My favorite basketball set finally completed after a decade...1985 Star Court kings w/ Jordan rookie

rtimmer

Over the years there’s been some debate on which card is Jordan’s first released (rookie card) and also much debate on which is his best looking “Rookie” card. The prime candidate to win both titles in 2010 was the Star Court Kings Jordan which is a 5x7 oversized card.

There’s some debate this was mailed before the Star 101 Jordan came out making it his first star card and preceded the Nike cards and of course the 86 fleer rookie.

Then as far as the best looking claim goes the star Jordan #101 is a pretty boring rebound/outlet pass shot but the Court Kings oversized card showing Jordan dunking with his gold chain flowing wearing the iconic black and red Air Jordan 1’s is either #1 or potentially #2 behind the 85 Star Slam Dunk Jordan. Cards showing the Air Jordan 1’s are both especially scarce and very valuable.

So in 2010 I decided I would try and collect this iconic set. It seemed like a pretty manageable set with 25 yellow bordered established veteran cards and 25 blue bordered rising stars for the best 50 players in 1985. Then to make my journey a little tougher because the oversized cards allowed the display of the autos so much better than a standard 2.5 x 3.5 card I aimed to collect the set autographed and authenticated.

So here we are 10 years later:

rtimmer

rtimmer

rtimmer

And this was the final card that took me the last decade to track down. I finally got it signed and sent off for authentication:

CW

Nice! That Jordan card is sick enough, let alone autographed. Great collection!

nebish

Very cool. I can only imagine the challenges in getting all those cards signed...the lesser know players I assume were actually tougher since they aren't as available at shows and stuff? Would that be correct? You got them all signed in person?

JBrules

Impressive collection!!! Way to stick with it.

Cs223406

Awesome Ryan, superb and unique collection feat -- great photographs of the game with some being used for a slightly more famous 86 release.
in addition to the best MJ photo ever I also love the Perkins and Dr. J shots.

2dueces

Perfection and completion deserves a Congratulations 🎉

billwaltonsbeard

Killer set.......great job!!! It really doesn't get any better than 80s basketball, does it???

Moonman

speechless!!

uncbuddha

Amazing.

rtimmer

@nebish said:
Very cool. I can only imagine the challenges in getting all those cards signed...the lesser know players I assume were actually tougher since they aren't as available at shows and stuff? Would that be correct? You got them all signed in person?

I bought the majority of them already graded, but with 50 to chase though several had to be hunted down, signed and authenticated.

Yes, The trouble with the lesser tier cards is the card would cost $10-15 the auto another $20-40 and the grading $50 for a encased oversized auto card in the end worth $35-50 so no one was getting them done for me. I took those on and an initially upside down Investment on at least the bottom 15% of the set to complete it.

The last card I tracked down was the Marques Johnson that I saw 0 come onto eBay in 10 years so just found out where he lived and sent it directly to him and it worked. I actually sent 2 while I was doing it so now I might have to try for another set 😀

rtimmer

Thanks for all the kind words! I love the Magic shot too, classic 1980’s!

It was a fun accomplishment to track them all down, but completing this set was its own reward in how much the top tier cards like Jordan have appreciated making the set worth around 5-7x the prices I paid along the way.

I’m going to start my next basketball investment project soon having set $10k aside to run it but I can also easily scale it up to $50k if anyone else wants to participate just send me a message for details.

rexvos

C’est incredible!

baseballfan

beautiful set

congrats

Ironmanfan

Congrats Ryan!

Bill

80sRockNut

Good Lord ... what a beautiful and amazing collection. And your commitment and work to get them all autographed makes them even more incredible. WONDERFUL job, Ryan.

BuckHunter68

THAT'S impressive and a beautiful compilation. Great job and congratulations on seeing it through!

2000man

I missed this thread. Very cool to see an authenticated set. Mine is still raw as I have kept it tucked away for 35 years now.

I spent a lot of time between the ages of 15 and 18 tracking down these 50 signatures in person! Back in the day generally the superstars were the hardest ones to get. Now they’re fairly easy as most do a lot of paid signing events.

I’m hoping one day to see era based- Vintage Autograph designation be added to the process. To me a Jordan card signed in 86 is worth more than one he signed last week. That’s just a personal preference.

One other collector on here has this a signed set and is Getting it authenticated right now.

Goldin says set will sell for $75K if full set authentication .

ReggieCleveland

This is incredible. I love the oversized Star cards and they were most of the ones I kept when I did some selling. I know for a fact that the Slam Dunk set was for sale in Spring 1984. I can do some more digging and see if I can find an official ad for the Court Kings set.

Arthur

2000man

@ReggieCleveland said:
This is incredible. I love the oversized Star cards and they were most of the ones I kept when I did some selling. I know for a fact that the Slam Dunk set was for sale in Spring 1984. I can do some more digging and see if I can find an official ad for the Court Kings set.

Arthur

Glad to find a fan of the Star 5x7 size. Man is that a polarizing subject. I can tell you the players liked the larger cards. Maybe it was just easier to sign. Here is my dunk set. Probably find it in my casket as it feels
Like a limb.

weaselpuppy

Terence Stansbury....man...one of these things is not like the other. Lol.

Amazing Amazing sets 👏

rtimmer

So I’m not sure which is my favorite Jordan card but my top 2 are the Star Slam Dunk and Court Kings then 86 Fleer then the Dunk N Go Nuts. I guess I’m only missing 1 signed in that set if you can help me out🤔