1989 &1990 Bowman Factory Set project.
JoeBanzai
Posts: 11,806 ✭✭✭✭✭
Inspired by jordangretzkyfan's thread and heeding his advice on undervalued sets, I have had some horrible luck with wax and even rack, so I decided to focus on factory sets.
I was able to pick up about a dozen sets, paying about $10.00 per set plus shipping.
Here's my results, posting the best 8 cards of the "Big Four".
First Ken Griffey Jr;
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
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Comments
Next Sammy Sosa;
Next Larry Walker;
Finally Frank Thomas;
Anyone see any 10's here of any of these guys?
My advice is not to spend too much in searching for gradeable cards. I am not sure there's a 10 in the bunch.
great looking cards but some of the rookies will grade nine's. shows how tough it is to get ten's sometimes.
The Tomas and Sosa cards look too low, the Walkers too high. I thought I might get lucky on one of the Griffey's.
The bottom left Griffey looks the best from a centering perspective. Tough getting good centering on those ones..
Here is my Griffey PSA 10 for reference
And Here is my Sosa Tiffany 9 for reference.
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
That Sosa is a BEAUTY!
The bottom left Griffey looks like it's out of focus a bit.
Here's the best of the rest;
Yeah, that bottom left one is OF. 1990 had such a great crop of rookies! Bernie, Juan, Frank, Sammy, Olerud, Chuck. Etc...
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
You can take solace in knowing that the '90 Bowman Sosa is one of the toughest 10s of the '80s decade. I think you have a shot with one or two Griffeys, depending on how everything else looks.
I love this approach though. I've been doing it myself with easier sets and it's better than ripping wax. You planning on ripping more sets?
Arthur
Thanks for sharing the key cards Joe! 1990 Bowman are a tough condition set. Your upper-right and bottom-left Griffey’s look like they make the centering and corner grades for a 10 assuming those print specs are just on the scan and not the card. Great looking set that I still contend is undervalued when you hit some nice PSA 9s and 10s.
I was wondering if you would find me!
Top right Griffey has a shot. Not sure about focus on bottom left card. I have noticed the colors don't always line up on the logo and they don't on that one, making the image look fuzzy to me. I might still send it in.
What are your thoughts on "the best of the rest"?
You'll just have to stay tuned my man! ;-)
The Johnson, Ryan, Olerud, Gonzalez and Bonds all look like rock solid 11s from what I can tell via the scans. Only question is if that is a print mark or part of the background right at the tip of Randy’s hat bill? The Williams, Mattingly and Ventura all have a slight tilt if I am seeing correctly, but appear as high-end 9s to my eyes. Congrats on the nice pulls from the factory sets. Great price on the sets too!
Good eye! That Johnson has a print dot. Looked at my others this morning and the others didn't have it, but none looked like 10's.
Looks like there's no "perfect" cards of Walker, Griffey or Thomas in any of the sets. RATS!
Next up is some 1989.
With only the Griffey rookie being a "BIG" card, I was not too excited about 1989, but the Bowman "bug" has kind of bitten me. Then I also noticed that 3 other guys were going for good money, none of whom I really liked. Sheffield and Alomar had some problems and Martinez was a great hitter, but not much in the field. But since their cards were going fro from $60-100.00, I wouldn't get burned too bad if the Griffey's weren't 10's. I also like the Griffey and his Dad card, so that is nice.
Speaking of BURNED, one of the auctions I won was a wax box and a factory set. The wax box was terrible! TWO cards in each pack were ruined by the gum and another by wax. No Griffey Jr's and one Ken-Ken Jr card that was gum stained. Most of the rest had a bad corner. NO MORE WAX FOR ME!
Here's some 1989 results;
A couple of nice one's but nothing "perfectly" centered. :-(
I have no idea how to grade these, they all look good to me. I see a couple of print dots on Jr's sleeve now, so those are out.
Top left Sheffield is out because of centering.
Any and all feedback would be appreciated!
I think the bottom right Griffey,Jr. is the best of that group.
Nice break. The bottom right Junior looks pretty close to perfect. Of the Senior/Junior cards, 1 and 4 look spot on to me. Those are the ones I would sub for sure. Thanks for sharing the rip!
Thanks guys!
I agree on the Bottom Right Griffey being the best and as good as some 10's I have seen.
It will get a 9.
Looks like the prices on some of the other cards have dropped quite a bit. I don't think any of my Edgar Martinez's were worth grading, but I will take a second look at them. His card seems to be holding value. Prolly because so few are 10's.
I really like the top right Sheffield, top left Alomar and the Bonds and Ryan on the right.