Rookie Cards and MJ's Rookie History

[MadColtsFan]

A point I made arguing comments in a football post. Thought someone in this forum might have something to add.....

Michael Jordan's Fleer RC is probably the most counterfeited card in history. Unoponed packs are better. You can see through the wax paper. You never see that today so that pulled the MJ's out asap. I think it is the stickers on the bottom of the pack that you can see. An 85 Fleer "pack" with MJ rookie sticker is going around a thousand based on what I just searched. These see through the wax paper packs are holy grail - never, ever under any circumstances to be opened packs. Great packs but time will tell.

[pwaldo]

These boxes and packs could have been had for literally NOTHING for years. Nobody and I mean nobody wanted basketball cards back then. So I can see a lot of unopened product still out there but honestly seeing as how wax packs are easily tampered with I wouldn't even touch any. I can see the vintage packs in baseball because they may be the only ones left unopened but the 1980s aren't old.

[jordan23]

These boxes and packs could have been had for literally NOTHING for years. Nobody and I mean nobody wanted basketball cards back then. So I can see a lot of unopened product still out there but honestly seeing as how wax packs are easily tampered with I wouldn't even touch any. I can see the vintage packs in baseball because they may be the only ones left unopened but the 1980s aren't old.

sPOT on

[basketball fiend]

If 86 fleer basketball was over printed, why does MJ's rookie card so pricey? Considering they are all over eBay and such.

[pwaldo]

If 86 fleer basketball was over printed, why does MJ's rookie card so pricey? Considering they are all over eBay and such.

Stuff can be pricey and still be overprinted or have a large supply. The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle was double printed and still commands high prices. The MJ like most basketball cards was nothing in the 1980s and if you ask anybody who went to shops or shows in the late 1980s they will tell you the biggest regret they have is not buying boxes of 1986-87 Fleer. The stuff was cheap and was much cheaper than the junk baseball stuff from the time.

[basketball fiend]

I started collecting in 89 when HOOPS came out. all I have to say is their photography was way nicer than fleers. for me that is why I got turned off from buying fleer basketball. I was in the 7th grade at the time. I think my hobby shop sold 86 fleer for $2 at the time.

[Namttip]

My story on this - around the same time a guy I knew (his brother was in my class) went to a basketball camp and brought home two cases or two and a half of the Star sets, because no one wanted them.

He was a huge basketball fan and wouldn't let go of any of them for not price....

Back in the late 80s around the Hoops / Skybox was when they started to take off when basketball was on TV all the time. Everyone thought hockey was next... I still have a few Lindros cards around and I can't stand hockey. I remember driving to Arkansas for my local shop to a Sams to get a case of UD Hockey because it was the next thing....

Just because something is rare doesn't mean it's worth something.

I started collecting in 89 when HOOPS came out. all I have to say is their photography was way nicer than fleers. for me that is why I got turned off from buying fleer basketball. I was in the 7th grade at the time. I think my hobby shop sold 86 fleer for $2 at the time.

[pwaldo]

My story on this - around the same time a guy I knew (his brother was in my class) went to a basketball camp and brought home two cases or two and a half of the Star sets, because no one wanted them.

He was a huge basketball fan and wouldn't let go of any of them for not price....

Back in the late 80s around the Hoops / Skybox was when they started to take off when basketball was on TV all the time. Everyone thought hockey was next... I still have a few Lindros cards around and I can't stand hockey. I remember driving to Arkansas for my local shop to a Sams to get a case of UD Hockey because it was the next thing....

Just because something is rare doesn't mean it's worth something.

This is 100% true. Nobody wanted Star cards, NBA Hoops David Robinson was on fire, and everyone in America was buying hockey as they thought it was going to blow up. Now the Star cards are expensive, the David Robinson a few bucks, and all those early hockey boom sets aren't worth much.

[bigdaddymcqueen]

I remember buying packs of basketball cards and breaking them apart!!! In 80-81 with the Magic/Bird cards!! Its true NO ONE wanted basketball back then. It was all about baseball. In 89-90 when basketball took off they flooded the market. Then came the insert craze, now its about game-worn and autos. MJ's rookie is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. I had it a couple times, will probably end up with it again sometime. But i agree its probably the most counterfieted card ever.

[joemlm]

unopened packs are not better, those jordan packs as some people call them are resealed 99 percent of the time, not only that, some of the fake jordan stickers are not even real stickers, there is even a video on youtube, not mine, someone picked up an ebay jordan pack, opened it on camera and the jordan sticker was not even a sticker

i have been to card shows and have seen those resealed packs, scammers love selling them

a few years back at a card show they had an auction, one of the items was a graded jordan pack, the guy who won the auction busted the case open to rip the pack in the hopes of scoring a jordan card, he too was sad to learn he bought a resealed pack, the jordan sticker was not a sticker

so no, the packs ARE NOT safer!