When was the end of Junk era?

[revlis]

Haha tough crowd. Well at a certain point topps, upper deck etc stopped over producing sets, yeah? I mean ppl are making art with cut up pieces of the stuff. They certainly aren't doing that with bowman chrome autos.

Why the hate for the new stuff?

I personally got back into the hobby with modern bowmans but getting into vintage now.


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[Jewish-collector]

Originally Posted by revlis

Haha tough crowd. Well at a certain point topps, upper deck etc stopped over producing sets, yeah? I mean ppl are making art with cut up pieces of the stuff. They certainly aren't doing that with bowman chrome autos.

Why the hate for the new stuff?

I personally got back into the hobby with modern bowmans but getting into vintage now.


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I agree. I don't like collectors calling it junk and/or crap. There are a lot of guys collecting this type of stuff. And, I respect these collectors. I never put them down. I call these cards the shiny stuff, but never say it's crap.

[Rich Klein]

Just as an FYI -- the 1st autograph cards in major manufacturer packs were the 1990 Reggie Jackson cards (#d to 2500) by Upper Deck. From that point on, there were a few cards each year and some of the "other" manufacturers did more autographs.

Classic was the biggest name and the most respected of that group with Ken Goldin leading the way by getting Shaq to an exclusive before his rookie season.

Then in 1996 -- The "Signature Series" with one autograph card per pack was released and from that point on -- the autograph card pack market, so to speak, took off and we still have those to this very day

[Thekid1]

Couple of things autos became regularly available and production started limiting with tetrad and classic 1992-1993 at least they started printing the pro # on the product still not in what anyone would considered scarce.


Spoiler alert:
We are actually in the spoke card Era now. Spoke cards are happening as we speak it just looks different. Who actually keeps a base card any longer. People bust and throw them in the trash if it's not an auto, rc, or limited print run refractor etc.
What will happen in 30 or 50 years when everyone threw it away. I mean I haven't kept a base card in 20 years.

[Exhibitman]

The initial overproduction started in 1974 when topps moved to a single series set. Until 1980 there are tons of cards but topps' poor QC makes it challenging to find certain cards in 'mint' condition, e.g., 1976 George Brett without print haze or 1975 Garvey without the white dot on his nose or a 1976 Reggie without a white streak on the bottom yellow stripe.

True junk wax started in 1981 and reached its apex in the early 1990s after the insanity of the 1991 Anaheim national.

The irony of it is that 20-30 years out there are some really nice cards of HOFers that are obtainable on the most modest budget even in a PSA 9 holder, if that floats your boat. I've started buying junk era cards of players I like and in designs I find impressive because I am a collector. I picked up one of my favorite junk era cards, 1988 Score Nolan Ryan for a few bucks in PSA 9. I really get a kick out of the more creative parallel issues like the Topps Stadium Club matrix from 1997 or the 1996 Pinnacle Starburst. There are also some incredibly interesting inserts like the intricate die cut cards or the cards make with non-paper materials like acetate or metallic foil. The TSC Midsummer Matchup set is a favorite; the flocked iridescent foil makes for a really striking look.

I completely agree with the criticism of the throwback designs. At least the junk wax manufacturers were trying with new materials and interesting graphics. The revisited designs are just lazy IMO.

The pop art reference is spot on too. Art even met cards when Peter Max did sets for topps. Another issue I now collect.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

The initial overproduction started in 1974 when topps moved to a single series set. Until 1980 there are tons of cards but topps' poor QC makes it challenging to find certain cards in 'mint' condition, e.g., 1976 George Brett without print haze or 1975 Garvey without the white dot on his nose or a 1976 Reggie without a white streak on the bottom yellow stripe.

True junk wax started in 1981 and reached its apex in the early 1990s after the insanity of the 1991 Anaheim national.

The irony of it is that 20-30 years out there are some really nice cards of HOFers that are obtainable on the most modest budget even in a PSA 9 holder, if that floats your boat. I've started buying junk era cards of players I like and in designs I find impressive because I am a collector. I picked up one of my favorite junk era cards, 1988 Score Nolan Ryan for a few bucks in PSA 9. I really get a kick out of the more creative parallel issues like the Topps Stadium Club matrix from 1997 or the 1996 Pinnacle Starburst. There are also some incredibly interesting inserts like the intricate die cut cards or the cards make with non-paper materials like acetate or metallic foil. The TSC Midsummer Matchup set is a favorite; the flocked iridescent foil makes for a really striking look.

I completely agree with the criticism of the throwback designs. At least the junk wax manufacturers were trying with new materials and interesting graphics. The revisited designs are just lazy IMO.

The pop art reference is spot on too. Art even met cards when Peter Max did sets for topps. Another issue I now collect.

88 Score is one of the sets I collect, but sort of passively. They were actually die cut, which was interesting at the time. It also led to there being at least three versions. The first batch had gaps at the corners of the die cutting die so there were tufts of torn cardboard on all the corners. But usually only for part of the set. Naturally people complained, and they redid the dies. But all they did was make the gaps smaller and move them in about a quarter inch from the corner. More complaints, and they finally got it right. Most of the cards have the good looking cuts. The ones with the first die cuts are pretty easy to find, but the second are actually fairly tough since they weren't around for long, maybe a month? Maybe less? Fairly tough being relative - they're still 88 Score

Until I bought a big batch of them I'd only found a few.

Going through the batch I found some with color differences, and a closer look showed that they were screened differently. So there may be six different of some cards if not all of them.

Steve B

[revlis]

Thanks for the info on the dates for refractors and autos. Helps put things in perspective. I happened to get into collecting right at the height of it as a kid.

I'm currently starting to build a few vintage sets as well as buy individual vintage cards I like. However, I will definitely not be building any sets of modern cards. Its just not for me, its far to easy and they are kinda worthless (both to me and monetarily). So it seems there is some kind of problem with the product that is being produced. People like the refractor autos (myself included) and will pay a lot of money to collect them but throw away the base stuff which leaves little value to set builders.

How should they address this? Are there not alternative producers that cater for the set builder? Or is it simply that things have evolved?

Completely agree with the pop art of the older cards, its certainly what draws me to them. Not sure how that could be resurrected bc any time i see a modern card going for a vintage look it always looks unauthentic or a copy of an older set rather that updating that look and feel for today.

[Manny Trillo]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

The initial overproduction started in 1974 when topps moved to a single series set. Until 1980 there are tons of cards but topps' poor QC makes it challenging to find certain cards in 'mint' condition, e.g., 1976 George Brett without print haze or 1975 Garvey without the white dot on his nose or a 1976 Reggie without a white streak on the bottom yellow stripe.

True junk wax started in 1981 and reached its apex in the early 1990s after the insanity of the 1991 Anaheim national.

The irony of it is that 20-30 years out there are some really nice cards of HOFers that are obtainable on the most modest budget even in a PSA 9 holder, if that floats your boat. I've started buying junk era cards of players I like and in designs I find impressive because I am a collector. I picked up one of my favorite junk era cards, 1988 Score Nolan Ryan for a few bucks in PSA 9. I really get a kick out of the more creative parallel issues like the Topps Stadium Club matrix from 1997 or the 1996 Pinnacle Starburst. There are also some incredibly interesting inserts like the intricate die cut cards or the cards make with non-paper materials like acetate or metallic foil. The TSC Midsummer Matchup set is a favorite; the flocked iridescent foil makes for a really striking look.

I completely agree with the criticism of the throwback designs. At least the junk wax manufacturers were trying with new materials and interesting graphics. The revisited designs are just lazy IMO.

The pop art reference is spot on too. Art even met cards when Peter Max did sets for topps. Another issue I now collect.

1988 score was a beautiful sight I love the Brett

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[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Manny Trillo

1988 score was a beautiful sight I love the Brett

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Score had a plant in the little town I lived in for a very short time and some of the 88's got produced here.

Also noticed your Manny Trillo username. Manny, Greg Luzinski, and Larry cox played minor league ball here in 1968 for the Phillies.

[MRSPORTSCARDCOLLECTOR]

Originally Posted by Jewish-collector

I agree. I don't like collectors calling it junk and/or crap. There are a lot of guys collecting this type of stuff. And, I respect these collectors. I never put them down. I call these cards the shiny stuff, but never say it's crap.

Good post.
This happened in comics. About 10 years ago a bunch of people called comics from the 1980s to 1990s crap,but a lot of that stuff sky rocketed in value again because of comic book movies that created new interest.
Believe it or not I see the steroid era guys going up in value again because of nostalgia.
Look at Pokemon it was dead 10 years ago,and now it`s the hottest thing going.
So yeah start loading up on those Mark McGuire and Barry Bonds Jr cards now.

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by BASEBALLCARDGURU

Good post.
This happened in comics. About 10 years ago a bunch of people called comics from the 1980s to 1990s crap,but a lot of that stuff sky rocketed in value again because of comic book movies that created new interest.
Believe it or not I see the steroid era guys going up in value again because of nostalgia.
Look at Pokemon it was dead 10 years ago,and now it`s the hottest thing going.
So yeah start loading up on those Mark McGuire and Barry Bonds Jr cards now.

McGwire rookies in "9" and "10" have gone up substantially in the last year+. He was probably the most iconic player in the mid-90's through 2000 most fans had ever seen. I was one of the fans who came early in '99 to watch him take batting practice in old Tiger Stadium--he hit 4 over the left field roof, including one in left center, and those that came in the upper deck in left where we were sitting still had the force of cannon shots behind them! Other players hitting balls into the same area had theirs landing with a gentle "thunk" in comparison.

I think that the fact that his performance was enhanced with "artificial additives" matter little to younger fans of that time, who are now in their 30's. After all, that's a genie that MLB will never ever get entirely back into its bottle. Some star in Boston is having his career year at age 40? Really? I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night! The number of other players who have ever done that is precisely "zero."

All the best,

Larry