1986 Merchante basketball cards (Scans of all the big names)

Big80s

I picked this up recently. According to the pop report, there's only two of them graded by PSA. I was outbid on the David Robinson and the Larry Bird cards. Does anybody know anything about these?


1986 Merchante (Spanish)

gregmo32

Only that they were part of an NBA set released in Spain that had players from other countries sprinkled in. these are very difficult, particularly in high grade. They rarely come up for sale and are probably the most difficult singles for the player collector to track down. They were made to be posted in an album so often are found with glue or paper residue on the before from having been removed from the paper. that copy looks like a very presentable Dr J. And the Robinson is the first card he had, dating to his college days at the US Naval Academy, when he ran wild in international play.

Big80s

<< <i>Only that they were part of an NBA set released in Spain that had players from other countries sprinkled in. these are very difficult, particularly in high grade. They rarely come up for sale and are probably the most difficult singles for the player collector to track down. They were made to be posted in an album so often are found with glue or paper residue on the before from having been removed from the paper. that copy looks like a very presentable Dr J. And the Robinson is the first card he had, dating to his college days at the US Naval Academy, when he ran wild in international play. >>



Great information. I appreciate you taking the time to fill me in on it!

wrestlingcardking

I think the Robinson would be a Navarro signed rookie if he could find one!

Big80s

<< <i>I think the Robinson would be a Navarro signed rookie if he could find one! >>



It'd be a great looking card to have signed!

Big80s

I'm very excited - I was able to make a deal for a few more 1986 Merchante cards. I don't want to give too many details before I actually have the cards in hand, but hopefully they will arrive as expected.

halosfan

Get some for us both

Big80s

If this purchase works out - I'll have at least one copy of all of the major players from this set:

Michael Jordan
David Robinson
Larry Bird
Magic Johnson
Akeem Olajuwon
Dr. J
Dominique Wilkins
Kareem Abdul Jabbar

Big80s

I just got this lot in today. I'm excited that everything is there (you never know when ordering from outside the country). I'm scanning the cards in now...

halosfan

That's sweet

Big80s

The cards aren't in amazing condition, but they're definitely hard to come by. First off, in the lot - there were two 1985 Merchante basketball cards (Jordan & Magic). There are two of the (red back) Jordan's on the pop report (one PSA 3 and one PSA 6) - mine looks to be a PSA 1. There are two of the (blue back) Magic's on the pop report (one PSA 3 and a PSA 4) - mine looks like it could pull a PSA 5 all day.






Also included in this lot was a 1988 Panini Supersport (Spanish) #4 - Michael Jordan



Finally, I received the seven 1986 Merchante basketball cards I was missing (all the top American players except Dr. J - which I already had). These are also all low pop on the registry. I've included the registry population numbers next to the card details.


#150 - David Robinson (three years before his rookie card was issued in the US) (8 graded by PSA)



#160 - Larry Bird (3 graded by PSA)



#161 - Magic Johnson (4 Graded by PSA)



#162 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (3 Graded by PSA)



#163 - Michael Jordan (7 Graded by PSA)



#170 - Dominique Wilkins (no examples graded by PSA, as of yet)



#173 - Akeem Olajuwon (1 graded by PSA)

hookem

Very nice stuff! There was a guy selling these on the BST board for awhile. I don't think he moved the Robinson's so that might help you with pricing.

Big80s

<< <i>Very nice stuff! There was a guy selling these on the BST board for awhile. I don't think he moved the Robinson's so that might help you with pricing. >>



Any idea what he was asking? I was bidding on one on eBay a while back (I lost), but I think it went for around $90 raw.

MinorLeaguer

Trade ya 100 1990 Hoops and Skybox Robinson's for yours! Sweet pickup!

Big80s

<< <i>Trade ya 100 1990 Hoops and Skybox Robinson's for yours! Sweet pickup! >>



Thank you! Your post cracked me up, because I'm pretty sure I had 100 copies of Robinson's '90 Hoops card at some point in time. And remember how cool Skybox was when it came out? Pulling a Robinson (or Sean Elliot) was a nice hit

Big80s

I'm putting together a submission for PSA and I wanted to include some of these Merchante cards since they seem to be very low pop. Have any of you submitted these before? And if so, how tough was PSA on them? They appear to be very hard to find in high grade considering they were meant to be stuck in an album.

Also, on a related note - since they're low pop, would you recommend grading anything I'm planning to sell or selling them raw since they're not going to grade super high?

Thank you in advance.

eagles33

These are really cool. Are they tall boys or will they fit in a regular slab? I would slab them all regardless of the condition. I look a lot for odd ball things like this and notice prices are significantly higher when that are slabbed even if the condition isn't good.

Big80s

<< <i>These are really cool. Are they tall boys or will they fit in a regular slab? I would slab them all regardless of the condition. I look a lot for odd ball things like this and notice prices are significantly higher when that are slabbed even if the condition isn't good. >>



They would definitely fit in normal sized PSA slabs. The 1986 Merchante's are approximately 1 3/4" x 3 1/4".

I think one of the most interesting details about this set is that it's from 1986 - a year that's associated with many of these player's rookie cards. And obviously the David Robinson card features him from the USA team.

Big80s

I found this card image today, which really threw me for a loop.



First off, the Merchantes I bought are not hand cut. Are there two different versions of these cards? This card looks like someone trimmed the border all the way around the card - yet it was somehow graded a PSA 9. Any ideas?

Davemri

I am the one that had a bunch of these for sale. I think I still have 4 or 5 of the David Robinsons that I've had graded. I still have a small handful of raw cards also.

The "trimmed" card shown above is an example of someone taking advantage of PSA ignorance when it comes to this issue. I have owned probably 100 different cards from this set and they are definalty NOT hand cut. Every single one of them are the exact same size. I would be willing to bet my house on it.

Also, I attempted to get my 85 Jordan graded at the national last year and PSA refused saying it wasn't listed anywhere. Here are a few of mine that I have now or had in the past that I've sold along with some of my 85 examples.

Big80s

Thanks for posting those, Dave! Great cards. I just sent the one '85 Jordan I bought in for grading recently. PSA does have them cataloged now.

Thank you for clearing up my question regarding the Robinson PSA 9 that I posted. It's a shame that that card slipped through the cracks at PSA. So technically none of the cards from this series should have a slab that is labeled "Hand Cut". I wonder if PSA would change that in their system?

Davemri

Just did a seach on ebay and noticed that they do now grade the 85's. A PSA 8 Jordan sold for $1500! Mine is probably in the PSA 4-5 range.

Link to 85 Jordan

Davemri

Who knows what PSA would do. If I remember right, the person that sold that robinson on ebay also had quite a few other "trimmed" stars as well. I dont remember the prices they brought though. Finding an untrimmed high grade card is tough. Ive had a couple PSA 7's (the Kareem and a David Robinson) and 1 PSA 8 that I sold a while back.That was of future HOF'er Nikos Gallis.

Davemri

Oscar Schmidt is also another future HOF'er that is in this set.

Big80s

I just sent an email in to PSA, mentioning the fact that this set is mislabeled in their catalog. I'm not sure if it will help, but I felt like I should do something.

The Jordan I have (posted early in the thread) will be a PSA 1. But with only two graded by PSA at this point - it might still do pretty well at auction.

wrestlingcardking

Great cards and a fun read and scans to view......defintely feel a lot more educated on this issue. Thanks!

Big80s

<< <i>Great cards and a fun read and scans to view......defintely feel a lot more educated on this issue. Thanks! >>



I've been enjoying it too. I hadn't heard of them before about two months ago. There needs to be more information available to the public on these foreign issued cards. There's so many great foreign sets featuring legendary American athletes - that it's a shame no one has started cataloging these with images for reference.

Big80s

I don't know if anyone saw this card (it's not mine, btw) - 1985 Merchante - Michael Jordan - PSA 8.5

This card is extremely difficult do find in that good of shape. The one I recently acquired in a lot will most likely grade a PSA 1. I won't be able to afford this card at the moment - but it should be fun to watch.