What YOU Remember?

I remember traveling 3 hours on the train down to Sydney to go to Card Shaq and Kings Comics, this was before a store opened in Newcastle.

Buying packs of 1991 Stadium Club Football, in around 1993, when they were expensive for a pack, hoping to pull a Deion Sanders RC.

Buying at double BV, rookie cards of Ty Detmer and Dan McGuire hoping they were going to be the next big thing in Football.

Pulling a Dallas Cowboys team card, which if they won the superbowl, you could claim some prizes, I ended up trading it away for a couple of Joe Montana inserts and something else, when I found out you couldnt claim the prizes in Australia. Dallas did end up winning the superbowl that year.

Fantastic thread and great responses...

Some quick points of the top of my head:

- going to watch my first NBL game (early 90's) which had Eastside Melbourne Spectres up against ? (can't remember). From then on became a fan of the Spectres, especially of Darren Lucas. Stayed a fan when they merged with South Melbourne to become the South East Melbourne Magic. Stadiums were filled back then.

- being able to buy packs from not only card shops, but from the local Kmart, Target, Granny Mays etc... now buying Boxes is the norm.

- pulling a Chris Webber from Classic Basketball and it was one of 74,500 and on-selling it to a mad Michigan fan at school for $90 (found a pic of the card on the net - see below)



- the thrill of pulling a First Day Issue of Jordan from 1993-1994 TOPPS STADIUM CLUB, one of my first ever MJ pulls!

- not only collecting BBall cards, but also TMNT cards and dare I say it Cabbage Patch Kids cards... hey they did come with a stick of gum (shocking I know)

- going down to Knox City Shopping (here in Melbourne) to check out the latest pulls by the owner and being in owe of any Shaq's and MJ's being on display

- Pulling a 92-93 Fleer Total D Jordan at the Card Shaq under the old Hilton in Pitt Street, selling it the same day to some dude at the Card Shaq in Pitt Street Mall for $50 or 60, using the lot to buy packs and getting nothing significant :/. That Fleer product boomed in prices, like at least 6 months after its release.

- Attending a large card show in either 94 or 95 in a Convention centre under Sydney Tower, buying my ticket from the Card Shaq weeks in advance.

- Sifting through folders at Kings Comics, they had heaps of singles back in the day.

- Growing up on the NSW Central Coast , there was a card store in every suburb.

The good ole days.....

the 90's were a trip card wise for me, i was collecting everything on cards, footy, nba, cricket, baseball, even car & horse racing, also everything non-sport from snow white & barbie to hustler & xxxtreme
the net wasn't much chop back then and I was always starving for card talk & info, I'd get all the magazines like cardinal and the others, not being enough i'd be in card shops most of my spare time, at least 6 a day, sometimes trading from one to another and making cash in between to buy more packs of something, or a few cheap box's for $8 ea just to give me something to bust in the car on the way home, there's been many a time i've almost rammed my car up another just because i was busting packs

promo cards were huge too for a while, i'd go to all the fairs & conventions here in melbourne and interstate, remember ozcon'? promo exclusives were my bread & butter, i'd spend all day in and out of the place picking up stacks of promo's i'd sell for us$20 a pop.

the card fairs were a buzz in the 90's, I did quite a few myself, my last nba card I sold at a fair was a jordan scoring king for $70 after I sold that card
I knew my thing with nba was over, I still remember pulling that card, from 4 packs.

I used to love rocking up to fairs in the mornings, watching the others set up,
the old blokes fiddling about with their cigarette cards that aren't there for the money, they just loved it the assasins, they were the guys with the big ticket items & slick haircuts, you had the steve's, slowly but surely constructing a showcase for all to see, the regulars and the blowin's, like myself, collectors with too many spares
most of the good deals were done before the doors opened, the assasins would be floating around with a handful of sigs looking for fast cash, the dealers searching through the blowin's stuff, buying up anything that was way under priced, for a brief moment it all goes quiet, they open the doors and like sheep, in they came nah, was great times.

Futera is another good memory from the 90's for me, they came out with a lot of good stuff but without afl I guess they couldn't suvive, the nbl series would of been good by now, and they did things like abl and surfing, lots of good quirky things about their cards, like samples for every insert ect.
the cricket cards were way over produced, it really showed when they left.
someone mentioned 'card crazy authentics' that was futera's nz licence holder, when they closed card crazy, all the stock came back to futera, was a massive dump, I actually bought about 2000 packets of shortland st, don't ask

destroy all robots, I remember this set as it came out around '95, what was significant about this set was that it was the first austalian non-sport trading card set (inserts in packs) I was excited! but no one cared
dealers weren't buying anything unless it was already sold at that stage so destroy all robots got lost in it all and within 3 or 4 months, everyone was closing shop, 95/96 was paradise! dump time - big time! boxes going out for a few bucks, cases even for $25, anything marvel $10, think i did 50 boxes of '94 masterpiece, was incredible and definately a buyers market, oh.. I ended up getting the whole batch of robots that was left, turns out it was a very low production and still relatively unknown.

I remember trading card vending machines too, for when you needed a hit waiting for the train

Things I remember..

- In 1994, going to the Royal Melbourne Show, paying entry, going to the card hall to get the card showbag, then leaving the show 20 minutes later.

- In grade 5, my card folder which I had bought to school got stolen. I remember coming home and crying lots! lol

- I knew of Card Heaven in Bourke Street, but when I went there once they were not open yet, so I walked around the mall and found Cards n Stuff.

- Paying $45 for a Robinson RC from Cards n Stuff

- Paying $40 for a Chris Webber Tower of Power

- Getting a Lucky Dip from Cards n Stuff; the prize was a pack of UD SE East. They had no East packs left, so I got a pack of West. I pulled a John Stockton Gold card, and a Latrell Sprewell Diecut in the same pack.

- There was a card shop that opened up in Glenroy called JR Collectables. When they first opened, I was trading them cards which they would trade at Beckett value (they sold at double Beckett), and I was getting packets of cards in return. They soon stopped trading for packets when they realised they weren't getting the best deal.

- I was the reason why the selling of cards got banned at my school!

- Card shops I visited: Card Heaven (2 stores), Cards n Stuff, All Star Cards, Card Shark, Sharpshooters, Card Zone, Card Mania, JR Collectables.

Collecting Operation Desert Storm Cards!

I remember collecting the 90-91 hoops and fleer, and being stoked when i completed the fleer set.

Buying packs from the original heaven at the centrepoint mall in the city, then one of the staff i think it was stu, who nicked off and opened card shark just up the mall.

paying double beckett for everything, due to the difference in the us and aus dollars.

Spent all my pocket money on the early 90's hoops hoping to get the Ewing auto.

Winning a box of 92-93 skybox series 1 on the wheel at card heaven in Hawthorn. Pretty rapt at that one.

Buying pack after packs of 92-93 ud that had been cherry picked by his staff and himself. Only to work out the trick and do the same at K-Mart across the 10 or 20 boxes they had on the shelf so my mates and I could make our money back selling back to the shifty bastards who cherry picked.

Using snap tites for only the best cards.

Watching the ABC coverage of the nba on Friday nights from 1988, and making a decision during the first match i ever saw that who ever won i would follow. The first game was Chicago v New York, great game at the garden with the knicks winning and so began 20 year following of the great team, and slowly learning along the way about chicago's player named jordan, who ruined the early 90's for me.

Also going to sports bazzar in bourke street to pay $30 in 1992 for a knicks starter cap. $30 back then was a ridiculous price, but we all did it.

One last thing, bleeding that my family couldn't afford to buy me jordan 4's or 5's. Still love those as the best jordans made ever.

I remember:

- Travelling all over Canberra going to shops that sold packs of cards and busting endless amounts of 93/94 UD to try and finish my Jordan's Flight Team set.

- Going to makeshift trade sessions held in Woden Plaza on Saturday mornings.

- Actually having a dedicated trading card store in Farmers Market in the city and just hanging out there all day, eating and chatting about cards and the NBA with the owners and punters who would come in to the store.

- Travelling to Sydney to go to the Card Shaq and marvelling at how awesome that shop was compared to what we had available in Canberra.

- Actually reading the stats and info on the back of cards. Dont know why I dont really do this anymore. Guess im just sick of reading "Congratulations.... blah blah blah".

- Selling my Super Nintendo and games to aquire a box of Skybox premium and some screwdowns. lol

- Seeing foil on cards for the first time.......... WOWZERS!!!!!!

etc etc

Ry

Lee42 said:

- Early morning train rides to Parramatta to check out the 3 .....yes thats right 3 card stores all within 5 minutes of each other.

Oh the memories.....

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Used to do that also, all so close to the station aswell.

Used to love going to the card shows at the town hall also in Parra, my dad used to go with me to get the old 10-15 min cinema serials on tape (Radar Men from the Moon was his fave :lol)

I remember buying this (minus the PSA casing) and thinking it was a sure thing to be the next great card....

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i remember the stadium shillouette and who remembers the cardinal magazine and price guide i remember thinking 93 94 hoops scoops were a hard to find insert haha and a card shop on every corner at every but on the subject of old times i remember that 20 bucks back then was a lot of money haha and when the craze was over i bought hundreds of snap tites for 5 cents each at the local supermarket
good times

in year 3 buying select foot stickers. and as a youngster going to my grandparents to recieve weetbix cards!!

I also remember

- Getting an Alonzo Morning TSC common card, looking it up in Beckett, and thinking it was a First Day Issue, I put it in a screw down

- Getting an Eric Montross Collectors Choice Gold Signature..then starting to collect him (as I had the mindset that if I had this one 'rare' card, I could get every other single card of him). The collection didn't last long, fortunately.

ljandkg said:

My greatest 90's pull was a 94-95 Shawn Kemp 1st day issue - the stamps were total crap but it was a sick card!
My best deal was picking up the very same KG finest rc I have today for $24 NZ back when the book value (and it mattered then!!) was about $40US.

We had a mag here in NZ called 'card crazy' and I even had 2 card stores in Dunedin for a while - not a sausage now!!!

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i remember those shops.there was one on princess st and card crazy was on george st.

i remember the shop on princess st had a jordan jumbo 94 collectors choice card with the auto....i think it was one of jordans first signatures.

remember buying the 94 stadium club rising stars and team of the future sets for $25 each

also buying a box of fleer 90 for $60 and pulling the jordan all star.

i also remember some guys who worked at the princess st store getting the boxes of upper deck 93 se and finding the die cuts by feeling the packs.

Well I remember having a basketball folder of all different cards, michael jordans, shaun kemps, penny hardaways etc.. and then mum threw them out. Shattered...

I remember when $5 was the most you could pay for a single pack.....

dwade2006 said:

Well I remember having a basketball folder of all different cards, michael jordans, shaun kemps, penny hardaways etc.. and then mum threw them out. Shattered...

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lol mum's they're good at throwing stuff away! Mine just through out a bag that she thought was rubbish, but as a matter of fact contained dad's mobile, bluetooth headset, $50,000 worth of keys to a university (actual cost to replace all the locks) and a wallet

Speaking of lost folders, my new neighbours just moved in a found a folder of 90's card left in the roof, mine now

ozballer23 said:

lol mum's they're good at throwing stuff away! Mine just through out a bag that she thought was rubbish, but as a matter of fact contained dad's mobile, bluetooth headset, $50,000 worth of keys to a university (actual cost to replace all the locks) and a wallet

Speaking of lost folders, my new neighbours just moved in a found a folder of 90's card left in the roof, mine now

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Owch, the keys would have been the painful bit, still, it brought a grin to my face, everyone's mum's done it.

Any god cards in the mystery folder?

BorderMailSpecial said:

Owch, the keys would have been the painful bit, still, it brought a grin to my face, everyone's mum's done it.

Any god cards in the mystery folder?

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Going over tomorrow to pick it up, won't be getting my hopes up though!

I remember getting into it as a way of bridging the gap with my younger brother of 9 years who was a keen collector in 93/94... so long ago

On our first outing he busted the MJ frequent flyer 1st day issue and after being told what that was worth I had to check it out a little more

Double value and shops always wanting your good cards and offer crap back at 2 for 1 prices in their favour Especially knowing how easily the young collectors got ripped.

The card shows that happened fm time to time alway had heaps of collectors at them, I remember arriving at the old whitehouse in cannington and had loaded up my folder with 93/94 refractors that had just gone through the roof and everybody wanted them

I had guys like, The admiral, Reggie miller, Kemp, Rodman, Van exel and all worth $70+ ea... I practically had money thrown at me that day... I think it was the month that the Borderless refractor set had arrived

I also remember hearing that someone had paid $400 or 600 for the silver MJ that came out of SP that now books for $15

I also had someone break into my place back in the mid 90's and take a heap of my collection... It wasn't hard to find who it was and he was more than willing to compensate me for the hastle.... The funny thing was that he shaved his head totally bald... maybe he thought i would not recognise him... funny stuff at the time

I hardly ever bought packs back in the day and basically built my collection by picking up players on the rise and moving on and collecting another guy on the way up
My best was picking up 93/94 refractors and Rodman cards the week he was traded to the bulls what a move that was
I was picking up first day issues for $5/10 and reached as much as $75/100 , His RC for $10/12 and hitting $60 and all within about 6 months too

Boxes and packs are so much better these days and if i was to choose which era i would prefer i would find it hard to choose

I Remember the Wildcats winning their first championship after beating the bullets led by rucker... But Ricky Graces wildcats were too good.
Also waiting at the perth airport at 1 am with my DAD (what a legend) so we could cheer them on when they got home... They looked pretty drunk too after celebrating on the flight home i guess

I could go on with the memories and it was all great fun

Merry christmas all