Ever wonder why certain mass produced 1990s cards seem hard to find now ? For example :

HELLSHOCK SG1 card from the 1993 Creators Universe set; available by redemption, 10,000 made ! I've seen 1 on ebay over the past 6 months


SUPERIOR COLLECTION (1992) promo # 1; 70,000 of this card made, yet I have never seen one on ebay; I have promo # 2

Do we know how many were actually circulated/redeemed?

Do you have images for the Superior Collection card? I collected a lot of comic cards back then, I can see if I have it.

No, but I can tell you what promo # 2 looks like. Very similar.

Shows a bunch of sports memorabilia, jerseys, old baseball stuff, etc.

It was given away at shows in 1992, the National and maybe others.

Says 70,000 printed on it !

Here is a description of both promos. I have the second one:

Superior Collection (1992) Sterling Cards Inc. Set number n.k.; source n.k.; photo; marked "Promotional Card" on back; back is also serial-numbered out of 70,000; back also says "The National Sports Collectors Convention Auction" and provides dates "July 8 & 10, 1992 in Atlanta, GA"; promotes a sports memorabilia auction.

1- card front shows a Boston jersey, a baseball bat, a trophy, etc.

2- card front shows a Harlem Globetrotters jersey, a Yankees jersey (Gehrig), an Olympic torch, a football, etc.

I have the Hellshock SG1 cards, which I haven't looked at in quite a while. I was never able to find certain promos for this set, namely, P1 promo with reversed back, P4, P5, Unnumbered Stronghold promo, X1 promo. Some of these may not even exist.

There are 3 different Superior promo cards. The 2 David mentions and a third numbered out of 20,000 and factory stamped 1992 promo on the back with the front showing a baseball glove and ball and some other baseball paraphernalia. Tabb Investments.

Not to hijack the thread but this well titled thread seemed a good place to ask...
I've been looking for the Star Trek Next Generation Season 7 Skybox 'QVC' promo featuring the cast sat around a poker table.

The card is unnumbered, dated 1994 and states on the back is limited to 10,000 copies although you wouldn't think it given how few you see. There are two on eBay at the moment both over $100.

Any Trek/promo experts have any idea why they are so scarce?

There were many more people collecting cards in the 1990's compared to nowaday so maybe those collectors that have those cards have stopped collecting and just have them in boxes stored in the closets or garages ... or ... gasp ... threw them away

There could also be a good percentage of collectors that have them in their personal collections and just don't post them. Maybe some of the "guests" that come on here have them, but just don't have a username or lost their passwords to post some insights. I'd also guess that people that collected those cards back then are more likely to want to sell them to card stores or show dealers than to sell them on eBay because that how to got those cards in the first place and what they are more familiar with. I would be surprised if they ended up at Goodwill stores because there are less card stores around and even less would be willing to buy those "hidden gems" because they aren't in price guides.

I believe that the cards David mentions were originally released at conventions that were mainly sports orientated so quite a lot of non-sports cards given out ended up in the trash and even more so at the sports card conventions. In the early 1990's it was quite difficult for non-sport cards to compete against the sports card collectors.

regards

John

I agree with you John The most infamous example of this was the Lion King SB1. The ones that David mentions and another set of 4 Wrestling "talking cards" limited to 1,500 which were distributed at the 1998 Nat'l Sports Card Convention in Chicago. many sports card collectors don't consider wrestling to be a sport and most of those cards ended in the bin as well.

This is a sports card example, but easily could happen with non-sport cards. A rare 1 of 1 basketball card of Tracy McGrady was found in a storage locker.

http://www.blowoutcards.com/fo...terpiece-1-1-rc.html

Some of those rare cards could just be tucked away and forgotten.

Back in the early 90's there was a different idea of what a limited card meant. A print run of 5,000, even 10,000 was called limited. Most non-sport cards were produced by small companies because the major league sports licenses were held by the likes of TOPPS, Upper Deck, Fleer and Donruss. There were a lot of unlicensed cards kicking about also, some as fake promos.

When you see or read about some of these oddball non-sport cards now, its difficult to pin some down to the truth unless you know someone involved in their production. When you have a print number out of 10,000 and you can't find any on the market the explanation could be that many were just destroyed for lack of interest.

It could also be that 10,000 were never made at all, they just thought it sounded good to have a maximum. Or maybe there is a huge pile collecting dust in some storage locker. There is something wrong with the information if cards like the ones mentioned can not be found when they were supposedly produced in such large numbers. They are not so special that there are no collectors who will not let them out of their possession. For whatever reason, they were probably never circulated in those numbers.

There could only have been 100 actually redeemed!!!!

One of those Hellshock SG1s was on ebay a few months ago, and it sold for 8 dollars

As for infamous promos like these, how about the Star Trek New Zealand promo ? Says 20,000 made but you never see it. If you do, it sells for $ 300-500. That is the only Trek SkyBox promo I do not have. See the image below

http://nonsportupdate.infopop....017075116#3017075116

Regarding the 1/1 basketball card, is Tracy McGrady someone super famous ?

I see from a google search that he was an NBA player, 1997-2013, but he is not a household name, at least not to me

He was one of the big stars of the league for his first 10 years or so, but ultimately became a middling player, although 15 years in the NBA is impressive by any measure.
There are a lot of basketball collectors, though, and a popular theme in their collections are rare inserts and parallels of 1990's cards, which is when the selection of them available was at an all-time high.

Eight dollars! I wish I remembered what I paid for it. It wasn't much, but it was more than eight bucks. Oh well, I still like it.

In sports cards there are numerous examples of rookie cards and early star cards that commanded huge prices for awhile. Then they dropped like a rock. Some players were flash in the pans and some got hurt and never really came back to form, but often sheer longevity takes it toll. The demand for an aging star switches to a potential new star over night.

It is very much a "what have you done for me lately?" hobby for sports card collectors. In fact, it is quite true that every year, in any professional sport, the hot rookie cards will arrive with prices 10 times and better the cost of a card for a retired player who may hold numerous records and is already in the Hall of Fame.

True, but generally foolish in the long run as 9 out of 10 of those formerly hot rookies will turn out to be duds or get hurt early.

It is amazing how once RARE items suddenly show up all over the place

As an example, the 7 hard to find NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET sample cards from the 1991 Impel set. For more than 20 years plus, no one could find them, and when they did, they paid big bucks for the promos

In the past 2-3 years, most but not all of the 7 cards have shown up in large quantities

You can go "you know where" now and see 30 auctions for them, most for less than $ 10 each !

For reasons totally unknown, you can find cards # 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7 easily, and some #2s, but card # 3 does not show up...