Kobe rookie?

[blinkfan77]

i have the base set rookie, UD, of kobe, and i have a really old beckett that lists it at 8 bucks. i just wanna say ive been out of the hobby for like 8 years, and am interested in getting back in, but how come the value of his card was/is so low? arent ud base rc's supposed to be high? thanks.

[mattyj]

Upper Deck base RCs usually book fairly low, Kobe's best RCs to get are Topps Chrome, Finest and refractors of both of these :)

[Hands]

Most card prices from the 90s have plummeted in value because of Ebay and people who put cards there for $1 reserve just to save sellers fee. You will find that it is not only Kobe's UD rookie that has dropped in value. Hope this helped you? Cheers

[tradebark]

Nope

Few things worth noting.. First, the "era" back then (basically mid to late 90's) basketball cards were overproduced.. Which means tons of brands/inserts/rookies etc, and led to oversaturation of the secondary market and low single values..

Also, while some products these days (most UD, some Topps) have rookie cards inserted as "hits" (like numbered out of 1000, or at a rate of 1 in 4, or whatever), back then most RC's were just considered another base card in terms of difficulty of the pull.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, there is a big disparity between the best card/s of a player and the "next best;" this goes for any card basically.

Kobe's Topps Chrome RC went for $400 BV back then, and while that number has went down considerably, it's the same idea. A Kobe EX2000 Credentials RC, or Finest Refractor RC, or Topps Chrome RC all have astronomical value, whereas anything from a cheaper pack is basically worthless in terms of sell value.

It's a bit of a shock (well, maybe not really) but most cards you collected back then are more than likely close to worthless now. I am in the same situation as you, and came back after not collecting for about 10 years.. Unless you have some high-end cards (parallels/rare inserts of finest, chrome, EX, or z-force in particular) it's unlikely you'll be finding any hidden gems in your old stash

[blinkfan77]

Nope

Few things worth noting.. First, the "era" back then (basically mid to late 90's) basketball cards were overproduced.. Which means tons of brands/inserts/rookies etc, and led to oversaturation of the secondary market and low single values..

Also, while some products these days (most UD, some Topps) have rookie cards inserted as "hits" (like numbered out of 1000, or at a rate of 1 in 4, or whatever), back then most RC's were just considered another base card in terms of difficulty of the pull.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, there is a big disparity between the best card/s of a player and the "next best;" this goes for any card basically.

Kobe's Topps Chrome RC went for $400 BV back then, and while that number has went down considerably, it's the same idea. A Kobe EX2000 Credentials RC, or Finest Refractor RC, or Topps Chrome RC all have astronomical value, whereas anything from a cheaper pack is basically worthless in terms of sell value.

It's a bit of a shock (well, maybe not really) but most cards you collected back then are more than likely close to worthless now. I am in the same situation as you, and came back after not collecting for about 10 years.. Unless you have some high-end cards (parallels/rare inserts of finest, chrome, EX, or z-force in particular) it's unlikely you'll be finding any hidden gems in your old stash

thanks man, i appreciate the time you took to type that. im having fun looking at my old nba collection. duncans, van horns (lol) iverson, kobe. and btw, does anyone remember the "apparition" cards? i think maybe topps? the jordan one is one of the nicest cards ive ever seen.

[tradebark]

Hey no problem :)

I find the whole situation pretty interesting, and seeing as how you are in pretty much the same situation that I was in, I had to help you out!

One of the things that I really found helpful was just using eBay completed auctions to gauge the value of your cards. Beckett, while a good tool for setting up trades and stuff, is not even close to being an accurate judge of market value for 99% of the cards listed.

[tierre_brown]

Actually, weren't the Apparitions the Finest subset? Those were some really nice cards; I actually liked the design of the mid 90s finest inserts and stuff...

And welcome back to the hobby, I faced the same shock when I came back about 3 years ago.

[WilyWestbrook0]

I still get nostalgic for my childhood days of the '90s. Remember how great Stadium Club cards used to smell? :-)

[blinkfan77]

lol remember how cheap collectors choice was! haha. i actually just looked up the apparitions in beckett. its topps apparitions 98/99. i have the MJ and its listed at 40$ the highest one of course :) it took me a lot to get this trade with my friend like 9 years ago.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Collector's Choice was a disaster. I liked the MVP sets though - better than the Rookie Debut stuff that seems to have replaced them now ..