Ken Griffey Jr .... any collectors out there?
 

I am not really a modern card collector, but Junior may be an exception. With sooooo many to choose from and not really knowing this niche of the market, I would like to own a PSA or BGS graded card that was issued as an autograph card - has to be issued, not signed aftermarket.

That said, I have seen several issued during his Reds era. Anything from the 90s Mariners? Also considering refractors, as they are a guilty pleasure for this vintage collector!

Thanks in advance

Well the first one that jumps to my mind is 1994 upper deck autograph mantle Griffey combo. It comes dual signed or single sign by either one . The dual is like a grail autograph for a lot of people .

There has been a bunch of buybacks and after career autos with him on the mariners . My personal favorite is 1995 sp autograph it will run you like 50bucks . The auto tends to smear due to the high gloss . The foil edge chips very easy so perfect examples are not common. 1999 sp I think we're pack inserted buybacks pretty awesome .

Thanks - will keep an eye out!

He's not in a Mariners uniform but you might like the 1992 Classic auto. He's pictured in his minor league uniform.

I'm a griffey fan and have a few of his cards. One of these days I will pick up a 93 finest refractor. It was the first year they were issued. He has tons of pack issued autos available. I have a couple, but have focused on his rookies. I do have a psa 10, BGS 10, and a psa/DNA 89 ud.

the 93 Finest is such a cool card! The subsequent Finest issues aren't bad either - the gaudier the better!

Here is my only example

Attachment 258184

Nice yea you can't go wrong with the others. Cool cards to own. I just remember 93 finest coming out when I was a kid. It was a pretty big deal, I think the packs were 20 bucks each maybe more, which was a lot of money for a 13 year old. And you only got one refractor per box. I opened a couple packs with no luck. But it would have been so cool to pull a Griffey.

Funny story about Griffey finest refractor. I went into my childhood LCS after these had come out. Hadn't been there in awhile but out of boredom I stopped in. They had Griffey finest in display case for $25. I asked the owner about it and he told me it was called a refractor and they were extremely rare. I bit and bought it. So for about 15 years or so I thought I had this super cool refractor card but turned out it was just regular one.

It's possible the owner was misinformed even though he was shady as hell sometimes, but that was last time I got to go there.

A griffey refractor was worth a lot more than 25 bucks even back then. He knew what he had. A base griffey selling for 25 bucks when that set came out is not surprising though. I probably would have bought it back then if I had the money.

1990 Wonder Bread Unopened
 

I'm not a Griffey collector but have this unique item that I've held onto over the years
https://sportscardalbum.com/c/d339xrh4.jpeg?0

Neal

This may be something you may want to look at (if you haven't already). Topps has been putting out a product called Archives that has 90s cards with autos. They have put out a few of Griffey Jr.

Jantz

Thanks, Jantz.
Will check em out

This arrived yesterday. Nothing huge, but a nice shiny, distraction to postwar cards!

Attachment 259302

I also like 90s atomic refractors ! Nice card . Is the preview like a promo or something ?

I really was a fan of the 90s atomic refractors from football .

It's worth next to nothing but this is my favorite Griffey card.

I was going to post mine when I posted my TSC Bagwell a while ago but never got around to it.
I have 2-3 copies and it is also one of my favorite cards, Peter.

Cool card, Peter! On my list btw

Just added another Atomic Refractor -

Attachment 260315

Been looking for a factory produced auto, and was able to land this one

Attachment 260483

Great looking auto Neal ! Congrats

That sig is really clean. Nice card!

Nice card. I was going to suggest the 99 Legends, also with the mariners. Nice head shot with background for the sig.

I pulled this one from a pack a few years back.

http://www.cal-lector.com/TimzCollec...riffeyAuto.jpg

One of the Griffey RCs I was missing just arrived today. Happy to be part of the $20 card collector club.

Edit: Do you guys want to turn this into an all Griffey pickup thread like the Mantle one in post war?

fine by me lol

Attachment 263014

Great cards, Neal!
Here's my copy of his '93 Refractor. (Don't get to post this kind of thing much.)
https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/13/04/98/39/grif10.jpg

Terjung that is an awesome card and one I intend to add at some point. Hopefully soon. PM me if you ever decide to sell.

Fantastic Finest Brian!

Refractor envy? :)

always lol

Griffey autos.........
 

If you'd like Junior's autograph on a larger card the 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces Box Topper set is nice, IMO. They measure approximately 5x7. A very limited release. There are two in the set.....these are mine. I like 'em!

I have a few other graded ones if you're interested.

nice autos!

latest inexpensive Griffey

Attachment 303520

figured to resurrect this thread as I am back on a Griffey hunt .... especially a 93 Finest

Whoever recommended that one to you had good taste.:)

yes he does!

great cards
 

Still have my 89 Upper Deck.........was one of the hottest cards at the time. Great player. Anyone know what he's doing now a days? Good quest I think

Here are a few

nice!
keep em coming

Nice Griffey's. I sold a lot of my Griffey's a long time ago. My fav has always been the '93 SP Platinum Power. Not expensive but love the color and design. Gotta go find and scan it.

OK, went dumpster diving closet style and unearthed these. Nothing high end, but these were always favorites of mine.

some more cool, shiny crap

Attachment 303658

Attachment 303659

Nice stuff Neal. I can see an uptick in 90's inserts. They had some really cool designs and prices are reasonable on a lot of them.

Some more an unused Wonder Bread bag with Jr enclosed, full count boxes and and a 6 card panel

Thx Dean

at the very least, it is a guilty pleasure for me as sometimes looking at the same postwar and prewar stuff gets old

cool cards fellas, I appreciate the effort!

just picked this up

Attachment 304360

[http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/...pscgimpmtk.jpg
http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1qp7xvmz.jpg

Cool cards Al!
What are they?

In addition to collecting Topps, Fleer and Bowman I also collected the various Conlon sets put out by The Sporting News and Megacards. This was a subset of one of the Conlon sets.

I think an eBay search for "Ken Griffey Conlon" will pull them up

Don't give him any ideas, he's already on a spree.

lol - true

Unmarked bag with Griffey Jr

Just saw this thread for the first time. Back in the day I tried to get every mainstream Griffey card out there. Halfway through 1993 I gave up. I still collected many moving forward and picked up a few lots from time to time through the late 90’s just to expand but haven’t gotten any new ones since probably around 2002 when I discovered eBay and vintage.

I still have all of them. I think it’s somewhere between 400 to 500 different cards.

The last card shop in my town tried desperately to gain some new blood and asked if I could help organize for him. I went in a few times to help but to no avail he shut down a bit after that. He knew I liked Griffey so for payment he gave me a stack of cards he didn’t think he’d sell. In looking through them there was one I couldn’t ever find any info on. I know it was a variation card of a base set. From what I did gather they were fairly rare at the time. I need to go find it and post it here. Maybe some of you guys could help me out. It’s not a rush and I highly doubt I have some sort of “holy grail” for Griffey collectors but it would be interesting at least to find out exactly what I have after all these years.

Anyway I’ll try and dig it out and get some photos up in a day or two.

Drew

Nice thing about a Griffey collection is its not only about collecting a great player, it's collecting someone who was iconic in the hobby for about 7-8 years. You have the initial Upper Deck card which is the best known UD card in their history, you also have key cards in just about every set from 1989-95, you have some of the first in pack autographs when they went for $500-1000, you have the beginning of the limited and serial number insert craze, and for good measure you have 1 of 1's. He was also in virtually every food, regional, and postcard issue of the 90's that didn't focus on one team. And you also have the stuff that Al posted where he was shoehorned into a set which no other current player would appear.

I remember the initial 1 of 1's of superstars like Griffey going for $5-10k. Things like the Fleer Ultra 1/1's (or was it Flair?).

Griffey was a big part of the hobby in the 90's, maybe the biggest.

My first Desert Shield

Attachment 321669

Nice one neal. That and the 93 refractor have been on my want list for a while now.

The first big 1/1 cards were 1987 Flair Masterpiece cards. Each player had 3 variations row 0 row 1 and row 2. I do remember someone using Ebay to buy all 3 Griffey Jr's paying like 15k for the last one he needed.. The flair Legacy cards 1/150 still sell well as player collectors chase them down. I will post some of my jr collection tomorrow.

Neal - Love the Desert Shield card. A great tribute to our men of service and an iconic player back in 1991.
Nice pick up.
RayB

I believe my only 2 Griffey cards? The top one has already been posted by Peter but I don't believe the second one below it has?

With his Father in the background watching over him, I happen to think it's a great card. (sorry for the lack of individual scans. That is something I need to do)

I don't collect Griffey per se, but I do happen to have this one as a part of my Trophy card collection.
Enjoy.
RayB

Great Griffey's fellas! RayB - love the colors on the 90!

added this one with some eBay bucks - may try to get every 1997 issue out there one day

Attachment 322118

A couple of my JRs:

Attachment 322145

Attachment 322146

Some incredible cards in here. Snagged a '99 Century Legends auto finally. Just wrapped up moving but will scan it this week, love that set!

The '93 Refractor is at the top of my, 'next time I'm ready to spend four figures on a card...' list.

Griffey has some great cards - thx for sharing!

WillBBC - on my list as well. Almost pulled the trigger once on a 9 …

If looking for a non auto card. Get his hardest minor league card and first pro card. Here is the Best Platinum card which could only be obtained at the ball park in a team set bag. The population is 1300. One of my favorite Griffey cards along with the 93 Finest refractors.

JC you might well be right and I am sure you know this market better than I do, but the problem I see with that card is it's in a no man's land -- it's not his first card (that would be 87 Bellingham) and it's not a rookie card. Sort of like the 2010 Trouts. Sure, the supply is scarce, but as a friend of mine once famously said, sometimes the only thing lower than the supply is the demand.

The 80 Ripkens have the advantage (to me anyhow) of being his first card. Same with the Chong Modesto Hendersons.

That '88 Platinum is a great card. Mine is a 8 but PSA didn't label it Platinum. Rare card - especially by 80s standards. That GEM 10 is outstanding!

A cool card nonetheless …. buy what you like

A shame such a wonderful played played during the junk era.

Yes, thats true the Bellingham is an earlier card. Population coming in around 10k as I recall. Your friend sounds like a wise person, as my friend once said sometimes a card is too rare for it's own good.

I feel that pre rookie cards have been a nitche for decades. Very under valued IMO, and I just like collecting the hard to find rare cards of potential HOFers and HOFers of the modern era.

Ive always likes the San Beradino Griffeys (platinum and blue) and even though the blue is three times easier to find, it is ten times more difficult to get a high grade in mainly because of chipping and that little print line lower left.

Agreed on your two examples that those cards are the undisputed first card and they are very scarce too! All the ingridients for making them a great investment longterm!

Haha, more cards to love!

Indeed!

Some 90s issue were hardly junk ….

#PRIMOSALE pickup today


Attachment 322675

Couple of recent Griffeys.

From my favorite autograph set.
https://i.imgur.com/hRVysWk.jpg

And the 95 box topper to go on my bookshelf!
https://i.imgur.com/tUNUF2C.jpg

nice Griffs!

this one just arrived! I have been looking for one for years but never pulled the trigger on the few that came up

Attachment 323074

Outstanding. You took the ride on the snowmobile. :)

LOL

ya gotta do what ya gotta do

Hot damn, congrats on the pickup!

Nice Refractor Pickup!

Thanks fellas - strange feeling (for me) spending $$$ on modern, but hopefully the card stays in demand

Neal - Congrats on the 93TF Refractor Griffey! Outstanding!
Only 240 more of them for you to acquire.
You now officially have a killer Griffey collection.
RayB

Thx Ray - strangely this card is more exciting to me than vintage pickups. Still love old cardboard but this newer stuff is waaay cool.

Always have been a fan of Junior

Very nice, Neal.

Congrats. :)

Thanks Dale

New addition https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e1991982aa.jpg

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