Hey Guys, Can any of you all help me out with buying some sports cards? My son’s birthday is coming up and I wanted to pick up a couple nice ones for him. Graded ones off eBay. First question, when it comes to a Dream rookie I know there is the Fleer one from 86/87. That is what most people consider his rookie card? However there are those cards by Star from his actual rookie year. Anyone know the story behind those? Which would you recommend? I want to get him a JJ Watt rookie as well. (Side note, he visited one of my son’s best friends who I suffering from Leukemia at TCH and gave him a signed football. Awesome right?)Anyhow, which is the rookie to get for him? So many brands? So many limited runs. I saw something called Tops Chrome Refractor and thought was a nice one then I saw tops chrome refractor orange. Orange? What about Harden and Howard? How do you decide which brand to buy? Also with grading, when I collected there was only PSA and Beckett that graded cards. Now I see 4 or more. Is there any to avoid?
This past year I started collecting again, so I'll offer my 02. cents. PSA and Beckett are still regarded as the top two card grading companies, so I'd suggest sticking with them despite being able to find other graded copies of cards from companies like GAI/ISA for less money. As for a Hakeem Rookie, I do have a Fleer 86-87 (non-graded) version, so I am a bit bias towards that version. I do have some other Hakeem 90s inserts that I'd let go of for a clutchfans discount if your interested. I'm active on eBay, just let me know.
Last time I bought cards, Topps Finest/Topps Chrome were the best rookie cards to get... not sure if that's still the case but I'd check those out.
I agree with this - if you can get your hands on a Topps Finest/Topps Chrome RC, and especially a Refractor version, you'd be good. Also, autographed rookie cards, game-worn jersey RC cards, or combo of both are good bets, though I'd recommend definitely getting graded version to avoid fakes. Based on what I've seen, newer cards focus more on the autos/patches. The creativity of the 90s inserts isn't there.
The best thing you could do is steer him away from collecting. It's a money pit and a waste of time and I speak from experience.
hey! when i was younger I collected all the rockets cards and I have both rookies for Olajuwon that are rated. in the early 80s major company cards were limited ( or fleet upper deck. sky box) that's why the fleer 86 card is considered a rookie because it was the first year per se card produced by then eventhough the star rookie is with the correct year. regarding the brands there are so many now it's ridiculous. If it were me I would just buy whatever one has been around longest. you can look online and see the value of all the different cards per brand. also I may have a couple of the ratese dream fleer cards I could just sell you at a reduced price. let me see what I got when I get home and will repost.
you can get joy from collecting it but investment wise it sucks. baseball strike killed my value on all cards! and basketball cards don't appreciate.
Yeah these are just to have. If they go up great. if not it is nice to Have Watt or a Dream rookie tucked away.
I'd get the Fleer one. When I picture Dream, that picture of him posting up is the first thing that comes to mind.
fyi, if you get a Star Akeem Olajuwon rookie, make sure you get a graded one. There were alot of fake Star cards back in the day and may be floating around still.
Isn't your son really young? He may be too young to really appreciate expensive cards like that. I would just get him a box of a quality brand of cards and let him open all those up. When i use to collect, as a 10-13 year old, I would love finding out what each package would contain. That's where most of the fun is, IMO.
The dream one is for me and it will go to him when he is older. I picked up a graded Harden rookie and a graded Howard rookie. I think he PSA cases will help keep them protected over the years. You don't know my son . He keeps all his cards organized and neatly kept to keep them from getting messed up.
I used to be into sportscards back in its hay day. I really believe that ebay and the internet in general killed the sportscard industry. I havent looked or studied it since 2002 but I saw this thread and it got me to looking back on ebay for the 86/87 fleer rookies. It was once believed that these cards were scarce but there was more of this out there than people were letting on and the prices dropped considerably. I havent looked at a price guide in 10 years but I looked on ebay and olajuwon rookies can be had for 80.00 graded. It was once believed that these cards couldnt receive high grades due to how sensitive they were and how they were often not centered straight out of the pack. Now while I admit that I havent studied in quite some time, something is amiss here. I see beckett graded 10 dream rookies selling for 85.00 and they are not hard to find. Either beckett has gone really soft on their grading, they cant tell the different on counterfeits, or someone has come out with a ton of pristine fleer rookies out of nowhere.
Star would be more valueable, but it's hard to know if those are the originals or not (some people started reprinting them in the 90s and the rumor is some of them got graded), plus the Fleer is the more recognizable card (and cheaper). I would go with a BGS (8-9, I think those grades are the best value) fleer 86. (I would stay away from any grading companies that aren't PSA or BGS, and I would stick to BGS because the card is protected better by those cases. ) (the buy it now's are all a little high, so definitely go with the make an offer option on these) http://www.ebay.com/itm/1986-87-fle...04256575?pt=US_Basketball&hash=item58a3bdf23f http://www.ebay.com/itm/1986-87-fle...19376020?pt=US_Basketball&hash=item58aa9a8794 http://www.ebay.com/itm/1986-87-fle...12030472?pt=US_Basketball&hash=item58aa2a7208 As for Harden, there are a lot of different ways to go, but Panini is the only brand that had an NBA licence during Harden's Rookie year, so that's the brand to get. You can get a pretty nice autographed RC of his for around $30, here are a few of my favorites (I wouldn't get a graded one since the cards are so new) http://www.ebay.com/itm/JAMES-HARDE...19335576?pt=US_Basketball&hash=item25896bd598 (the price is a little high on this one, if you decide you want this one i'd try to talk them down in price a little) http://www.ebay.com/itm/2009-10-JAM...71906321?pt=US_Basketball&hash=item43c53cd211 http://www.ebay.com/itm/2009-10-Abs...68293921?pt=US_Basketball&hash=item338a941a21 (non-auto option) the $30 Buy in now is a pretty good deal http://www.ebay.com/itm/2009-2010-T...54793110?pt=US_Basketball&hash=item35d1e63a96 Dwight's rookie autos are a little more expensive, but some of the lower end ones can still be had for $40-50 (again I wouldn't worry about grading much) http://www.ebay.com/itm/DWIGHT-HOWA...67266265?pt=US_Basketball&hash=item53ed85fad9 http://www.ebay.com/itm/F38-04-05-D...62518048?pt=US_Basketball&hash=item1e7df97020 (non-auto option) http://www.ebay.com/itm/dwight-howa...40047398?pt=US_Basketball&hash=item35d1053a26
They aren't grading any fakes, they (fleer & topps( just printed A TON of basketball cards in the 80s, so they aren't really as rare as most people think.
yeah but in the past couple years...these 10's are coming out of nowhere. They used to never receive a grade higher than 7 or maybe an 8. Im also confused as to the difference between a beckett 9 and a bccg 9. Is the bccg just beckett's newer, upgraded look?
