ULTRA-RARE 1990's Celtics basketball card inserts including Precious Metal Gem cards have been discovered and proudly purchased by Just Collect. For the first time ever, these scarce, highly-sought-after cards are being shown to the public after being amassed by a long-time Boston Celtics fan and collector from New Zealand. In total, 32 cards are fresh-to-the hobby!
Raw, ungraded PMG's? Wait - what?
While at the most recent Philly Show where we set up to buy and sell collections, a gentleman from New Zealand stopped by our booth. Noticing we were buying collections, he asked if Just Collect was interested in purchasing his collection of 1990's Celtics basketball cards. The moment we saw the cards, our jaws dropped.
In the 1990's, pulling certain insert cards out of a pack were a collector's dream. Modern products, it seems, are packed with nothing but inserts. Every other card in new basketball sets are often an insert, parallel, or a one-of-one. Not in the 1990's. Not when Michael Jordan was winning championships with the Bulls, Kobe was getting ready to take over the league, and Reggie Miller didn't miss from three. In the 1990's, inserts you're about to see were impossible to find! Put yourself in our shoes at the Just Collect booth at the Philly Show when these Celtics cards touched our display cases:
Fleer Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems x5Precious Metal Gems came into our world in 1997-98. Cards from this set is wildly popular with collectors for three reasons: scarcity, numbering, and condition.
Scarcity:
Each card is serial-numbered to only 100 copies ever produced. Each pack of 1997-98 Metal Universe basketball cards were originally sold for $2.49 cents. The odds of pulling a single Precious Metal Gem card from a pack is 1 in every 17,500 packs!
A little math tells us you could spend $43,575 dollars in 1997, equivalent to about $86,515 today just to pull ONE of the PMG cards!
Numbering:
RED cards are numbered 11-100. GREEN cards are even more scarce and are numbered 1-10. As the GREEN PMG's are impossible to ever find, RED PMG cards are what collectors seek.
Condition:
Take a look at the RED PMG cards in our photos below. In the second photo, two red cards jump off the screen - center - top. With an entire, all-red background made of a foil-like coating, each card is tough to find in pristine condition even when pulled straight from a pack.
In total, there are FIVE PMG cards!
Just saying the initials P - M - G will attract collectors from around the world.
1998 Skybox Premium Star Rubies Ninety Fine x 2
The first two cards you're looking at in the second photo are the 1998 Skybox Ninety Fine Star Rubies. Skybox Rubies are even more rare than PMG's coming out of packs numbered to only 50 copies per card!
Starting to notice a pattern among the players for each card? Ron Mercer an Antoine Walker on the PMG's and on the Rubies. Both players in their Boston Celtics uniforms. The collector from New Zealand collected only Celtics players of these high-end inserts.
Now imagine how difficult it is to obtain these 32 cards all from a specific team! We know the odds and relative cost to pull just one card and these collection has specific players from a single team. To see all of these cards together is like putting the Mona Lisa next to Starry Night.
1998-99 Fleer Brilliants 24-Karat Gold x 3
The cards just get more rare by the minute! How could Fleer out-do PMG cards? Turning gems into gold. These 24-Karat gold cards are numbered to only 24! Photo three below has each of the 24KT gold cards top right.
1999-2000 E-X Credentials Now & Future
Several E-X Credential cards are in the collection. A box of E-X basketball had 24 packs and just 3 cards per pack. When the cards were produced, just 60 Now and 60 Future cards were printed, each numbered. Several cards from both groups are here. We love the acetate look of these cards!
Other similar, rare cards from the late 1990's were in the collection and all, unbelievably, in front of our eyes. These cards take us back to when wax packs were taken out in favor of foil wrappers, Celebrity Death Match was on MTV, Seinfeld was ending, and we weren't ashamed of turning the radio up when Puff Daddy came on. While we can't say a few of those things comfortably now...we still love these cards.
Photos of the rare inserts:
Do you have any similar cards from this collection that you'd like to sell? We are buying! Click here for more info:
The gentleman from New Zealand traveled internationally for business. Along the way, he collected rare cards from 1990's insert sets of Boston Celtics players such as Antoine Walker, Paul Piece, Chauncy Billups, Ron Mercer, and more names that you watched suit up against the likes of Michael Jordan. Thinking it was time to part with his collection, the gentleman wanted to get his cards graded at the Philly Show. However, he was apprehensive given the conditioning of these rare cards.
When the box of 32 cards unfolded in our presence, we assured the collector he came to the right booth! While we are the biggest buyers of vintage cards in the Country, we do buy rare and select modern cards, too. We purchased a huge collection of Aaron Judge rookie cards including one-of-one cards, autographs, and multiple rookie cards that you can see here. Knowing we always offer a
Rare cards of this nature called for a rare deal! Rather than purchasing the cards outright, we came to an agreement with a cash offer and Just Collect will have each card graded, sold, and split the profits! A true win-win.
This isn't the first time rare items have been brought to the Just Collect booth at a show! We brokered a deal for a 1935 Goudey UNCUT sheet with BABE RUTH! You can see the story and video here.
When you choose to sell your cards to Just Collect, we pay you how you want to be paid - be it cash, check, or wire transfer. If you can't make it to a show, you're always invited to bring your collection to our store in New Jersey. We also travel for large collections like we did for this vintage basketball collection with rookie cards of Jordan, Bill Russell, George Mikan, and more!
We will be back at the Philly show this weekend to reveal these freshly graded cards and would love for everyone to see them! For all show info, click HERE. If you want to see a preview of these graded cards and other collections we purchase please follow us on Instagram @Just_Collect
Just Collect is always buying vintage sports and non-sports cards from 1879 to 1979 as well as select modern cards. If you have a collection that you are considering selling, contact us today to discuss or get our industry-leading purchase offer. If you have a collection that you want appraised, please contact us and we would be happy to discuss your collection and help you understand the real cash value of your collection in the current marketplace. Check out the Just Collect Buy List.
We always offer a FREE APPRAISAL for your collection here at the Just Collect site. Just click here:
We offer may ways to evaluate your cards other than or using our website, too.
If you can make the trip here like the son from my hometown did for this collection- we can make a deal at the office. We once met a father-son duo that drove eight hours from Virginia to meet us to sell a Michael Jordan rookie card stored in Tupperware since 1986 - great read here.
We keep a LIST of card shows we'll be attending. Come stop by the Just Collect table and chat.
If you have a valuable collection and want us to come to you, we'll hop on the next plane out.
If you're near New York City and would like to meet in a public place, our owner, Leighton, would be happy to meet you; read all the information here.
If you choose to mail your cards for an appraisal, we will evaluate your cards for FREE still. If you choose not to sell the cards, we'll ship them back shipping fees paid by us! We can offer our FedEx account with 2-day shipping, fully insured, all covered by us. Simply contact the office to set up this option.
We've run into a wide range of people and collections over the last 25 years. Although Just Collect is known for buying vintage sports cards and especially vintage baseball cards, we are also extremely interested in buying non-sports cards, too!
Every collection and every collector is different and we treat EVERY collection with the respect and attention that we show for our own collections. We understand that many have put their heart and souls into building their collections. So when you're ready to sell, we understand the feelings that you're going through and will work with you to help you reach a decision that is a WIN/WIN, because if you're not happy, we're not happy.
Whether you have vintage cards or modern wax you want to sell, you can reach out to us any time!