Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 29
  1. #1




    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Posts
    312
    SCF Rewards
    436
    Country

    Am I the only one who misses 90's parallels?

    I know that today's parallel sets are pretty much considered as valuable as base unless they;re #'d to 50 or less. But personally, I love a lot of the parallel sets from the 90's, such as:

    Pinnacle Artsit's Proofs - I must have opened close to 60 boxes of 94/95 Pinnacle. The big pulls were always the Team Pinnacle (where one side had the Dufex effect), the Rink Collections, and the Artist's Proofs. I remember pulling a Forsberg Artist's Proof and just thinking how cool the card looked. It's not worth much, but it's locked safely in my PC

    Finest Refractors - I wasn't a huge fan of the 95/96 and subsequent Finest sets, but that 94/95 set is a fantastic looking set. Also inserted 1 per box, the Refractor effect on the border and background of these cards are great. I was able to pick up a Gretzky a while back, and it's never leaving. They've maintained a portion of their value, and I'm thinking that a lot of collectors held onto these for the great look the have.

    Stadium Club 1st Day Issues - These were always a bit weird to me. I never understood exactly what they stood for. Still, they were the big chase parallel. They never seemed to be highly-collected, but I picked up a few Lemieuxs over the years.

    Upper Deck Electric Ice - The first year these were out (94/95?), they were, as with the rest, 1 per box, and had that cool glittery effect. Subsequent years made them less scarce and introduced multiple levels. I can say I have every Gretzky Electric Ice ever made, and again, they're not for trade.

    I guess this post could actually be called "I love the 94/95 sets" although the SC 1st Days debuted in 93/94. I know that several haven't retained the value they once had, but I always thought they were cool, and they're actually fairly rare if you're looking for a non-star player (speaking of which, if anyone has any Hextalls from these sets, please let me know). Just a thought I had in passing, wondering how you guys feel.

  2. #2
    Hockey Manager







    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Age
    42
    Posts
    46,859
    SCF Rewards
    102,354
    Country
    Montreal Canadiens Toronto Blue Jays San Francisco 49ers
    Twitter: @@RealRGM81 See price31collector's Items on eBay Instagram: COMC Cards For Sale Upper Deck ePack

    Judging by the sales of Fleer Retro, I'd decisively say you're not alone.
    Habs fan and collector! Main PC's: Carey Price, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, and of course...

    Hidden Content Hidden Content ! 254 Unique Cards + 23 1/1's!!!

    Participate in our Hidden Content , sponsored by Hidden Content
    Hidden Content

  3. #3




    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Age
    38
    Posts
    7,173
    SCF Rewards
    8,970
    Country

    I love 90s inserts! The parallels I am not too fond of.

    I was actually able to work out a deal with a member on this site for about 300+ xx/100 or less parallels from about 03 - Present. And with that, I was out of the parallel game ......... until Fleer Retro brought me back. Im working on the Showcase Legacy /150, Precious Metal Gems Red /100 and Precious Metal Gems Blue /50 sets, as well as all Bures and Gretzky ( minus those pesky greens =P ) from that set.

    If you have any 90s inserts to swap, I am working on about 20 - 30 or so misc sets from about 94 - 9. I am personally happy with the drop in their values. I remember when I 1st started collecting, those cards were on everyones wantlist and I was never able to get any. Now a days, I can look through 90s boxes at my local shows and pick them up from $0.25 - $1.00 each!
    *** Main PC - Roberto Luongo ***
    *** MOST WANTED - 12/13 PRIME COLORS "PATCH" ROBERTO LUONGO x/8 ***

    Flickr ( not updated ) - Hidden Content
    Trade List - Hidden Content

  4. #4







    Join Date
    May 2011
    Age
    55
    Posts
    6,747
    SCF Rewards
    24,554
    Country
    Twitter: @@oldtimehockey29 See joeaverage67's Items on eBay

    I loved all of it back then, I finished off a 98/99 Black Diamond Gold /1000 set back in 1999 and 2000, when they were worth a fortune and eBay auctions had no pictures. After it was done I was kinda meh about it and sold it off one by one for about 1/4 the cost hahahaaaa!

    Now........I love chasing the old Pacific parallels and Donruss inserts of my PC players, plus some UD inserts from the later 90's.

    Fleer Retro was too steep for me to break any packs open, but for about $80 I got my Canucks autos and a Bobby Hull auto and a bunch of Trevor Linden cards and a couple more more Flair Showcase inserts, I'm happy............

  5. #5
    Hockey Advisor






    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Posts
    19,852
    SCF Rewards
    70,525
    Country
    Edmonton Oilers Toronto Blue Jays Hamilton Tiger Cats
    See 30Ranfordfan's Items on eBay COMC Cards For Sale Upper Deck ePack

    I did like a lot of the parallels from the 90s. It was only about a year ago that I finally finished off my set of 1994-95 Score Gold! (They were a 1-per-pack parallel).

    I don't know that I would say I really "miss" them though. There's a few that get talked about like they were some of the greatest cards ever.... but I never really understood the appeal of Finest Refractors (for example). Did they look nice? Sure. I guess the fact that I was never much of a topps guy anyway.... I don't believe that I ever purchased a single pack of finest... probably why I get almost no nostalgic value out of those cards.

    I really liked some of the stuff Pinnacle did. The Certified / Totally Certified / Mirrors / Platinums / Golds (etc) were fantastic looking cards. The Totally Certified Mirror Platinum Golds are, to this day, some of the best looking cards ever made (IMO).

    The Artists Proofs that Pinnacle did, meh. Unless I'm thinking of other sets, they were typically just the same as the base, but with 'Artist Proof' written on them somewhere. The Rink Collection were much nicer.... with the duflex printing.

    I'd say I miss the inserts more than the parallels. There was some really cool stuff back in the day. Leaf, in particular, I remember making a lot of really nice ones (Signature Studio, or whatever they were called, were fantistic looking cards).

    The recent Fleer Retro product, I still don't get the appeal. I understand why the idea of retro themed inserts are popular.... but like the "1997 Ultimate Autos" that were done a while back.... why exactly are hockey collectors going bananas over a bunch of old Football and/or Basketball designs? Do the "Jambalya" inserts look cool?? I guess. If they made a card of my PC guy, would I want a copy? Fore sure I would. Would I get excited that they 'finally' made one of him..... like I was when I saw Ranford included in BTP's Masked Men this year? Nope.





    The problem with a lot of those parallels though, I'd imagine, is they're expensive to produce. That kind of card stock, printing technology, I would imagine is much more expensive than what is used for the base. Card companies need to still produce their sets at a price point that collectors will pay. In the last decade so much emphasis has been put on Autos and Game Used.... which are also expensive ways to make a card.

    I'd like to see one of the licensed companies (UD or Panini) try a set that is heavy on paralells and inserts, but has almost zero GU / Auto content. If there were a few scattered across the product (like mid-90s ratios would be) not a big deal.... but make them really, really rare. Something like Panini Certified, but with almost all the GU / Auto content stripped out.

    Not saying that I would be all over a product like that. Truth is, I probably wouldn't. I'm just curious to see how well it would sell.

  6. #6




    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    7,836
    SCF Rewards
    1,200
    Country

    I'm surprised by how few people mention Mask cards when the topic is regarding 90's inserts. I think that the Pinnacle Masks always made for great sets and even the Painted Warriors inserts in Donruss Elite were quite spectacular. I love the look of the 1999-00 Dynagon Ice Goalie Masks and I'd love for Dynagon Ice to come back; perhaps Panini will make that happen someday.

    -Ethan

  7. #7




    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    3,602
    SCF Rewards
    4,652
    Blog Entries
    1
    Country
    See icefields02's Items on eBay

    my fav from those days were the 98/99 topps gold label cards. different picture on the parallels, low numbered. but i didnt much care for their game used. liked the autos too.

  8. #8







    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Posts
    51,056
    SCF Rewards
    7,122
    Country

    Stadium Club 1st Day Issues - These were always a bit weird to me. I never understood exactly what they stood for. Still, they were the big chase parallel. They never seemed to be highly-collected, but I picked up a few Lemieuxs over the years.

    They were suppose to be the total amount of cards printed by Topps on the first day or something and then stamped. They were limited to a couple thousand for some of the years so that gives you an indication of how much Topps printed of the stuff.
    Selling All My Cards Here------>Hidden Content

    Baseball Autograph and Game Used Only Trade Page: pwaldo.webs.com/
    //s123.photobucket.com/albums/o299/pwaldo/

  9. #9




    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Posts
    6,126
    SCF Rewards
    3,911
    Country

    They don't sell as well in hockey, but check out some of the late '90s basketball parallels. To judge by their sales values, you are definitely not the only one who misses them.

    Hopefully Fleer Retro gets more people to move away from the obsession with auto jerseys.

  10. #10




    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    745
    SCF Rewards
    1,287
    Country
    Montreal Canadiens

    I miss the 90s in general. Even a lot of the base card design back then were nicer than today's inserts and parallels. 96/97 SPx blew my mind when I first saw it. And it was like $10 a pack. Back then I thought that was nuts. Now people hundreds of dollars for high-end packs and the base cards are totally forgettable.

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
SCF Sponsors


About SCF

    Sports Card Forum provides sports and non-sports card collectors a safe place to discuss, buy, sell and trade.

    SCF maintains tools that will allow collectors to manage their collections online, information about what is happening with the hobby, as well as providing robust data to send out for Autographs through the mail.

Follow SCF on