Confusing 1995-96 Collector’s Choice

[GarnettFan4Life]

 

[GarnettFan4Life]

Tcdb lists these above 11 - if I add the unredeemed version of the Draft Exch I’d say I need 12


I have 10 - need the Spanish and Japanese.


The confusing part is the labels by PSA

Some are 1995 and some are 1996

Some are labelled as Portuguese and some are just international II

Bizarre

 

[GarnettFan4Life]

this throws off the pop report accuracy and also has bloody wasted the last 3 hours of my time trying to figure this out

 

[GarnettFan4Life]

Here’s closeups of 2

 

[Dodgydave]

You no doubt know my opinion by now - trust very little PSA (or to be fair, any grading company) puts on their labels.

I don't mean that in an overly harsh way, just they have hundreds of employees so what are the chances the one who looks at your card has any significant knowledge about the multitude of mid-90s international Collector's Choice releases?

They can be pretty confusing!

Consider, the person probably has to grade a certain number of cards per day/hour especially if they are what PSA would consider low end/value. They don't have the time, or likely the interest or motivation, to do a deep dive into every international release, come up with some grade, produce a likely label and move on.

I could of course be 100% wrong and there is a set refered to as "International II". If that is the case I apologise.

Out of curiosity, you seem to be doing well picking these up. I still need quite a few Olajuwon for my PC. Any hints on best places to look to find any and all '90s international UD and CC at reasonable prices?

(Heck, what do you even consider a reasonable price?!)

 

[GarnettFan4Life]

You no doubt know my opinion by now - trust very little PSA (or to be fair, any grading company) puts on their labels.

I don't mean that in an overly harsh way, just they have hundreds of employees so what are the chances the one who looks at your card has any significant knowledge about the multitude of mid-90s international Collector's Choice releases?

They can be pretty confusing!

Consider, the person probably has to grade a certain number of cards per day/hour especially if they are what PSA would consider low end/value. They don't have the time, or likely the interest or motivation, to do a deep dive into every international release, come up with some grade, produce a likely label and move on.

I could of course be 100% wrong and there is a set refered to as "International II". If that is the case I apologise.

Out of curiosity, you seem to be doing well picking these up. I still need quite a few Olajuwon for my PC. Any hints on best places to look to find any and all '90s international UD and CC at reasonable prices?

(Heck, what do you even consider a reasonable price?!)

Fair points on the staffing issue - to their plus, you can send back for a correction at no charge BUT it shouldn't need to be done in this case as I would think there is a database to look up for comparisons AND the fact there is clearly another language on the card back. Then they should as a supervisor for advice if still confused. Didn't happen I guess.

I have picked these up purely through searching COMC and ebay. Through all variations of search terms. I've missed one because it wasn't titled correctly so sometimes I just start with the main term Collector's Choice #275 only and then sift through the results for a while and check the backs if pictured.

There's also a Kevin Garnett facebook group so see if there's a good Hakeem one. I missed a Spanish version on this page but at least I know they're around sometimes.

As to reasonable price - I try to look at past sales - sometimes happy to pay above comps if the card looks like it will grade high - COMC is good in this way as some people pay the Premium scan ($2 i think) which is way higher res to inspect corners better etc. The reason I haven't go the Japanese yet is because I didn't think it was reasonable at $100-200 compared to raw Portugese or French which were in the $5-10 range. In the end I might have to bite the bullet and pay a fairly high amount simply because it's so rare. Will see!

 

[taffster74]

Yeah, the English II is also referred to as Northern European just to confuse things even more.

 

[GarnettFan4Life]

Yeah, the English II is also referred to as Northern European just to confuse things even more.

How hard is it for PSA to have an IF, THEN guideline

IF #59 THEN labelled as International II

IF #59 and Portugese translation below THEN label as International Portugese II

A bit shoddy getting different titles on the same card imo

 

[taffster74]

True. But the numbering for international was horrendous that year. Other than Japanese, it was all numbered as two totally different sets. So international I was French, German, Italian and Spanish. International II was English /Northern European, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish. I think because of the major fuck up with the numbering they saw it as a reason for an extra two editions.

 

[GarnettFan4Life]

True. But the numbering for international was horrendous that year. Other than Japanese, it was all numbered as two totally different sets. So international I was French, German, Italian and Spanish. International II was English /Northern European, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish. I think because of the major fuck up with the numbering they saw it as a reason for an extra two editions.

Not only all that - then they get the year labelled as different too! This is madness!!! haha

 

[taffster74]

The year thing... That's been a constant with every year of collector's choice international. It's the same with signature rookies premier - some list it as 1995, some as 1996. Where does it sit?

 

[Dodgydave]

I have picked these up purely through searching COMC and ebay. Through all variations of search terms. I've missed one because it wasn't titled correctly so sometimes I just start with the main term Collector's Choice #275 only and then sift through the results for a while and check the backs if pictured.

There's also a Kevin Garnett facebook group so see if there's a good Hakeem one. I missed a Spanish version on this page but at least I know they're around sometimes.

As to reasonable price - I try to look at past sales - sometimes happy to pay above comps if the card looks like it will grade high - COMC is good in this way as some people pay the Premium scan ($2 i think) which is way higher res to inspect corners better etc. The reason I haven't go the Japanese yet is because I didn't think it was reasonable at $100-200 compared to raw Portugese or French which were in the $5-10 range. In the end I might have to bite the bullet and pay a fairly high amount simply because it's so rare. Will see!

Thanks for the info.

Other than Facebook, which I don't use, they are the usual places I intermittently check.

I think I am spoiled as I started picking up a lot off Sportlots for .18c. Now I have the mindset I don't want to pay more than $1 for anything unless it is Japanese, which I admit I don't have a good handle on pricing for. Being rookie year the Garnett's will obviously be pricier and I guess if you are trying to get high grades that also affects things.

 

[graham]

PSA used to be terrible for getting labels wrong. Haven't used them recently so can't say if they are any better.