Lost and forgotten PC mailday.....

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Long story short, the better half is on a mad spring cleaning mission. Thankfully it turned up some PC cards in some boxes under a desk which I hadn't seen in a loooong, looong time (most of these would have been bought just before or in the early days of COVID - remember that?). There'll be more long lost maildays to come, but this one features the all time assists and steals leader, Mr John Stockton.

Plenty of lower tier stuff you'll probably have no interest in seeing, but also turned up a few pearls. Due to the number of cards there'll be multiple posts, if you just want to see the better stuff feel free to skip to the end. Without further ado let's dive right in.

Can;t get much more of a humble start than this....

1990-91 Fleer - there's actually two variatiosn of this based on whether there's a an extra black horzontal line on the back of the card. This version is just pretty well centred.

1996 Skybox Texaco USA Basketball - some of these corporate promo cards are actually pretty well done. Nice red foil and subtle incorporation of the Texaco star logo on the reverse.

1993-94 NBA Hoops - Supreme Court - One of the mainstays for Hoops in the early and mid 90s were the old Supreme Court cards. Thsi year;s design was probably the nicest of the lot.

1996 Skybox USA Basketball - Quads - I'm a sucker for anything Team USA in the early days (while they were still dominant). Not sure waht to make of these mini quad cards. They actually have perforations so you an tear them into four mini cards.

1992-93 Topps Gold - Hard to believe he played close to tanother ten years after thsi card was made and at that time still had an absolute plethora of 20 assist games. King of kings in that respect. Card represents his career pretty well - golden assist man!

1999-00 Skybox Metal Rivalries - big fan of the metallic finish and I always liked Stevie Franchsie too. No reason to not add it twice - lol

2007-08 Fleer Hot Prospects Stat Tracker - Good (sparing use of gold foil) and the backdrop which records a mind boggling 14.54 APG!

1996-97 Upper Deck UD3 - Acetate, die-cut almost hologram like in parts, really weird card but I kind of like it - nice colour scheme.

1999-00 Topps Chrome NBA All-Stars - Topps Chrome just made excellent cards (back then), what they're doing right now is another story altogether.

1995-96 Topps Finest - ..and even better than Chrome I'd argue was Topps Finest. How cool is this for a mere base card - amaze balls!

...moving on to the next post...

 

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1992-93 NBA Hoops - His Ultimate Game, pretty sure these cards had some insane pack odds, it;s just that there were a heck of a lot of cards made back then!

1998-99 Skybox E-X Century - unfortuantely this former beauty has 'yellowed'. I feel like there needs to be an industry term for this phenomenon akin to 'hulking'. The 'smoker's touch'?

2019-20 Panini NBA Hoops Premium Stock Disco Prizm - Quite a few parallels of this but a nice looking 'shiny' card nevetheless for those who like a bit of 'bling'.

2017-18 Panini Prizm - Fundamentals Hyper Prizm - Ditto - as above!

1999-00 Topps Chrome All-Etch - How to desribe this card? Very........'orangey'!

2000-01 Topps Hidden Gems - I don't know what they did to the finish of these cards but they just pop like no other!

1998-99 Topps Emissaries - Nice 'golden fade' on the background which workd well with the chosen font. Just a nice looking card.

2014-15 SPx 1996 Design Inserts - Not the most innovative job here - at least give us a decent background image in the hologram (it's the SP-x logo repeated) - apologies for the bad image quality.

2000-01 Topps Stars Progression - Nice concept and nice sheen to finish off the look. As much as I like Jamal Crawford's game - I kind of wish they went with someone a little more 'point guardy' for this particular card. jason Kidd would have been ideal imo.

...and onto the next batch....

 

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1998-99 Topps East/West - even the non-refractor versions are quite nice and shiny. Really love the cards that use the full card front and back.

1998-99 Topps Finest Mystery Finest - another back to back card with a couple of the best defensive PGs in the game.

1998-99 Flair Showcase Row 3 - Probably one of the nicest product releases of all time. Can;t get enough Flair Showcase in your life!

1997-98 Flair Showcase Row 3 - Just as nice if not nicer - hard to decide.... I know, I know, have to get some Legacy action going on...

1995-96 Topps Spark Plugs - Love the look of these old school cards - just chuck an old NGK on there with soem spark and you have yoruself a card! Pretty well centred copy and in decent nick (or it was in decent nick). Possible set chase contender because I have the Jordan already!

1999-00 Topps Gold Label Class 1 - One set I;ve never really understood that well. 3 differenet classes from memory as well as the rarer black and gold varieties. I just assume it's a bit like Select - except with much more pronounced differences in rarity.

1999-00 SPx Prolifics - these cards are SICK! Hard to capture the finish in pictures. Reminds me of the star rubies but at a fraction of the price.

1996 Fleer USA Basketball - will finish off this section with another couple of Team USA cards. The good old fashioned lenticular....

1995 Pro Magnets USA Basketball - Not a card at all but a magnet. Nice gold foil, facs signature and surprisingly more difficult to track down than you'd expect.

and now finally on to the good stuff!

 

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1995-96 Fleer Metal Slick Silver - Accidentally bought this four times over. I actually have another couple waiting overseas - lol Hidden pakages will do that to you though! But at least I can do the quad slick silver finish...

If Panini or Fantics doesn't give me a call after this ingenious design I don't know what to else to say.... S-S-S-S-Super S-S-S-S-Stockton!

2018-19 Panini Crown Royale - Jerseys - Yes, a jersey card from panini that is actually GAME WORN! ..and surprisngly not serial numbered.

1988-89 Fleer - Rookie Card (RC) - Not the best version I have as the centering is off, but the corners are sharp. I wish I bought a gazillion of these when they wer edirt cheap!

2019-20 Panini Prizm Fast Break Auto - for auto cards I tend to think the blinginess detracts from the autograph itself, and John Stockton has a decent looking auto.

2012-13 Donruss Elite All time Greats Auto #/49 - simpler desgin and a much nicer finish imo. On card this would have been sensational!

2020-21 Panini Spectra Illustrious Legends Auto #/35 - still blingy for an auto but at least the colours give it some real pop. Auto placement is a bit questionable.

2016-17 Totally Certified Basketball Representatives Auto #/25 - the lowest numbered of this lot - but hands down the laziest design of all.

...and finally 2019-20 Panini Mosaic basketball Auto PSA9 - another blingy one but not a bad looking card at all.

That's all for now - thansk for stopping by and having a looka dn a read. Comments and likes much appreciated.

 

[Dodgydave]

Great to see some Stockton love, especially the '90s goodness.

Interesting the Slick Silvers don't look too yellowed. I can't for the life of me get one of them that is not yellow.

What were they thinking adding Crawford to Magic and Stockton. Cards like that drive me nuts. (Even the Francis/Stockton one does and I own a copy of it!).

 

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Great to see some Stockton love, especially the '90s goodness.

Interesting the Slick Silvers don't look too yellowed. I can't for the life of me get one of them that is not yellow.

What were they thinking adding Crawford to Magic and Stockton. Cards like that drive me nuts. (Even the Francis/Stockton one does and I own a copy of it!).

Firstly, cheers for looking through all of that!

Ironically it;s soem of the smaller cards that spark most interest and conversation.

The Slick Silvers are all quite in good nick, the card backs give them away - most are bright white and one is what I would call Marlboro Yellow. I tend to base my acquisitions on the card backs - and price of course.

Stockton and Payton I can understand. Magic and Stockton obviously. even Stevie Franchise isn't too bad, although a completely different type of player altogether. Jamal Crawford is real doozy though -a combo guard known for his handles and instant contributions off the bench. Might as well have put Rafer ALston on the card (no disrespect) just completely different ball players....

 

[taffster74]

Topps gold label.... Topps, attempted to do a flair showcase, but they over did it with 1999-00. You had three classes with each having a base, a black label and a red label. And of course, there were the obligatory printing plates. 2000-01, they toned it down to just 3 classes, premium and printing plates.

 

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Topps gold label.... Topps, attempted to do a flair showcase, but they over did it with 1999-00. You had three classes with each having a base, a black label and a red label. And of course, there were the obligatory printing plates. 2000-01, they toned it down to just 3 classes, premium and printing plates.

Ahh thanks taffster - that makes perfect sense. Showcase just did it a lot better... Those red labels are notoriously hard to track down though.

 

[GarnettFan4Life]

When you start off with long loong time I was expecting like 2006 finds - just before covid ??? that's not a looooong time ago lol

anyway!
- really like the Hidden Gems too - condition sensitive it seems - 1:11 retail packs and 1:3 jumbo - not overly rare but they look great
- with you on the Flair cards - quality look and feel to them.
- never seen the Pro Magnets USA before - makes sense though around the 96 era going to the Atlanta Olympics.
- surprised to see so much Stockton - not complaining though - for an all time great passer he seems to be overlooked plenty!

 

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When you start off with long loong time I was expecting like 2006 finds - just before covid ??? that's not a looooong time ago lol

anyway!
- really like the Hidden Gems too - condition sensitive it seems - 1:11 retail packs and 1:3 jumbo - not overly rare but they look great
- with you on the Flair cards - quality look and feel to them.
- never seen the Pro Magnets USA before - makes sense though around the 96 era going to the Atlanta Olympics.
- surprised to see so much Stockton - not complaining though - for an all time great passer he seems to be overlooked plenty!

Pre Covid is at least five years ago mate! That's a fair chunk of lifetime for anybody! I probably shoudl have ripped out some 48 Bowmans instead to keep people guessing...

As for Stockton, my brother and I grew up in a basketball era where the Bulls were all-conquering and all-popular, so naturally we gravitated away from the hype. I still remember my little bro first commenting on Stockton, "Why is that little white guy on the court?" lol In a world full of Hardaways, Marburys, Stevie Franchise and Glove types he just stood out among the rest in a 'how the heck can he hang with these guys?' sort of way.... More power to him! ...and not only all-time assist leader, all time steals leader too, don;t sleep on those all defensive capablities, and it wasnlt becaus eof his lateral quickness either. Tenacity!

Hmm, jumbo hidden gems. I'm all for oversized cards - so will definitely have to try to track some of those down.

Pro magnets I always liked the concept of just sticking them on the fridge with soem sort of practical application, until it dawned on me, who the heck wants to stick a compelte set on their fridge featuring the likes of Stanley Roberts and Doug Edwards? At leas tthe Olympics versions was a smaller set and full of big names - looked pretty good too.

 

[GarnettFan4Life]

Pre Covid is at least five years ago mate! That's a fair chunk of lifetime for anybody! I probably shoudl have ripped out some 48 Bowmans instead to keep people guessing...

As for Stockton, my brother and I grew up in a basketball era where the Bulls were all-conquering and all-popular, so naturally we gravitated away from the hype. I still remember my little bro first commenting on Stockton, "Why is that little white guy on the court?" lol In a world full of Hardaways, Marburys, Stevie Franchise and Glove types he just stood out among the rest in a 'how the heck can he hang with these guys?' sort of way.... More power to him! ...and not only all-time assist leader, all time steals leader too, don;t sleep on those all defensive capablities, and it wasnlt becaus eof his lateral quickness either. Tenacity!

Hmm, jumbo hidden gems. I'm all for oversized cards - so will definitely have to try to track some of those down.

Pro magnets I always liked the concept of just sticking them on the fridge with soem sort of practical application, until it dawned on me, who the heck wants to stick a compelte set on their fridge featuring the likes of Stanley Roberts and Doug Edwards? At leas tthe Olympics versions was a smaller set and full of big names - looked pretty good too.

1:3 hit odds in Jumbo packs, not a jumbo card to be clear

 

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1:3 hit odds in Jumbo packs, not a jumbo card to be clear

Thought those were pretty good odds for a boxtopper....

You have to use the latest lingo though - retail mega blaster hanger value pack - you had me confused there for a second with that complicated old school terminology!