Yet Another 90's Insert Set: '96 Jam Session Show Stoppers

'96 Jam Session David Robinson Show Stoppers 

90's insert sets came in all shapes and sizes. Whether it was die cuts or holograms, card designers let their imaginations go wild. One prominent design feature was foiling. I was a big fan of foiled card surfaces back in the day and continue to be a fan today. Most cards that have foiling incorporated in the designs today are mainly used as an accent on boarders and around jersey pieces. That's fine by me as the foiling always looks great and really dresses a card up even if it's just used as an accent. However, some companies went all out with foiling during the 90's by creating entire card surfaces made up of foiling.

The '94 Fleer Ultra Power in the Key set (click here) is a prime example of the use of foiling during the 90's. If that's not enough foiling for you though, checkout this '96 Jam Session Show Stoppers David Robinson insert. Not only is the entire surface foil, but it's a taller 2.5 x 4.75 inch as apposed to the traditional 2.5 x 3.5 inch card size. That means a whole lot more foiling. Which I like.

The scan really doesn't do this card justice. These Jam Session cards look a little better in hand. The entire set consists of nine cards and we inserted into hobby boxes at a ratio of 1:48. I only have the Robinson from the set, but I'd love to put this set together. Some of my favorite 90's players are featured in the set including Michael Jordan, Anfernee Hardaway and Grant Hill. Not too shabby of a player checklist.

So if anyone has any cards from this set, let me know. Here's a link to my trade album and want lists. I'm certainly open to trades for this… Yet Another 90's Insert Set.

Update: Yet Another 90's Insert Set ('97 Ultra Court Masters)

As I'm sure you're all well aware of, I love 90's insert sets. The quality of design and creativity was at its peak during that time. Whether it was holograms, die cuts, acetate or the early jersey and auto'd cards, 90's card companies had it going on. I have about five separate 90's insert set collections going right now between basketball and football products, but none is more exciting to me than the '97 Ultra Court Masters acetate basketball set.

I've been working on putting the 15 card set together for sometime now. I wrote a post a few weeks ago about the first few cards I was able to add to start the collection, but was recently able to buy a four card lot for a very reasonable price. Actually, these cards normally sell for right at or just above book value (BV). I paid less than half of BV for the lot.

The lot contains a few of the bigger names in the set like Malone, Stockton and Robinson. The Richmond is certainly a nice card and sells well, but it's not on the same level as the other three featuring HOF'ers.

Here are the other four cards in my Court Masters collection pursuit and a closeup of one of the newly added cards:

Yet Another 90's Insert Set: 1993 TSC Beam Team

There certainly were insert sets before 1993, but it really wasn't until that year that inserts really exploded. Many companies only had one or maybe two insert sets per product in the late 80's and early 90's like Fleer with its Stickers sets ('87 - '90) and Upper Deck with its Award Winner Holograms ('92). However, as the trading card industry took off in the early 90's, so did the size and scope of its products. Companies started producing smaller sets to insert into base product packs to entice the influx of new consumers that were flooding the hobby and market. Also known as the "Golden Age" of trading cards, the 90's helped spur-on creativity and design in the hobby. As far as the basketball trading card hobby was concerned, a perfect storm was created to coincide with the insert revolution.

Not only were trading cards being designed at a higher level to bring in the "Golden Age", but the NBA was in the midst of an upswing of its own. Collectors wanted cards of players like Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'neal. The sports card industry and NBA could not have been hotter, and one early 90's insert set captured the essence of all that excitement, new creativity in design and insert magic.

The '93 Topps Stadium Club product was a premium product that showcased superb photography and a high gloss surface. Sure laugh now, but take a look at a '91 Hoops card and you'll appreciate what Topps did with its '93 TSC release. To go along with its awesome 400 card base set, TSC also inserted a 21 card set into its series 2 boxes at a rate of 1:36. The TSC Beam Team insert set was truly a masterpiece of its time. The Beam Team set features the great photography found in the base set and combines it with the best stars from a hugely popular NBA and cool design. Some of the action shots Topps came up with for this set are really tremendous. Just look at the Dominique Wilkins card. Simply Awesome!

The list of players found in this set is really mind boggling. From Ewing, Robinson and Olajuwon to Barkley, Stockton and Rodman, this set has just about everyone in it. Unfortunately, two glaring omissions are that of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. I know neither played during the '93 NBA season, but they are in the TSC base set. Otherwise, a checklist for an early 90's set doesn't get much better than this.

Many collectors jumped on this set because of the "Shaq' Attack" craze of the mid 90's and Jordan found in the set. The Jordan Beam Team is considered to be one of his "must have" cards for Jordan collectors. I've seen varying prices for this set, so be cautious if you're looking to build this one. There currently are a number of Buy Now sets up on eBay with exorbitant prices from $199 to $250. That is way too much for this set that has a book value of $120. Yes, in 1993 the set did sell for upwards of $300, but the calendar reads 2010 today. I did find this Buy Now auction for $75 (click here). That's actually a pretty good price as the Jordan and O'neal typically sell for around $30 (click here) and $35 (click here) respectively.

I myself built the set the easy way and bought it completed about two years ago. I know that's like cheating, but I saved a lot on shipping charges by not having to pay $2-$3 each to have all 21 cards shipped from different sellers. The Jordan, Clyde Drexler and Dominique Wilkins are certainly favorites of mine, but the Shaq' is where it's at for me. Let's just say, if you've been following my blog, you'll see it soon in the Hoopography Top 25 PC Countdown.

Poster Review: David Robinson "National Defense" Nike Poster

After fulfilling two years of his five year military service commitment (the U.S. Navy excused Robinson from three years of his five year commitment), “The Admiral” joined the San Antonio Spurs in 1990. The addition of Robinson turned the fortunes of the Spurs franchise around and brought a new meaning to athletic big man. Robinson’s speed, size, power and athleticism were unmatched. His career averages are also very impressive at 21.1 points/game, 10.6 rebounds/game and 2.99 blocks/game. The ’95 NBA league MVP was selected to ten all-star teams, was the ’90 NBA Rookie of the Year, ’92 & ’96 “Dream Team” Olympic Gold Medal winner and two-time NBA Champion (’99 & ’03). “The Admiral” was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.

Robinson was one of Nike’s top spokesmen during the 90‘s. He had a great smile, was a standup role model and most importantly, had loads of game. The “National Defense” Poster portrays Robinson as if he were on a naval ship protecting the 50 United States. Aside from those incredibly short shorts, I really like this Nike basketball poster. Also, check out those ultra high Nikes Robinson is sporting.

(RSS and third party site readers, click here to view videos)