30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Love That 90's Shine!

Like a treasure from a sunken pirate wreck and it sparkles like a wealthy woman's neck...

1992 Donruss Elite #NNO

I'm not an undercover rapper.  These lyrics were borrowed and altered to describe the latest addition to my Oakland A's PC.  If you collected back in the early 90's, then I'll go out on a limb and assume you know what this card is.

If not... it's the Rickey Henderson Legends card that were randomly inserted into packs of 1992 Donruss at an estimated rate of 1:55 boxes (according to Baseballcardpedia).

If you compare this card with the eight other cards in the set, you'll notice some key differences.  But from what I can gather, they're technically part of the same set.

Here's a quick look at my Tony Gwynn for comparison:

1992 Donruss Elite #14

In addition to the foil and font colors being obvious differences, you'll notice that Rickey's card has The Legends Series on it, while Tony has The Elite Series written on his card.


Another glaring difference is the numbering.  The Legends were only numbered out of 7,500, while the Elites were numbered out of 10,000.

There are Donruss Elite cards floating all over our hobby spanning nearly three decades.  However the original run ran from 1991 to 1996 and included 72 Elite Series cards, 3 Legends Series cards, and 3 Signature Series cards.

If you're wondering what other cards were part of The Legends Series, the 1991 set recognized Nolan Ryan and the 1993 set honored Robin Yount.

But getting back to the Rickey... back in the day, I wanted this card so bad.  Unfortunately, I was living on the budget of a starving college student and there was no way I'd ever be able to add this card to my collection unless I beat the odds and pulled it myselfSpoiler alert:  that didn't happen.

The good news is these cards have depreciated in value 
over the past twenty-seven years to the point where I'm now able to afford my very own copy.  It set me back $69.95 (free shipping), but eBay was offering 10x eBay Bucks that day, so I'll have an extra $7 to spend in October.

The card goes together nicely with the Gwynn and my other Rickey from the inaugural set:

1991 Donruss Elite #7

I'd love to one day build the 1991 and 1992 sets, but I don't foresee that actually taking place.  Instead, I'll be content with adding the 1991 Donruss Elite Jose Canseco to my Oakland A's PC.  In fact... as soon as I update my most wanted list on the left side of this blog, it'll be replacing the Rickey.



Dang it feels good to cross another card off of the most wanted list.  I believe it's the fourth card in the past two or three months.  My goal is to update it this weekend.


In the meantime... here is today's question of the day:


When you hear the word "shiny", what's the first card, set, or product that comes to mind?


As much as I enjoy these early 90's Elites... "refractors" are the first cards that come to mind when I think of "shiny".  Although the shiniest cards I've ever seen are the Gypsy Queen Glass Works.  If you've never seen them, you can check out a pair of San Francisco Giants over on ARPSmith's blogJust click here.

Well that wraps up another post.  I hope you're all having a shiny, happy week.  Happy Thursday and sayonara!

15 comments:

The Lost Collector said...

I'll take 90s shine over vintage any day.

Obviously Refractors, but I think early Pacific Prism jump out most.

Jon said...

$69.95 doesn't seem like to much of a depreciation, especially considering that there are 7,499 other copies out there. But I know, they're still crazy popular, and still highly sought after. Awesome card though, I wouldn't mind owning a few Elite's at some point.

Zippy Zappy said...

Aesthetic-wise I love atomic refractors, but I'll be the first to admit that all must bow down to the mighty superfractor.

Sean said...

I do remember chasing those back in 1991 and 1992. I never got one, but I do remember a kid who bought a 1991 Donruss pack from our card shop pulled a Matt Williams Elite and thinking that was so amazing, I think it had a Beckett value of $150 or something at the time. Must have depreciated to way less than that if a Rickey Henderson can be obtained for $69.95 these days!

I'm not a shiny card collector myself, but I do have a soft spot in my heart for any shiny cards that came out in the early 90s when I was working in that shop!

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Topps Chrome is the the first set that pops in my mind when I see or hear "shiny". But, the first set I remember collecting and I called it shiny and liked, it was the Topps Finest cards either the 93' or 94'.

SumoMenkoMan said...

It is crazy that they are still that much. Cool card that was one of the first true chase cards. 1 in 55 boxes. Crazy!

Nick said...

It boggles my mind that the Elites fell 1:55 boxes...and yet they're still numbered to 7,500 copies. Speaks to how much product companies were churning out then.

Matt said...

When I think shiny I think Topps Chrome. You have to.

AdamE said...

Shine for me is Pinnacle Trophy Collection (or Masterpiece Collection for the football folks). Every time I make a COMC or Sportlots purchase I always check if I can add some to my order on the cheap.

Collecting Cutch said...

Shine to me is 2013 Prizm Baseball Prizm parallels. They are like Topps Chromw but turned up to 11.

I have a few of those Glassworks box toppers you mentioned. They definitely shine.

Fuji said...

the lost collector - wow... don't come across too many bloggers who value 90's shine over vintage. i tend to lean towards vintage, but i do love me some 90's shine

jon - this card has gone up and down more times than an elevator at the fairmont hotel. there was a time when this card commanded triple digits. that being said... i've also seen it sell for under $35

zippy zappy - i'm still waiting to one day pull a superfractor. but they sure look pretty based on the scans i've seen on blogs

sean - i'm sure matt williams is one of the more affordable cards in the set... but i'd guess it still sells for at least $15 to $25. as for working at card shops in the 90's... those were two of my all-time favorite jobs. shame i couldn't make a living off of it

johnnys trading spot - you collected 1993 finest? you lucky dog. i think my first finest baseball packs were 1995. couldn't afford 1993 or 1994.

sumomenkoman & nick - yeah... 1 in 55 boxes is insane. but when you consider that donruss produced 107,500 elite cards... that translates to almost 6 million wax boxes produced. that's even more insane

sport card collectors - yeah. chrome = shine

adame - love the pinnacle trophy collection parallels. dufex is awesome!

collecting cutch - i guess i'll have to look for some 2013 prizm parallels then :)

The Snorting Bull said...

I could make a long list of the great shiny card sets. Best annual "shiny" set has to be the Topps Chrome refractors, or Finest refractors. A lot of the 1990s Upper Deck sets had great shiny cards though too, especially the stuff in SP and those 1993 Now & Then cards.

Fuji said...

The Snorting Bull - When I think of 90's Topps, I think shiny refractors. 90's Upper Deck? Shiny holograms.

Adam Kaningher said...

1994 Finest, which was also the first truly shiny product to enter my collection.

Fuji said...

adam kaningher - i don't think i ever opened any 94 finest back in the day. i was on a two year break from the hobby and returned in 1995.