What to do with all these INSERTS???

[portlandmebruin]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Footnote75
It makes me really sad that no one likes inserts any more :(

I'm a product of the mid-90s when inserts were amazing. I absolutely love finding them.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ginx86
Product of the mid-80s myself and I'm the same way about inserts, especially well designed inserts. I find that eventually I always find someone who needs my parallels or inserts but if I've had one sitting around for a very long time I'll throw them in when doing team base lot trades.

I'm in the same category, and have had all these inserts floating around. Back in the day it was a little costly to put insert sets together, so I just did base sets, plus my players. Now I could easily put those insert sets together, because they are readily dumped.

However some of those 90's inserts do go above BV on ebay. I found that out trying to buy Jagrs from that era. It's just that you don't see them too often now, because game used, and autos draw more attention these days.
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Haha I'm not from this era, I just started collecting this year, but I sure do love me some inserts, parallels not so much. I like to try to pick on set of inserts from each set or so and try to collect them.

[HammerHawks]

PM kidkanada, I unloaded about 650 common inserts and parallels to him, granted, didn't get a ton of money, but they're gone and I got something for them.

[Wickabee]

I collected cards as a kid in the very early 90s and started again about a year and a half ago.
In other words, I collected as a kid when inserts were barely heard of stopped for a long time and came back when inserts were worthless garbage.
When I was a kid, the only inserts were O-Pee-Chee Red Army and something from UD (Hull Hockey Heroes, EuroStars, Holograms). Pulling one was almost unheard of and buying one would cost you $10-$15!
When I came back into the hobby Inserts were pretty much worthless unless it was someone like Gretzky, Lemieux, Roy and Yzerman. A Toews/Kane/Crosby/Ovechkin was worth along the same lines, but fell each year. After having some time to see what I've missed and learn about the hobby as it is now I would say inserts are unpopular because:

A - Remember when base cards carried some comparative value because that's all their was? Remember when OPC RCs were valuable because it was that or Topps? In the late 80s/early 90s overproduction caused a drop in values. I remember how the 90-91 OPC Premier was so popular and valuable because it was a lower print run than anything else. Overproduction caused a need for lower print-run, higher value cards. Inserts were born. Then parallels. Once enough inserts and parallels were on the market to dilute it, the need was back and serial #ed print runs came in. More and more of those came along and the need was back. So jersey, auto and patch cards were born. They began to saturate the market and they started making the players sign the swatches and patches. They ran with the idea and began including stick, net, blocker and glove pieces. 1/1s Came in and are the pinnacle to a player collection, making them higher in value, but they're not often collected among set collectors, which lowers the value. The industry seems to be looking for something to replace the high end market and be the next "big thing". The only places they haven't gone, I think, is melted ice from NHL arena, pieces from ref's jerseys and coach's suits or pieces of a building (Congratulations, you've received an actual piece of a chair from Maple Leaf Gardens). Actually, the building set would be kind of cool, as would the melted ice.

2 - 75% of the designs are terrible. I mean, look at this:
http://s942.photobucket.com/albums/a...t=DSCN4345.jpg
Seriously? That's hideous. Bad insert designs are the biggest problem I have with player collecting vs. set collecting. As a set collector, if you don't like a set, you don't collect it. As a player collector, you still jump at the chance to get it.