One of the allures of busting packs is the mystery of what you're going to pull from your pack. Well in the 90's, Topps and Pinnacle took it one step further for collectors.
Both companies produced inserts that contained protective coatings which hid the true identities of the player on the card. Topps called them Mystery Finest and Peel & Reveal, and Pinnacle produced an insert set called Double Disguise for their 1996 Pinnacle football product.
And recently, I decided to build the 1996 Pinnacle Double Disguise set. The set contains 20 cards that feature five different players: Brett Favre, Emmitt Smith, Steve Young, Dan Marino, and Kerry Collins. Each card has a player on the front and a player on the back. However, when you pulled one of these inserts from a box (which were pulled at a rate of 1:18 packs in 24 pack boxes), you didn't know who you had, because both sides were covered with a silver covering that hid the identity of your players.
Originally, my goal was to collect all of the Favres in the set. Then I came across I guy selling an 18 card lot on eBay. I ended up winning the auction for $20 ($17.56 + $2.44 shipping). All of them were unpeeled, with the exception of one card... which had been peeled on one of the sides. The silver coverings were a challenge, but I eventually managed to pull all of them off.
After sorting through all of my singles, I discovered I came up two cards short of the set. Here's a look at who I have (Green) and who I still need (Red).
1 E. Smith/E. Smith
2 E. Smith/D. Marino
3 E. Smith/B. Favre
4 E. Smith/S. Young
5 D. Marino/D. Marino
6 D. Marino/E. Smith
7 D. Marino/K. Collins
8 D. Marino/S. Young
9 K. Collins/K. Collins
10 K. Collins/D. Marino
11 K. Collins/B. Favre
12 K. Collins/S. Young
13 B. Favre/B. Favre
14 B. Favre/K. Collins
15 B. Favre/D. Marino
16 B. Favre/E. Smith
17 S. Young/S. Young
18 S. Young/B. Favre
19 S. Young/E. Smith
20 S. Young/K. Collins
As you can see, each player is featured on seven different cards, one of which has a picture of them on both sides. Personally, I wish Pinnacle would have expanded the player checklist and reduced the number of cards produced for each player.
At least they scored a touchdown with their selection of Emmitt, Dan, Brett, and Steve... but the jury is still out with Kerry. Mr. Collins is in the 17th season of his career and is currently with the Indianapolis Colts. He's played on six different teams, has started 180 games, and has thrown for over 40,000 yards. Currently he ranks 10th all-time in career passing yards.
And he happens to be on both of the cards I need to complete my set. If by chance you have these two cards, please let me know if you'd be interested in trading them. If not, I'll probably end up pulling the trigger and buying them off of COMC.
What's your opinion on "gimmick" cards?
Do you have a particular favorite?
Well... you already know I love them. And my favorite is probably the 1997/98 Pinnacle Zenith "Dare to Tear" product, where they inserted standard size cards into a 5 x 7 card. As a collector, you had to decided whether or not you kept the 5 x 7 intact or if you tore it to see what was inside. I loved the concept and if I could find some at a reasonable price, I'd be all over it.
Good night everyone... thank goodness tomorrow is Friday. Sayonara!
3 comments:
I like gimmicks. They bring a bit of fun to otherwise mundane cards. Now, by that I mean fun gimmicks, like the Aurora Cubes, or Pacific's Ornaments, or the cards in cans, metal cards, plastic cards, laser-etched cards, etc. (The Zenith dare to tear cards are okay, too.) Digitally inserted sparkles don't cut it for me. My favorite, as far as the ones I can remember, has to be the busts inserted into an UD set in 2003. I'd love to have a set of them.
ryan - pacific had some of the coolest ideas ever... loved the cubes, ornaments, card-supials, and silks of the late 90's.
and you're right... those busts are sweet. that was a cool era, with busts and bobble heads. damn... gimmicks are fun.
Collectors Choice had crash the game cards in 1994 football, I think. I can't remember exactly how it worked (It was like a fantasy football game if your player scored so many points you would win a set of card. I won a silver set but I think the set to get was gold)
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