The top of the box was actually a flap, and when lifted you saw a tray with faux velvet and then all 24 packs set in two rows of 12 packs each. Pretty classy I thought, and probably one of the reasons the product was so expensive upon release.

The set itself is composed of 144 cards. Small but then you have to realize that just like in 1997 and 1998, there were at least 3 versions per player: Row 1, Row 2, and Row 3. Row 3 of course is the most common, inserted at a rate of 3:1. That’s right, at least 3 cards per pack were Row 3. The fronts are a holographic foil image in black and white with a smaller, color photo of the player in action. Row 3 is also called “Power” and can be seen on the front of the card. I received 71 Row 2 cards, giving me just under 50% completion for this set.

1999 Flair Showcase Row 3 "Power"

Row 2 appeared to be inserted at a rate of 2:1 packs, meaning 2 per pack. Since the packs only contained 5 cards each, that was pretty much how the box break went. The card fronts are all color, with 2 shots of the player again, set against their jersey number in the background. This was called “Passion”, and again is on the front as well. Personally, this is my favorite “row” in the set. 40 of these cards were in the box, giving me about 28% completion for this set.

1999 Flair Showcase Row 2 "Passion"

Taking things in a different approach is Row 1. Instead of glossy card stock for the cards, this subset is printed on thick plastic, with every card being horizontal instead of vertical. It also displays 3 player photos on the front, as well as the player’s jersey number. Each card in this set is either numbered out of 1500, 3000, and 6000, depending on where the card # fell into the rotation. For instance, cards #1-48 were numbered to just 1500, cards #49-96 were numbered to 3000 and cards #97-144 were numbered to 6000. Titled “Showcase”, I received just 8 cards in this box, giving me less than 1% for the set. It looks like these were inserted at a rate of 1:3, considering how many I have versus the number of packs in the box. I have 1 card #ed to 1500, 3 cards #ed to 3000 and 4 cards #ed to 6000.

1999 Flair Showcase Row 1 "Showcase"

It looks Wave of the Future was still going strong with this set. However, I must have missed out on the time Fleer created this set and used actual water in the cards. That’s ok, the look of the 1999 was pretty interesting. The background on the front of the cards are almost holographic with the look and feel of the cards made famous by Sportflix, and a failed attempt by Topps with DIII. It looks like it’s an attempt to make it look like the players are set against water, hence the name of the insert. A 15 card insert was randomly inserted into packs and individually serial #ed to just 1000 per card. There were no stated odds on the box or packs, but I did receive 1 in the break. The cards look great, but it’s a shame about the player in the box.

1999 Flair Showcase Wave of the Future #15 Preston Wilson

Last, but not least, is the Flair Showcase Legacy Collection. Coming back for a third season, this popular parallel had each card individually serial #ed to 99. It actually makes a total of 297 cards per player since each row was involved. Again, there were no stated odds on the packaging but I did manage to get just 1 of these in the box. The difference can be found on the card fronts, that feature blue foil instead of the silver or gold found on the regular cards. Also, the words “Legacy Collection” are stamped on the front, and the serial # is found on the back.

1999 Flair Showcase Legacy Collection Row 3 Brett Tomko

There was also the infamous “Legacy Collection Masterpiece”, where each player had their cards #ed to 1/1, for a total of 3 1/1s. Well, you all know how my luck has been with breaks and so I am proud to say that I didn’t disappoint. Not a single Masterpiece card in the box. Also, another insert called “Measure of Greatness” was inserted randomly, with each card #ed to just 500. Again, not one of those in the box. Oh well.

Overall, this was actually a fun break. I might consider going back sometime to buy another box in the future, that’s how much I liked it. I am glad that I didn’t pay $110 for this box, as I bet I couldn’t even make my $30 back on this box. But that’s why I like breaking boxes, I do it more for my enjoyment than return investment.

This is one heck of a set to try and complete but it looks like the Row 2 and Row 3 cards should be relatively cheap. Row 1, if I decide to complete that, will take a long time and some $$. Maybe when I win the lottery.