Big eBay Lots

A few days ago, Fuji asked his readers where they got the bulk of their cards.  For me, it's trading on TCDB and COMC.  I don't get too much from ebay because shipping costs kill me and single cards that I'm after usually come cheaper for me elsewhere.  A little while ago, though--after breaking some early 90s junk wax boxes--I hopped on ebay to find some "you pick" lots to complete my sets.  I came across a seller who had 1992 Fleer and Ultra and 1993 Fleer in one posting, and I had significant needs in all of those sets.

He had a deal for 140 picks for $14.75 shipped, which wasn't too bad.  I asked him if I could do two of those 140 card lots and he came back with a better offer: 500 cards for $35 shipped.  I know of places that I could buy a 500-count box for less than $35, but for 500 cards that I hand-picked for my collection?  I'll do that at seven cents a pop.

My main concern was the commons to fill my set needs, like these 92 and 93 Fleer.  But with 500 picks, I suddenly could branch out a little bit and pick up from other sets he had listed.  Basically, it was a variety of Fleer offerings from 1990-2008.

I'm not completing 1991 Fleer, but I could use some singles from the set.  I waffle back and forth on how I feel about 1991 Fleer football.  It's not the most exciting of designs, but it actually doesn't look too bad.  The single-color gradient background is team color coordinated, which is a plus.  Overall, I don't hate it and I don't love it.

It turns out that the seller was from Green Bay, so he had plenty of Packers to choose from.  Moving on in our tour of Fleer, we've seen 1991-1993, so here is 1994 and 1995, with a few 94 inserts.

 Here is Ultra from 1995, 1997, and 1998.  It's interesting to see the differences in the Gold Medallion parallel.  In 1995, it was in-your-face shiny gold all over the card.  In 1997, you can see from the two Sean Jones cards above, that it was completely different.  The Jones on the left is the base, and the Jones on the right is the Gold Medallion.  The picture is different.  The way to tell the Gold from the Fleer Ultra logo, which is gold foil on the Gold Medallion.  Also, this is my first Desmond Howard as a Packer card.  The Super Bowl MVP finally takes his place in my collection!

Before I move on from the Pack, I wanted to show off the Brett Favre Classic Draft that the seller threw in after asking me if I was a Packers fan.  There aren't too many Favre rookies that I don't have yet, so one that I didn't have was a nice surprise.

In the late 90s, Fleer branched out from their Fleer and Ultra brands.  The top row here is 2002 Box Score.  It definitely screams early 2000s to me, but I like the design with newspaper box scores in the background.  Some of my greatest education came from reading the box scores each day, but I don't know how many kids are doing that anymore.  It makes me kind of sad.

Below is 2006 Fleer.  All of the cards here are All 2000s team players, except for Cris Carter, who held the honor the previous decade.

Finally, this post will come into focus.  Fleer Focus, that is.  These are the Fleer Focuses (Fleer Foci?) from 1999, 2000, and 2002.

This was obviously not nearly the full 500 card pick up on ebay, but I don't think many of you care to see all the common base cards from 1992 Fleer, so I just hit the highlights.  I've said it before, but I really miss Fleer.  They always had some of my favorite designs and put out some great looking cards during their run.  I'm glad to add some that I didn't have before.