Still Finding Gems in a Junk Wax Era

For those of us who collected cards in the 80s we're all very aware of the fact that those cards hold no monetary value whatsoever. That's fine by me considering the fact that I didn't purchase these cards to make a dime off of them. Rather, I enjoyed ripping a pack of cards to see what players I got and who I still needed to complete the set I was slowly building. When Upper Deck came on the scene in 1989 I didn't have the funds to purchase a pack for a dollar a piece. I decided to chase Topps for half the price and since I had been opening Topps packs since 1986 it was a no-brainer decision. Years later, after I returned to the hobby, I was able to add the 1989 Upper Deck set to my collection at an affordable price since that set too was overproduced as well. Recently, while browsing Trading Card Database, I stumbled upon the fact that Upper Deck had released promotion cards in 1989 that they sent to dealers giving them a preview of their upcoming product. There were only two subjects for these promo cards (Wally Joyner and DeWayne Buice) but three different back hologram variations for each (a top hologram, a bottom small hologram, and a bottom large hologram). I'm not sure if I'll chase all three variations, but I have been able to acquire the bottom small hologram promo cards. 

I think they complement my 1989 Upper Deck set nicely.

Reversing Course

I've had a complete set of 1989 Upper Deck in my possession for longer than I can remember, but it's always seemed incomplete. The reason...I've always wanted the reverse negative Dale Murphy card that was immensely popular when the cards first hit the streets in 1989. I'm not a Dale Murphy collector, nor am I a Braves collector, but I always thought that the reverse negative of card number 357 was cool. Not bad ass cool as the 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken (which I also hope to add to my collection someday), but cool as in Superman-Bizarro cool. This past week I finally pulled the trigger for this card and I was happy I could grab it for the price of a blaster on eBay since people were asking $40 on comc and it was nowhere to be found on sportlots. $40 is waaaaaaay too rich for my blood, but to grab it for half of that is a bargain to me. So now, I no longer have the feeling that my 1989 Upper Deck set is incomplete and I can sleep much better at night.