Great sets of the 1990s

brian26

The garage sale thread got me thinking about this topic. What are the top five or ten sets of the 1990s? I know the 1993 Topps Finest Refractor set is probably at the top of the list. What else is up there?

lsutigers1973

1991 Donruss baseball

lawnmowerman

93 and 96 Sp football were cool

BobaFett72

nothing tops 1991 score first series baseball. nothing.

shirtless dream team cards, giant bobble headed allstars. a true classic.

want a box? $4 lol

lsutigers1973

<< <i>93 and 96 Sp football were cool >>



Anybody need any of these sets?

MeteoriteGuy

<< <i>nothing tops 1991 score first series baseball. nothing.

shirtless dream team cards, giant bobble headed allstars. a true classic.

want a box? $4 lol >>




I think you could get $6.00 with shipping easily. Of course it would cost $6-7 to ship them.

mickeymantle24

1994 SP

Beck6

What was the football set with the players in Zubaz gear and the NFL wives cards? I think it was NFL Proline or Pro Set Platinum. I actually liked the platinum set. The Favre rookie card in his Atlanta uniform was kind of cool too.

bigreddog

The 1991 Upperdeck Premire Football Set. Absolutely the most beautiful set of the 90's in my opinion.



It has a simple yet beautiful design. I feel the photography is the best they have ever done.
The premium stock set is still simple enough to give me that old school 70's feel, yet the modern issue
still features beautiful photography both front and back.

The set also features nice sub set cards that were obtainable by the average collector. The Joe Montana Heroes set
and the Game Breaker Holograms were very cool.

#1 I hate borderless cards
#2 I hate the scam that the modern day insert cards have become.


Thankfully the 1991 Upperdeck set is still being printing so everyone has a chance to obtain and enjoy what a card set should be.
A beautifully designed set with nice easy subsets that doesn't depend on some over hyped overpriced "Rare" rookie insert or
a 1 cm patch of a game used jock strap or whatever other silly advertising ploy these card companies now need to use to try and sell their cards.

If you collect prices from the price guides, I guess thats your business, have fun.
But if you collect just for the love of the cards and the beauty of the sets. I highly suggest the 1991 Upperdeck Football set.

DrJ

1991 Stadium Club. Like it or hate it, it ushered in the era of the high end release beyond a company's basic offering.

bobsbbcards

1991 Stadium Club was interesting at the time.

lsutigers1973

<< <i>1991 Stadium Club was interesting at the time. >>



Have two of these too if any one is interested

VitoCo1972

91 Stadium Club baseball, 93 Donruss Baseball and 92 Pinnacle baseball have always been fun. I think I'm alone but I liked a lot of the 95-99 Finest basketball sets.

lawnmowerman

Listen to this guy. He knows his stuff



<< <i>
The 1991 Upperdeck Premire Football Set. Absolutely the most beautiful set of the 90's in my opinion. >>

ralstonpurina

The premier edition of upper deck football was nice. The SP stuff was cool. I also like the bowman stuff (the ones with foil cards in the regular cards). Score Select Football (maybe 93?) was nice. I loved the inserts. The hockey was cool also.

Frankly, aside from the refractors, a lot of junk out there.

hotmush

I'm partial to 1993 OPC.
It's a nice, simple design too.

brian26

<< <i>91 Stadium Club baseball, 93 Donruss Baseball and 92 Pinnacle baseball have always been fun. I think I'm alone but I liked a lot of the 95-99 Finest basketball sets. >>



93 Donruss Baseball and 92 Pinnacle- interesting choices. Good thread so far.

Morgoth

I always loved these insert sets and regular sets

93 Score The Cycle
93 Score Select Stars
93 Score Select Aces
1996 Topps Finest Gold, Silver and Bronze
1997 Donruss Preferred Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze
1997 Donruss Preferred Precious Metals
1993-5 Fleer Ultra Hitting Machines (the gold medalion year was insanely tough)
1992 UD Walter Ioos?
1990 Leaf
1991 Leaf Black Gold
1992 Topps Gold

Stingray

<< <i>The 1991 Upperdeck Premire Football Set. Absolutely the most beautiful set of the 90's in my opinion.



It has a simple yet beautiful design. I feel the photography is the best they have ever done.
The premium stock set is still simple enough to give me that old school 70's feel, yet the modern issue
still features beautiful photography both front and back.

The set also features nice sub set cards that were obtainable by the average collector. The Joe Montana Heroes set
and the Game Breaker Holograms were very cool.

#1 I hate borderless cards
#2 I hate the scam that the modern day insert cards have become.


Thankfully the 1991 Upperdeck set is still being printing so everyone has a chance to obtain and enjoy what a card set should be.
A beautifully designed set with nice easy subsets that doesn't depend on some over hyped overpriced "Rare" rookie insert or
a 1 cm patch of a game used jock strap or whatever other silly advertising ploy these card companies now need to use to try and sell their cards.

If you collect prices from the price guides, I guess thats your business, have fun.
But if you collect just for the love of the cards and the beauty of the sets. I highly suggest the 1991 Upperdeck Football set. >>



I do like the first year of UD Hockey (90-91 I believe), but for Football I for some reason like there second year better than there first year.

CDsNuts

Like Morgoth, I go for the inserts since the base sets are usually easy to find. Way too many to list, but I think the coolest sets in terms of eye appeal and how tough they were to pull are:

93 refractors (mentioned)
95 Select Artist's Proofs (set off the artist proof trend)
91 and 92 Donruss Elite (1 per case)
93 Select dufex inserts- Aces, Chase All Stars, Chase Rookies, Triple Crown and All Start Rookie Team
96 Bowman's best Atomic refractors (all sports)
98 SP Authentic football- set off the numbered rookie phenomenon
91/92 Proline autos- the first product where you could pull an auto by opening only 1 box (tragically, the certified stamp has been copied and there are more fakes circulating than you can imagine)
92 Fleer Team Leaders basketball
98 Topps Tek (different patterns for each base card)
96 Flair Legacy #/100 and Masterpieces (first 1/1's)
93 stadium club 1st day production (all sports)

Stone193

1991 Topps Stadium Club - the first of the full bleed UV coated cards, I believe - the "shiny stuff" - great photos IMO.

1992 Fleer Ultra - superb photos with the full bleed (borderless card) that's even better than the 91 or 92 Stadium Club IMO.

Inserts were raised to an artform - and I have to say - I liked them!

My all-time favorite - the 92UD!

Downside? How much of this was produced? It's into the skabillions!!!
mike

edit: altho 92 or 93UD Sp was hot - IMO the quality control was very poor - the foil scratched easily on production and too many corners were cut so that they appeared dinged.

billwaltonsbeard

No love for the 1998 Topps Gold Label set?? I thought they were pretty cool.

TJMAC

1992 & 1993 Ultra Baseball are two beautiful sets. The design is simple, the pictures are sharp and I love the glossy appearance. I also like 1997 Topps Baseball. I am not too familiar with other sports besides Baseball.

gregmo32

1993-94 Upper Deck Special Edition Basketball Die Cut All Stars

BunchOBull

1996 (?) Topps Laser...loved that set.

lsutigers1973

I agree with Stone. The 1991 Topps SC was the beginning of the shiny stuff that we have grown accustom to. Plus, they were awesome when they came out but they were also the part of the reason I wuit collecting so I hate them now.

BunchOBull

Always liked 1994 Pinnacle as a kid...simply for the Artist Proofs and decent photography.


I feel the same way about Stadium Club 1st Day Issues. I've been picking up any Thomas 1DI I can find.

MeteoriteGuy

1995 Topps Football (1995 in general) is loaded with cool RCs....and like 12 Steve Young cards.

Action Packed was always cool. Remember when they 4-5x what Topps are others sold for?

My favorite (when they were new) was likely 1990 Pro Set. Amazing photographs, cool inserts (remember SuperPro and Santa Claus or the ultra rare Lombardi trophy card?). I was living in Dallas (sort of) at the time. So I made my way to Pro Set down Dallas Parkway to check out the factory. The parking lot was full of trucks with Pro Set logos on them, but they wouldn't let me in. It was kind of disappointing. I did get a consultation prize of a card sized folder with some promos in it a few weeks later.

Stone193

<< <i>Always liked 1994 Pinnacle as a kid...simply for the Artist Proofs and decent photography.


I feel the same way about Stadium Club 1st Day Issues. I've been picking up any Thomas 1DI I can find. >>

Ross

Isn't that the year that has Griffey Jr. blowing the big bubble?

mike

BunchOBull

I think that was 1995 Mike.

Speaking of '95 Pinnacle...there is a "parallel" Artist Proof...most Artist Proofs were stamped with a dull, subdued gold, almost bronze, foil. A small number of them made it out with very vibrant gold foil.

dizzle

For Basketball I really liked 1996 Pacific. lots of cool inserts and the "platinum" versions are extremely tough all that plus it's loaded with a great rookie year crop Kobe,Iverson,nash, ect..

Another I really like is 1996 collector's Edge lots of cool inserts, The radical recruits "holofoil" are pretty cool and #/2500 Here's a scan of one below. They kinda remind me of the 1985 prism jewell stickers.

Morgoth

I am still working on my donruss preferred set today, I need 1 more platinum (Thomas) and 3 more golds.

hotmush

I bet dollars to donuts that Frank Thomas is busting a gut over the fact that he gave the photographer the finger in an earlier snapshot...
(thanks to billripken.com)...

TheThrill22

I may be the only guy who likes the plain design of the 1992 Topps.

BunchOBull

<< <i>I may be the only guy who likes the plain design of the 1992 Topps. >>



No sir, that set, 1992 UD Baseball, and 1992 Leaf define the most fun year of trading I ever had as a kid.

The Thomas card in '92 Topps is one of my all time favorites. I have the regular, OPC, and Gold versions slabbed...I need the gold winners version slabbed. I also have the Highland Mint Bronze card...I'll break down and spend the money on the Gold and Silver cards one day. I just hate to spend money outside of cardboard. I have a porcelain version of the card too. There is a metal version created by Gulfstream I believe as well.

BunchOBull

<< <i>I bet dollars to donuts that Frank Thomas is busting a gut over the fact that he gave the photographer the finger in an earlier snapshot...
(thanks to billripken.com)...


>>



He's pulled it off twice that I know of...

hotmush

Having seen that he was a pretty classy guy while he was in Toronto I will chalk it up to impetuous youth.

brian26

<< <i>I am still working on my donruss preferred set today, I need 1 more platinum (Thomas) and 3 more golds. >>



What year is that set?

BunchOBull

I need the Thomas platinum too...hard to find and very costly.

TheThrill22

I like the many horizontal photos used on the 1992 Topps as well. The Ripken card is an absolute classic and the gold versions of those cards are sweet. The hockey cards from that year are also underrated in my opinion and even though the gold cards were inserted one to a pack for hockey, some of the gold cards of key players are tough to find.

Estil

I've always liked some of those parallel sets, such as:

What I have so far:
1995 Ultra Gold Medallion set
1993 Finest Jumbo All-Stars
1995 Score Platinum set

And what I hope to get, in this order (though I'm going to be pretty focused on mostly 1971-73 PSA 7's and the rest of those sets):
1994 Score Gold Rush plus Gold Rush Rookie/Traded set
1992 Leaf Black Gold set (beautiful black bordered/gold foil set compared to the yawner regular set)
1996-99 Ultra Gold Medallion sets
1994-95 Pinnacle Museum Collection set (good luck finding it for a reasonable price though)
1992-94 Topps Gold sets

Stone193

<< <i>1992 Leaf Black Gold set (beautiful black bordered/gold foil set compared to the yawner regular set) >>

I sold quite a bit of them Estil. They were one of the hot chase sets of the early 90s.

Then parallel sets got out of hand!
mike

Estil

<< <i>

<< <i>1992 Leaf Black Gold set (beautiful black bordered/gold foil set compared to the yawner regular set) >>

I sold quite a bit of them Estil. They were one of the hot chase sets of the early 90s.

Then parallel sets got out of hand!
mike >>



Great; got another set looking for a good home?

frankhardy

I like sets that were not necessarily intended to be hard to find, yet are hard to find. I like the chase. What comes to mind in the 1990s is the 1991 Topps Desert Shield and the 1990 Topps TV.

I have Cardinals team sets in both. The Desert Shield team set cost me over $30. I think the Topps TV team set cost me around $60 to $70. They are not easy to find. I had to piece both of those sets together from different sources.

TomGshotput

I like the 1993 Topps Gold, a lot more than 92. The gold foil has just enough texture to look like a brand new tattoo

speeder

I always liked the 1998 Leaf "Rookies & Stars" base set.

I only need about 20 cards to complete the set.

With all the SP`s its been a tough set.

Lee

PSASAP

I second the 1996 Topps Laser as a great, underrated set.

TonyC

1990 Leaf Set