1986 Carnation Major League Wrestling Set....Ric Flair Fresh Scans Added
Dpeck100
Posts: 10,912 ✭✭✭✭✭
Rick Martel and The Road Warriors
I was so pumped to find this auction last week and ended up winning it for a very low price. As you can tell the seller had no idea that there were two cards in the packet. I actually emailed her and wanted to try and have her turn it into a Buy It Now but no such luck. I set a very high max bid because as you can see there were two cards in the packet and one of the most sought after wrestling cards inside.
The 1986 Carnation Road Warriors is just an awesome card and so rare to find. This set is by far the most rare of any wrestling cards and months can go by without a single card surfacing. I really wanted a strong example of the Road Warriors and to complete the set. I have the two remaining cards I am missing coming in the mail any day now and they are not in the best of condition but I simply wanted to complete the set of six and then perhaps try and upgrade over time if possible.
Unfortunately neither of the two cards are mint and the centering is off on the Road Warriors and it does not have the best surface.
Here are the scans of the four cards so far I have and I will add the other two later once I receive them. The other two are Sergeant Slaughter and Ivan and Nikita Koloff.
I was so pumped to find this auction last week and ended up winning it for a very low price. As you can tell the seller had no idea that there were two cards in the packet. I actually emailed her and wanted to try and have her turn it into a Buy It Now but no such luck. I set a very high max bid because as you can see there were two cards in the packet and one of the most sought after wrestling cards inside.
The 1986 Carnation Road Warriors is just an awesome card and so rare to find. This set is by far the most rare of any wrestling cards and months can go by without a single card surfacing. I really wanted a strong example of the Road Warriors and to complete the set. I have the two remaining cards I am missing coming in the mail any day now and they are not in the best of condition but I simply wanted to complete the set of six and then perhaps try and upgrade over time if possible.
Unfortunately neither of the two cards are mint and the centering is off on the Road Warriors and it does not have the best surface.
Here are the scans of the four cards so far I have and I will add the other two later once I receive them. The other two are Sergeant Slaughter and Ivan and Nikita Koloff.
0
Comments
There is a guy who runs a wrestling card website who said he has been looking for years for one. I am not sure if there was any card from the set that is harder to find due to printing numbers.
I just know these are few and far between and are going to be very expensive cards if they ever surface in high grade.
The only card I have ever sold that I regret is the Ric Flair I found it for $50 and got it graded and it came back a PSA 8. I got $200 for Flair and $100 for Kamala when I sold them.
These are super condition sensitive too.
If one of these ever surface in a PSA 9 I would pay a lot for it. These are really cool cards and the picture used for the Road Warriors card is simply awesome!
I like hard card stock cards for Rookie's and the magazine card is a tougher card stock then the 73,78, and 81 paper cards but not a true trading card.
Working on the following: 1970 Baseball PSA, 1970-1976 Raw, World Series Subsets PSA, 1969 Expansion Teams PSA, Fleer World Series Sets, Texas Rangers Topps Run 1972-1989
----------------------
Successful deals to date: thedudeabides,gameusedhoop,golfcollector,tigerdean,treetop,bkritz, CapeMOGuy,WeekendHacker,jeff8877,backbidder,Salinas,milbroco,bbuckner22,VitoCo1972,ddfamf,gemint,K,fatty macs,waltersobchak,dboneesq
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Muhammad-Ali-Hulk-Hogan-Liberace-Rare-1986-Monty-Gum-Wrestling-Sars-Boxing-Card-/170730011043?pt=US_Boxing&hash=item27c04d39a3
"If I ever decided to do a book, I've already got the title-The Bases Were Loaded and So Was I"-Jim Fregosi
<< <i>The guy on the right of the road warriors card looks like Frank of American pickers.. >>
I never realized that, but you're kind of right.
I got lucky and got 25 of this card in one box. It could have been much worse if it had been commons.
These cards come perforated to each other so they are in horrible condition unless you cut them with a razor knife.
<< <i>
<< <i>The guy on the right of the road warriors card looks like Frank of American pickers.. >>
I never realized that, but you're kind of right. >>
To tie this to 'mainstream sports,' for those who don't know, the guy who looks like Frank of American Pickers (aka Road Warrior Animal aka Joe Laurinaitis) is the father of the Rams LB James Laurinaitis.
Here's a cool slideshow from the Sporting News of James morphing into his father. http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2011-06-30/james-laurinaitis-and-joe-laurinaitis/slide/1#photo
Here are a few great Road Warriors clips.
Road Warriors AWA
Road Warriors 1986
These guys were monsters.
I have a sealed packet I tracked down coming in the mail today with the Slaughter and The Koloff's and hopefully those are in decent shape. The last sealed packet I opened the cards had a small crease in them. I will post scans once I get them.
<< <i>Is it possible that Dpeck100 has breathed life into a genre of trading cards otherwise "forgotten"? If so, that's pretty darn cool. Wrestling cards have never been very popular, but it seems ever since Dpeck100 started posting about and collecting rare and older high grade wrestling cards, the market has seen a nice uptake. I just thought it was cool that one or a couple people could invigorate such a niche market. >>
i feel that the SMR article certainly did expose a few more "eyes" on the genre
WTB: PSA 1 - PSA 3 Centered, High Eye Appeal 1950's Mantle
<< <i>Is it possible that Dpeck100 has breathed life into a genre of trading cards otherwise "forgotten"? If so, that's pretty darn cool. Wrestling cards have never been very popular, but it seems ever since Dpeck100 started posting about and collecting rare and older high grade wrestling cards, the market has seen a nice uptake. I just thought it was cool that one or a couple people could invigorate such a niche market. >>
It could be possible. Before I found this forum I noticed that the Wrestling All Star cards were crazy a while back while surfing around on Ebay. I recently got back into cards in the past few months and bought some of the newer wrestling cards and went on Ebay to see what else was out there. 80's wrestling really brings back a lot of memories for me as I am sure it does for others around my age. I will soon be 35. These were the guys I idolized back then. Im still hoping to pick up a Kerry von Erich card in the near future.
Anyhow these Carnation cards look to be super rare unless someone is sitting on a pile of them somewhere. I can imagine this thread will cause a few more people to be on the lookout for them now as well. I know I will be. Thanks Dpeck100 for sharing info on these and if you find a big lot of these I wouldnt mind a few LOL.
Not the most valuable but clearly the hardest to find for sure. If wrestling collectors ever really get serious about high grade cards these one's I have said all along could go for really big money.
I don't know if it was the article in the SMR or just the market progressing forward but in recent weeks prices have moved up on a lot of the cards. There is very little supply of the Wrestling All Stars and buyers have gotten extremely aggressive with their bids and offers. No telling how long it lasts but the market is on fire and it is not me doing much of the buying.
Such a great era.
dpeck you get any in for grading.
Looking to BUY n332 1889 SF Hess cards and high grade cards from 19th century especially. "Once you have wrestled everything else in life is easy" Dan Gable
<< <i>Man those are cool cards. So is this Kamala and Slaughters rookies as well.
Such a great era.
dpeck you get any in for grading. >>
Kamala is in the 1985 Wrestling All Stars set
Unfortunately many of the cards come with a surface wrinkle so they won't grade high. I had a PSA 8 Flair and Kamala I sold that I wish I could get back. Big mistake even with the prices I got.
I did get the signed Flair back recently from PSA/DNA and it looks great.
Kamala like Mike said is in the 1985 Wrestling All Stars set and so are The Road Warriors. SGT Slaughter is in the 1982 Wrestling All Stars series B and so is Rick Martel. Flair of course is in Series A.
The only person you could truly say has a rookie card in this set is Nakita Kollof and his tag team partner Ivan Koloff is in the 1982 Wrestling All Stars Series A.
I am constantly looking for these cards but very rarely do I find them. They are that tough to find.
So getting a PSA 8 in these is equal to a PSA 10 in most card sets.
Looking to BUY n332 1889 SF Hess cards and high grade cards from 19th century especially. "Once you have wrestled everything else in life is easy" Dan Gable
I think anything in a PSA 6 or better is a nice card from this set.
I have opened three sealed packets so far and have not gotten any cards that will grade a PSA 8. Every single card has had some damage. The two I submitted and got PSA 8's on were awesome looking and just centering on the Flair and a touch on the corner for Kamala kept them from being mint.
It is certainly possible that there are some high grade cards out there but not many. These were never meant to be graded. Picture this, the cards are packed into the flimsy packet, they get packed into a box of cocoa mix and then shipped around the country. Next the box gets put on the store shelf, thrown into the cart, onto the check out stand, into the paper bag, into the car and then to the house. This would be about as bad of a journey that any card could go on.
The surface wrinkle on the back near the top is what is ultimately going to keep many of these out of a holder higher then a PSA 5.
Once I get the results of the two that are being graded I will pass them along.
Here are the two I submitted to PSA. I think the grades were very fare.
1986 Carnation Set
I just picked up this set yesterday and can't wait to get them. The seller had them listed and they looked amazing.
His phone number was listed so I called him to ask a few questions and discuss the cards as I have had issues with creases and surface wrinkles in the past.
He bought the cards for $1 at his pawn shop in Ohio and put them on EBAY and was shocked at how much action they were getting. The bid was up to $113 and he said he had gotten offers as high as $600 to take them down off EBAY but he doesn't do that. He runs a pawn shop that does gold, silver, sports memorabilia and comics.
He was a very interesting guy to chat with and we talked for at least 15 minutes.
He said he would take his loop home and inspect the cards and sure enough the Flair has a crease.
He canceled the listing and put them back up with an opening bid and a Buy It Now for $395. I sent him a message and said if he would lower it to $250 I would hit the bid and pay right away. Sure enough he did.
I am very hopeful that the rest of the cards are in NM or better condition. They look very sharp in the packets and if they look good are certainly getting graded.
The Flair is still a great card with great centering and perhaps I can get it signed or will just keep it raw.
Jeff
I would like to have them in a minimum grade of NM. I think that is possible at some point.
Currently I have 11 cards from the set and three of those are in PSA holders. Two are graded and one is signed. Once I get these next six I may be able to complete the set in PSA holders.
I said it prior in the thread but The Road Warriors card has tremendous potential. This is there first hard paper stock card and my of my favorite cards in my entire collection. These guys were bad dudes. A high grade example could fetch several hundred dollars easily.
The Ric Flair that has a crease has tremendous eye appeal and if it has sharp corners I will get it graded and settle for a PSA 4 or PSA 5 and then try and upgrade from there. I have another Ric Flair that is nice but it has a surface wrinkle on the back and it does not have as strong of eye appeal as the one coming.
Here is the signed Ric Flair. The card itself is probably EX-MT but has poor centering and I would much rather have a PSA 5 that is amazing with a crease then a PSA 6 that is there for poor centering and touched corners.
This is a fun little side project from the Wrestling All Stars and is extremely challenging which makes for a great chase.
There is definately going to be some fresh graded material of these soon. I just spoke again to the seller and he said he lied to me and actually bought six sets.
He sold them to a dealer for $3,000!!!! That is a big number!!!
One of the buyers who was in the market for the cards I got was very upset he pulled the original listing and bought the one loose Flair he had for $450!!!!
I should have mine by Thursday and will post some scans.
He looked over the cards for me to see if there were any creases or surface wrinkles and found a crease on the Ric Flair.
I bought the re listed lot for $250.
It has been four or five months since any have surfaced in the US. There was only one listing from Australia and BenG got those.
I am really pumped about this buy and have my fingers crossed.
I got out some card savers and some scissors and busted them open.
I knew the Flair was creased but it was worse then expected and the Kamala card comes in the same pack and was creased too. It is such a shame as the Flair otherwise is Mint.
What a waste of such a great card!
The Kamala is a great looking example but creases near the top and on the left side.
Next came the Koloff's and the Slaughter. The Koloffs had a small surface wrinkle on the back and otherwise looks great. The Slaughter has a clean back and should at least grade NM-MT and the only real problem is the centering. All of these cards have tremendous color and surface and look pack fresh.
Very nice card!
The pack I was most excited about was the Rick Martel and The Road Warriors. Both cards are super clean but the surface wrinkle hit. The Martel is worse on the back and The Road Warriors is very faint but there. What a shame as this is a beauty. I just love this card and glad to have one with strong centering, excellent surface and very sharp corners. I still plan to get it graded and maybe I will get lucky.
Still a great card and for a raw collector this would be perfect!
Here is the front. One of my favorite cards of all time. These dudes were bad!!!
You can just barely see it starting above the A in Animal. This is a much more faint wrinkle then many of the other cards I also have from prior purchases.
Over all I can't complain as this was a gamble and still an awesome set.
Here is one.
Jeff
<< <i>The pack I was most excited about was the Rick Martel and The Road Warriors. Both cards are super clean but the surface wrinkle hit. The Martel is worse on the back and The Road Warriors is very faint but there. What a shame as this is a beauty. I just love this card and glad to have one with strong centering, excellent surface and very sharp corners. I still plan to get it graded and maybe I will get lucky.
Here is the front. One of my favorite cards of all time. These dudes were bad!!!
You can just barely see it starting above the A in Animal. This is a much more faint wrinkle then many of the other cards I also have from prior purchases.
Over all I can't complain as this was a gamble and still an awesome set. >>
So the front correctly lists them as the AWA World Tag Team Champions, and the back states they won the "NWA Title" as rookies? Ugh. Brutally bad.
86 Carnation Ric Flair
The Kamala card is on the move too. No telling where this one will end. I could see $250 if the bidders get serious.
86 Carnation Kamala
Looking to BUY n332 1889 SF Hess cards and high grade cards from 19th century especially. "Once you have wrestled everything else in life is easy" Dan Gable