Where to start when a complete NEWBIE?!?!

[KnightsTragic]

Hey Guys and Girls,

Have been loving reading a whole bunch of threads and looking at all the amazing cards out there.

Looking to get my hands on either some cool cards via single purchase and buying boxes.

I do love opening packs / boxes - I have to admit that.

Really into the mid-90’s players.

But I’m looking for autographs and / or memorabilia cards of the following:

1. Michael Jordan
2. Scottie Pippen
3. Shaq
4. Latrell Sprewell
5. Reggie Miller
6. Penny Hardaway
7. Shawn Kemp
8. Dikembe Mutumbo
9. Karl Malone
10. Patrick Ewing
11. Tim Duncan
12. David Robinson
13. Dominique Wilkins
14. Hakeem Olajuwon
15. Larry Johnson
16. Alonzo Mourning
17. Jamal Mashburn
18. Chris Webber

I know - the usual suspects there - but let’s face it - was an awesome era.

As I understand it I could buy old boxes with less special inserts or new boxes that have throwbacks.

But I’m doing my head in trying to find which of the 300 types out there would be my best chance.

I fully understand it’s a gamble on boxes - but just looking for any tips as to which ones I might focus on - as I’m struggling to get my head around the current variants available.

Any help much appreciated.

Cheers all.

 

[TAB1980]

Gee i hope you have a deep wallet for a Jordan auto!

 

[MattWasGF4L]

Big topic for me as you know and looking at my recent posts!

This could be really detailed ;

What's important to you? Is it the photography/image on the card which brings back memories for you?

Is it an autograph - on card signifying the player has held it to sign vs a sticker auto - trivial but it matters to some people

If the player has had multiple teams is there a particular team that you remember them by? Rookie card?

Do you want to pull the specific card you desire out of a pack ? - this could be particularly expensive chase

Do you value game used memorabilia? Do you trust the guarantee on the card back by the company? Look into this - we asked Panini to specific game dated memorabila cards when they first got the NBA licence - I believe there may be a couple of cards out there that fill this category - finals game used patches, career games etc - but the VAST majority is unspecified, vague or, most recently - lamentably unassociated with a game or even PLAYER!!! nuts!

Can you get all your player wants in Panini releases or does it have to be prior to that era or a combination of both and does that matter to you?

99% chance you won't be able to get all that you want in Australia OR it will be cheaper to get most from overseas - hence you will need to sort out a middle man source - send everything to store for a bit while you gather it then ship back - this will save mucho dollario ! A lot of people here use ShipMyCards - check out the thread for that. Posting back individual boxes and cards from China and USA will add thousands of dollars and incalculable time and stress accounting for each to show up in the mail

Any other points anyone has found along the way feel free to add below!

 

[KnightsTragic]

Gee i hope you have a deep wallet for a Jordan auto!

Ummmmm - good point - perhaps I should remove him from my list

 

[KnightsTragic]

Big topic for me as you know and looking at my recent posts!

This could be really detailed ;

What's important to you? Is it the photography/image on the card which brings back memories for you?

Is it an autograph - on card signifying the player has held it to sign vs a sticker auto - trivial but it matters to some people

If the player has had multiple teams is there a particular team that you remember them by? Rookie card?

Do you want to pull the specific card you desire out of a pack ? - this could be particularly expensive chase

Do you value game used memorabilia? Do you trust the guarantee on the card back by the company? Look into this - we asked Panini to specific game dated memorabila cards when they first got the NBA licence - I believe there may be a couple of cards out there that fill this category - finals game used patches, career games etc - but the VAST majority is unspecified, vague or, most recently - lamentably unassociated with a game or even PLAYER!!! nuts!

Can you get all your player wants in Panini releases or does it have to be prior to that era or a combination of both and does that matter to you?

99% chance you won't be able to get all that you want in Australia OR it will be cheaper to get most from overseas - hence you will need to sort out a middle man source - send everything to store for a bit while you gather it then ship back - this will save mucho dollario ! A lot of people here use ShipMyCards - check out the thread for that. Posting back individual boxes and cards from China and USA will add thousands of dollars and incalculable time and stress accounting for each to show up in the mail

Any other points anyone has found along the way feel free to add below!

Thanks for the detail in the reply. I’ll think carefully on each point. Cheers.

 

[TAB1980]

www.tcdb.com is also your friend

 

[MattWasGF4L]

www.tcdb.com is also your friend

For sure - has some pack odds I found was interesting when looking a few cards up

 

[TAB1980]

Yep. Checklists and in some cases Sell Sheets as well. I used TCDB a lot for my pack project.

 

[TAB1980]

Here are some current pack listings that might be the sort of thing you are interested in that I would say are currently reasonably priced.

 

[KnightsTragic]

Thanks mate - brilliant.

Onto it…

 

[Auscon]

If it's autos or memorabilia cards of those players you're primarily after you'll save yourself a heap of money and time just buying singles, graded or loose.

Can't beat the fun of opening a box though and it's better value than individual packs - you can get mid 90s boxes for not too much that still have lots of fun inserts, but just won't find any autos or memorabilia cards in them and the packs/boxes that contain rare & valuable cards are bloody expensive!

 

[KnightsTragic]

Yeah I think I’ve set myself up for failure a bit.

Definitely love the thrill of opening…but the more I look into it seems as though I’ll need to add another 2 or 3 zeros onto the cost of chasing any on this list within packs or boxes.

Might be time to re-evaluate the plan…