1. 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball Hobby Box

As expected, this product is on fire right out of the gates. The race is on for the Crack the Ginter Code. Collectors are also chasing rip cards, cut signatures, and the Lincoln Hair card among other things.

2. 2007/08 Upper Deck The Cup Hockey Hobby Box

Cup Hockey is on fire as well. Collectors are chasing rookie cards from the big three Level 1 Rookie’s #ed to 99 (Carey Price, Johnathan Toews, and Patrick Kane). Also #ed to 99 are Sam Gagner, Nicklas Backstrom, and Jiri Tlusty. With the incredible crop of jersey’s, inserts, and parallels Cup Hockey is truly a strong product. Every box contains (2) Autographed Patch Cards, including (1) Autographed Rookie Patch! With the likes of NHL Legends and Current Stars including Gretzky, Mr. Hockey, Orr, Lemieux, Roy, Crosby, Ovechkin, Toews, Kane, Price, Malkin, we will see some great cards from this product.

3. 2008 Upper Deck SPx Baseball

2008 Upper Deck SPx Baseball is a strong product content wise that has really started to dry up. It is getting harder and harder to find unopened boxes and cases of this product. Each box delivers (4) autographs, (5) memorabilia cards, (1) patch card, and (3) Ken Griffey Jr. American Hero cards.

4. 2007/08 Upper Deck Exquisite Basketball

Exquisite Basketball releases next week and basketball collectors are buzzing. Exquisite contains 1 Autographed Rookie Patch Card, 1 Autographed Patch Card, and 1 Game-Used Memorabilia or Autographed Card per box on average! Each box will also yield 1 Base Set Card, 1-of-1 Plate Card, or Parallel Card! New this year are Exquisite Exclusives - a hand signed box featuring 1 of 13 players containing content exclusively of that player! All autographs are hard-signed and all boxes are hand collated to guarantee premium content in every box.

5. 2008 Topps Triple Threads Baseball

Also releasing next week is Topps Triple Threads Baseball. Rounding out the top 5, Triple Threads contains a low numbered Autographed Triple Relic Card and a low numbered Triple Relic Card.

What products are in your top 5?

(Please note: The Top 5 is purely an opinion of a Dave and Adam’s employee. This is based on sales, feedback from collectors, and market trends.)

Michael Jordan RC

Anyways…lets discuss how you can tell if a 1986/87 Fleer Basketball Wax Box is clean and unsearched. With this being such a rare box with a high dollar value, it is especially important to ensure that the box is untampered with. Below are the steps that our experts follow:

1986/87 Fleer Basketball Box

1. Inspect the overall condition of each pack, ensuring the seals are intact, no presence of suspicious wear on the corners and folds of the wrapper, and confirm the gum slides within the pack and is not stuck to the top card in the pack.

2. Count the number of Jordan stickers on the back of the packs. The sticker card is always back side up at the sealed end of the pack, and can be identified through the translucent wax paper. Look to find three to four Jordan stickers, which is consistent with a clean and unshuffled box. Every wax box has at least three stickers of each player (11 players in all), and a fourth sticker for three of the players.

3. Identify the specific cards on the top of the pack through the translucent wax paper. Possessing the proprietary information regarding the sequencing of cards within a pack/box, verify all the cards that should be present in a box are there. The 1986/87 Fleer basketball set has only 132 cards, so a full box makes three complete sets, with a few cards left over to start a fourth.

We have specialized in 1986/87 Fleer basketball products throughout our company history. Our team of experts has handled tens of thousands of singles, hundreds of sets, dozens of wax boxes, a couple of sealed cases, and even an uncut sheet.

These tips come from our team of experts, and are what we go through to make sure the boxes we inspect receive our stamp of approval.

Anyone out there ever opened any boxes of packs of 86/87 Fleer Basketball?

“Allen & Ginter has featured many of the hobby firsts: The first DNA Relics, the first autograph from an animal the first automobile AUTOgraph (from Big Foot, the monster truck) the first Bruce Lee Relic card and so on,” stated Topps director of product development Clay Luraschi. “It’s these unique aspects that intrigue collectors. The original Allen & Ginter tobacco cards covered many subects and topics…some so obscure that we get a chuckle when we see them. The history of this brand leaves many creative opportunites for the present product.”

And don’t forget about the chance to be featured on your own Allen & Ginter card next year, with the Topps “Crack the Code” contest.

Upper Deck A Piece of History released just two weeks ago and Upper Deck is already sold out. With 1 auto and 3 memorabilia cards per box on average we can see why.

2.) 2008 Upper Deck Heroes Football

Another sold out product from Upper Deck. Rare one-of-one signature cards and autograph parallel cards of top players continue to draw interest from collectors chasing their football heroes!

3.) 2008 Topps Football

Set to release this Friday, the base Topps product comes with one relic or autograph per box in 2008. Collectors are already clamoring to get their hands on their favorite rookie from this year’s class.

4.) 2008 Donruss Classics Football

With a great mix of current stars, former stars, and rookies, Donruss Classics football is an awesome product. It is jam packed and offers good value at a decent price.

5.) Upper Deck Goudey Baseball

This product hasn’t even hit the shelves yet and it is SOLD OUT from Upper Deck. Featuring original Goudey buyback cards and Sport Royalty autograph cards, this product caters to collectors both young and old.

What products are in your top 5?

(Please note: The Top 5 is purely an opinion of a Dave and Adam’s employee. This is based on sales, feedback from collectors, and market trends.)

As far as rookies go, last year’s release was led by a pair of Pittsburgh Penguins - Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal. Also in the mix of top rookie hits were Phil Kessel, Anze Kopitar, and Paul Stastny. Although none of these NHL rookies had a following in the hockey card community as large as that of the 05/06 class, last year’s Cup Hockey was still a very strong product. Besides the rookies, the ability to pull autographs from Crosby, Ovechkin, Gretzky, Orr, and Roy make the Cup an extremely popular product.

With 2007/08 Cup Hockey on the way, it will be interesting to see what value is placed on the top rookies. Players like Carey Price, Johnathan Toews, and Patrick Kane lead the way as the cream of the crop from a rookie card perspective. With a stellar line up of autographs and jersey inserts along with the addition of redemption cards for Uncut sheets, look for this year’s  UD Cup Hockey to be a huge hit in the hockey card world.

Any excitement among the Hockey Card Collectors out there?

Sports Card Manufacturers:

Upper Deck - The Upper Deck Company has been around since 1988. The company produces sports trading cards from all major sports as well as gaming cards including World of Warcraft, Marvel Vs, and Yu-Gi-Oh under Upper Deck Entertainment.

Topps - The Topps Company first began producing baseball cards in 1951. Topps is still a leading company in the baseball card market, as well as football and basketball cards. Topps also produces several collectible card games.

Donruss Playoff - The Donruss Company was founded in 1954. Currently the company is most known for its football card products, as well as baseball draft pick products and entertainment cards.

In the Game - In The Game first entered the hockey card market in the 1998-1999 season and continues to produce various hockey card products.

Press Pass - Press Pass was founded in 1992 and produces Nascar Trading Cards as well as Basketball and Football Cards.

Ace Authentic - Ace entered the trading card market in 2005 and is the only producer of Tennis trading cards.

Looking to get some of your cards graded or for more information on grading companies? Here are some of the top Sports Card Grading Companies:

PSA - Professional Sports Authenticator

P.O. Box 6180
Newport Beach, CA 92658

BGS - Beckett Grading Services

4635 McEwen Road
Dallas, TX 75244-5308

GAI - Global Authentication Inc.

232 Avenida Fabricante. Suite 109 / Box 4
San Clemente, CA 92672

SGC - Sportscard Guaranty Company

P.O. Box 6919
Parsippany, NJ 07054-6919

See something we missed? Please leave a comment and we will check it out.

1.) 2008 Donruss Classics Football

With 3 hits per box and a very collectible 2008 rookie class, Donruss Classics is an instant hit. This product delivers great content.

2.) 2008 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Baseball

SP Cuts continues to be right at the top of everybody’s want list…and how could it not? Year in and year out this is a quality product and a fun break for baseball fans.

3.) 2008 Upper Deck Heroes Football

One of the most cherished inserts of all time makes its brand debut with a splash, offering collectors a chance to obtain the hottest 2008 NFL Rookies, Veterans and Legends. For those who have collected these inserts in past Upper Deck products, ripping through some packs of 2008 Heroes may feel like a blast from the past with a new twist.

4.) 2007/08 Upper Deck BAP Signature Hockey

Be A Player Hockey delivers an autograph per pack and a dual signed card in every box on average. This product delivers some awesome NHL autographs.

5.) 2007/08 Upper Deck Cup Hockey

With just about 2 weeks to go before this product releases, the anticipation for Cup Hockey continues to grow.

What products are in your top 5?

(Please note: The Top 5 is purely an opinion of a Dave and Adam’s employee. This is based on sales, feedback from collectors, and market trends.)

It is certainly pretty cool to see the enjoyment that he has gotten out of collecting, especially the Adrian Peterson Autograph he pulled from Upper Deck Chirography Football.
Speaking of high profile collectors, Dmitri Young’s Baseball Card Collection will be on display at this year’s National Convention.

One of our customers, Darin M. from Missouri just pulled a redemption card for a Triple Auto! Thanks to Darin for sending in the scan.

Bobby Orr/Gordie Howe/Wayne Gretzky Triple Auto #ed 35

• The product has been reconfigured to three packs per box. Collectors can now purchase Sport Kings in individual packs.

• Each pack contains on insert card (either a hard-signed  Autograph Card or a Game-Used Memorabilia Card) and two Base Cards (either a regular sized Base Card or a vintage “mini” sized Base Card).

• Each Game-Used Memorabilia Card Insert set will be limited to a maximum of 30 silver versions and 10 gold versions. Many of the Game-Used Memorabilia Card Insert sets will be even more limited.

• Series B will feature more Autograph Cards than Series A, in fact there will be 1.75 Autograph Cards and 1.25 Game-Used Memorabilia Cards per box.

• Founding Fathers Cut Signatures include some rare cuts you don’t normally see in the hobby.