What's the best Unopened Basketball Box for Shaq Rookies

rtimmer

Hoping for thoughts (primarily as a future investment) as to which is the best Unopened Basketball product containing a Shaq Rookie?

ThoseBackPages

Classic is the only one that has Autos in it

Nathaniel1960

Classic is a cheap rip - however I really like 1992-93 Fleer with the gold borders.

CDsNuts

You can buy most base PSA 10 Shaq's for the cost of a box or two, so you're better off doing that. If you want to go for a hit your best bet is Stadium Club for the Beam Team. Jordan Beam Team commands money as well so you have a couple shots.

Constantine

Stadium Club Jumbo is fun, I believe there are 2 Beam Teams a box.

tsalems1

This from what I can remember is his best Auto'd rookie card

I had 3 of these back when this stuff came out. I want to say at the time they sold around $1500-$2000 raw of course
This was the most sought after Shaq card

AZDBzn2019

Timmer, No man. No investment potential with Shaq rooks. All should admit that. Salems card link goes to a card that is the extreme rare variety, and wouldn't be an 'investment' opportunity unless you got the bulk of cases that card could possibly exist in. Would just enjoy bustin a 1992 Basketball box here and there and pullin the Shaq. As they said above the beam team would be cool, and a few others. ZERO investment though. 1992 came to late, the damn year should have been 50 years previous and then.......


Salems by the way, man, you have an opportunity out there in that previously discussed long lost thread. Haven't seen anything since. Excuse being rude on that one. But you ARE the OPC guy here it seems. You could do the 'OPC BASEBALL' wrapping on "OPC" boxes, and possibly rule it.

Wrapping a 1982 TOPPS Baseball box, in something as disturbing as 'OPC" labelled cellophane was just friggin disturbing. hahaha. Soo anti American !

Just do the OPC boxes man and I'd bet you'd win on that.

AZDBzn2019

TSalems, bumping for comment.

sbfinley

The problem with Classic was that the auto checklist was so massive you would have to bust a ton or dismantle the odds to hit a Shaq auto.

rtimmer

<< <i>Stadium Club Jumbo is fun, I believe there are 2 Beam Teams a box. >>



Good info....I have never seen a stadium club Jombo case do they exist out there to be able to pick up?

Stone193

I have plenty of Shaq rookies and enjoyed the chase in 1992.

Having said that - not sure that this stuff will ever be a good investment since they just plain printed too much?

That's my take.

rtimmer

I'm not sure if the 1992 basketball unopened boxes will see the same appreciation that 1984 Topps Football or 1983 Baseball has seen over the last ten years but I am predicting they could be fairly correlated.

I think the 1992 class of rookies was the best of the 1990s decade and with Shaq going into the HOF in a couple years I'm also thinking the demand for these boxes will increase.

RookieWax

It's hilarious when guys use production numbers and current supply to argue that certain unopened boxes will never appreciate. The 1981-1985 stuff, as well as things like 1989 Upper Deck, 1990 Leaf, 1992 Bowman baseball, all 1993 baseball, 1989 Score and Pro Set football, etc,. etc, etc, are not rare by any means, yet they have held and in most cases gained in value recently. Nearly any box which offers the chance at pulling Hall-of-Fame rookies and stars will see a rise in value with time.

ReggieCleveland

<< <i>It's hilarious when guys use production numbers and current supply to argue that certain unopened boxes will never appreciate. The 1981-1985 stuff, as well as things like 1989 Upper Deck, 1990 Leaf, 1992 Bowman baseball, all 1993 baseball, 1989 Score and Pro Set football, etc,. etc, etc, are not rare by any means, yet they have held and in most cases gained in value recently. Nearly any box which offers the chance at pulling Hall-of-Fame rookies and stars will see a rise in value with time. >>



I think in theory, you're correct. The problem arises when people try to correlate growth from one era (or issue) with growth from another era (or issue). Comparing early-90s anything with any issue prior is an exercise in futility. Production went way up every year, and in many years in went up a gross amount. I'm not suggesting there won't be a demand for items down the road, but to ignore the obvious production disparity would be a fool's errand.

BLUEJAYWAY

I think one must consider for value reasons,the box that is chosen that contains a Shaq rookie,what other value is in the box in relation to the insert angle (non-Shaq autos,Jordans, etc.). And not just relying on the Shaq rookie exclusively, but other value in addition to the Shaq. Just my personal view.

CenteredMantles

Simply out, these are boxes for fun nostalgic rips, not to turn profit. They are still plenty out there and the contents don't carry big value. While 92-93 IMO was one of the best years of its era for the NBA, it falls just prior to the insert boom. Most very popular 90's inserts are from 96-97-98-99 and fall in the fleer and skybox products. Most of those boxes have already seen huge jumps. I think top end Kobe rookie products would have more room to grow. Chrome comes to mind.

Also the 93-94 Finest could see an increase over time. The Refractors are widely collected.

DanBessette

<< <i>I really like 1992-93 Fleer with the gold borders. >>



When I was still collecting basketball, I pulled this card out of a pack at the mall. Super stoked.

IndianaJones

I'm no expert by any means when it comes to basketball. However, I well remember the days when Shaq was a rookie and there was a lot of press in Sports Collectors Digest and Beckett about the Topps Stadium Club Beam Team insert series, which was of a genuine limited edition nature. I do not know how many were printed of each player; I'll leave that key figure for someone else. Examining a Beckett basketball guide should have this important information. However, at the time inserts were a new phenomenon. To say they caught on big time is a ridiculous understatement. In short, perhaps the most desirable basketball card in that whole Stadium Club set was a Beam Team Shaq. Much speculation, much interest, absolutely insatiable demand, and again, genuine rarity based on the puny print run of those.

You basketball guys, am I wrong or what? Then again, you may wish to remain poker-faced and poker-lipped since you may also want that card and do not wish to create more competition. I might be wrong, but I doubt it. --Indiana Jones (Brian Powell)

CDsNuts

Beam Team's averaged 1 per regular box and 2 per jumbo, and the set was 21 cards. Considering they released a ton of product, they aren't that scarce. The Member's Only Beam Team which was not pack-issued is a much tougher card.

CenteredMantles

Yet for some reason the Members Only are not nearly as popular. I have that set I scored for $40 on ebay not too long ago.

Doublestriker

I always thought the Shaq Skybox DP#1 was a tough card to pull.

jordangretzkyfan

I had the same idea to store away a bunch of 92/93 basketball boxes about three years ago. Just when I thought I had bought up most of the legit boxes on eBay, another wave of 30 boxes would get posted. Net, there does not seem to be a shortage of this stuff. My observations from the tons of boxes I bought and still have:

1) Fleer was the most limited, but no upside since the wax didn't have a Shaq insert (buy the cello if choosing Fleer this year)
2) Beam Team is the key card, so TSC will always be the most popular (plus the MJ Beam Team is a sweet pull)
3) Upper Deck is the most condition sensitive, but tons of boxes still exist
4) Hoops is the best value and second hardest box to find behind the Fleer
5) Sealed cases are legitimately tough, so I would buy those for appreciation since there are some case collectors out there

Seems like every collector back then put away 2-5 boxes which is why there is a never ending supply. Very few folks could find and afford cases of the stuff so those are tough to find. The boxes are cheap enough that they make a really fun break. Last, BT inserts are about 1.25 per wax box which I didn't know until I ripped a case.

CDsNuts

Last, BT inserts are about 1.25 per wax box which I didn't know until I ripped a case.

Good point, I always knew the stated 1:36 odds were wrong since some boxes had 2 and I never ripped or saw a box ripped that had none.

burke23

I've ripped a lot of '92 Fleer Series 1 and 2. You can easily hit 2-4 Shaqs in a box of Series 2 (both base rookie and the insert). PSA 10's still get a little dough, so there is a tight margin there (same with Jordan's). You just have to only sub 10's or you are losing money, so be picky.

IndianaJones

<< <i>Last, BT inserts are about 1.25 per wax box which I didn't know until I ripped a case.

Good point, I always knew the stated 1:36 odds were wrong since some boxes had 2 and I never ripped or saw a box ripped that had none. >>



Thanks for enlightening me on the BT inserts. I know I was merely going by the memories of the hobby hype and resulting hysteria for those cards at the time. That was truly one beautiful base set and a swell insert. Not too surprising Topps "cooked" the odds in favor of pulling more of them. If they turned out to be too rare, perhaps less cases would have been purchased in the end for the feeling of futility. Successful pulls by collectors bred more purchases. What might have started as, "I wanted to see if I can get one or a few of them", morphed to "let's see how many I can get!" Could this have been the time when some collectors began buying so much base product just to get the inserts, and then give the base away, or literally throw them away?

Back to the original question. After seeing the PSA pop report on the Stadium Club Beam Team, some of the Gem Mint pops are fairly high, and MINTs are massive in places, including and maybe especially Shaq.

Methinks you'd better invest in something else for monetary increase, but if you love Mr. O'Neal, simply collect all his first and second year cards and aim for PSA 9-10s, and the later ones with great eye appeal to YOU. Then relish your collection; it isn't always supposed to be about the future value. Like it or not, this was the era of mass production, and those were heady times for basketball.

Still, I better just shut up, 'cause I don't know basketball cards, period. ---Indiana Jones (Brian Powell)