Apparently, at least, as we were unwilling or simply unable to absorb the oceans of product on the market even as we continued to slobber over the gorgeous UD offerings in their second year. Ross is the founder of Old Sports Cards and has been collecting sports cards for over 30 years. Contact him at [emailprotected]. On the other hand, Bagwell began his career with the Astros the following season in 1991 by capturing the NL Rookie of the Year Award. Back then, we were always clamoring for limited print runs, premium (white) card stock, and clear photography. That slugging percentage is what actually gives this card much of its value. Most are statistical errors, but some players have the wrong photo or wrong team. One of the most memorable cards in the 91 Topps set, this horizontal stunner shows Clemens posing in front of Fenway Parks famed scoreboard. He also hit a personal best 33 doubles, tied a personal best with 28 home runs, turned in his second-highest batting average (.325), and led the American League in stolen bases (65). Others reported pulling a lone 70s checklist for their opening labor. does adding the contest cards to the collection increase its value? I was 13 when this came out and it was the last year I really went nuts buying cards. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Stay in the know about the latest sports card, hobby news, and promotions from Beckett. As you can imagine, not all of the soldiers were into these cards. . But, Ryan wasn't the only one to dress up so nicely as Dave Stewart put on a tuxedo for his card as well. https://www.cardboardconnection.com/1991-topps-traded-baseball-cards. The cards are exactly the same as the normal Topps cards, except for the presence of a gold foil Desert Shield emblem stamped on card fronts. I have a lot of these football cards late 70s and up baseball basketball Im wondering if the have any value. I got my dads card collection going back to the mid 1940s. The highlights of the checklist are really the rookie card of Jones and the big-name cards of veterans. @Sam You would need to look at the cards to determine that. The price guide can be accessed in the top menu of this page. The 1991 Topps Desert Shield Chipper Jones is the most valuable card in that set and can cost hundreds of dollars in high grade, professionally graded. That would change in 1992 as the company would follow the trend of other modern issues and move to a light-gloss style of card. Im not collecting again till Topps bring back inexpensive cards like they did in the 1980s. And in this guide, we take a look at the 10 most valuable 1991 Topps cards. The most obvious problem is there's no way in hell a Jose Uribe card from any year and in any kind of condition should go for $758,000. That said, prices for graded cards will increase the price in a hurry. I think most were accidental and the result of Topps wanting to get things right as the presses continued.. That may seem like a lot until you consider that collectors arent too likely to submit new cards unless they think theyre in top shape. In practice, you can probably find even PSA gems for less than these prices on eBay or at shows. However, while some of them made their way overseas, there are reports of others remaining here in the states. Topps relied on a sales gimmick, tied to its anniversary, to entice collectors to the old standby, while still dressed in the familiar, old, gray cardboard. And I was incredibly excited when these cards were released because of a special they were offering Because of their 40th anniversary of producing baseball cards, Topps randomly inserted a copy of every card they ever made into packs to help build hype. The 1991 Topps baseball cards issue was a product of its time and of much earlier times. 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth: $4.212 million. One collector was also given a complete run of base sets from each year. In 1990, those numbers fell to .335 and .643, respectively. 1991 Topps Desert Shield Chipper Jones Rarest Rookie Card. This is especially true for its baseball card releases . The base card design is very clean and highlights the stellar photography. And the rarest of them all is the Mark Whiten card where his hand extends over the border of the card. They must have found their way into the hands of collectors quickly because I remember seeing them for sale at shows at the time. Read our methodology . Although it's not one of the card maker's most valuable releases, it's one of their most attractive. #1. Still are. This was a big motivating factor behind starting Junk Wax Gems. 1 (152 . 1991 Topps, still, is the last flagship set from the company to use gray, cardboard stock, a look and feel that has gone the way of paper rituals like penning thank you notes. Is it that small? 1 set on the PSA registry with an amazing 759 of 792 cards graded a PSA 10 sold at auction for over $106,000. Anniversary Sweepstakes. By 1991, Mattingly boosted his slugging percentage to .394 and in the following seasons above .400, although barely. Of those submitted, eleven graded gem mint 10, 797 mint 9, and 1,460 near-mint to mint 8. I found about 100 packs of these 91 Topps 40th anniversary in my dads house after he passed. Click on any card to see more graded card prices, historic prices, and past sales. Thank you for highlighting such a beauty! I have most of them which is crazy I need help getting them graded I actually have the chipper Jones randy Johnson rookie cards an more all great condition. Calling them scarce would a bit much, even if many of the roughly 6,500-7,000 of each player estimated to have been printed were discarded. And since complete sets of the Desert Shield cards were never issued, finding those today is very difficult because they were required to be hand-collated. Incredibly, his play during the first half of the season was far better than the second: As you can see, his production during the second half "tanked" compared to the first half. Topps had also returned to a more reserved design to celebrate its anniversary one year after offering one of its flashiest flagship designs ever, the comic book-themed 1990 set. For young fans of that time, Topps couldnt compare to the vibrant and youthful Upper Deck, Leaf or even Topps brand-new offshoot, Stadium Club. This has to be one of the strangest choices of images for any Barry Bonds card in hobby history. 1991 Chipper Jones Topps Desert Shield RC #333 Buy on eBay Sanders made sure to rework his contract in the offseason to be available for MLB playoff games in the future and the move certainly paid off in a big way for the Braves. Love that Benny Santiago card you guys posted in the checklist page. When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. For 1991, PSA has graded about 16,000 base cards and about a third that number of their Tiffany counterparts. Nothing against the Boston Red Sox, but despite being one of baseball's most storied franchises, they're also known for a couple of bonehead deals. The dominant design element was the player photo, big and clear (for the most part). 1991 Rare Vintage Error Nolan Ryan Donruss "Highlights" He manages a pre-war sports card blog and database at www.prewarcards.com . Don Mattingly was one of the most feared hitters during the 1980s, capable of hitting for both average and power. That led collectors everywhere to "chase the Mick" in hopes of landing one of the most coveted cards of all time: the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle. 2. The guy had just broken out, to say the least, the season before when he appeared in his first All-Star Game while winning his first MVP, Silver Slugger and Gold Glove Awards. Was he originally slated to be the first card in the set but Topps decided to go with Dave Stewart at some point instead? There are clearly two, distinct, packaging types for two different market destinations and with each, specific variations are found. To pay homage to that longevity, they added a 40th Anniversary logo on the cards and that is found in addition to the Desert Shield stamp. 1991 Topps. The key to the brand's success lies in the fact that Bowman and Bowman Chrome rookie cards are typically the most valuable and sought after of all rookie cards. For whatever reason, 1991 Topps Baseball has an abnormal amount of errors. Pretty neat find. I have about 30 box or 1991 tops baseball cards. 2000 Topps Traded Miguel Cabrera 2. 1 set on the PSA registry with an amazing 759 of 792 cards graded a PSA 10 sold at auction for over $106,000, A completely unopened wax box of 36 packs was sold in December 2020 by Heritage for $30,000, Pre-1980 Graded Baseball Cards $10 and Less, Pre-1980 Graded Football Cards $10 and Less, Vintage Graded Basketball Cards $25 and less, Joe Montana Collection Sells for $3.7 Million at Goldin, Hindman Grails and Goats Auction Ending March 24, 2023, Clean Sweep Auctions All Sports Card, Autograph and Memorabilia Auction Ends April 12-13, 2023, David Cycleback's Identification and Authentication Advice, Baseball Card Auctions on eBay Ending Soon, Basketball Card Auctions on eBay Ending Soon, Football Card Auctions on eBay Ending Soon, Vintage Sports Memorabilia on eBay Ending Soon, Top 100 Most Watched Baseball Rookie Cards on eBay, Top 100 Most Watched Basketball Rookie Cards for Sale on eBay, Top 100 Most Watched Hockey Rookie Card Auctions, Top Authenticated Vintage Unopened Sports Card Boxes, Packs on eBay, 100 Most Watched Graded Rookie Cards for Sale on eBay, 100 Most Watched Tom Brady Card Auctions on eBay, 50 Hottest Hobby Boxes at Auction on eBay, 50 Most Watched Golf Trading Cards on eBay, 50 Most Watched Wrestling Trading Cards on eBay, Most Watched Complete Baseball Card Sets at Auction on eBay, Most Watched Football Rookie Card Auctions, Most Watched Goudey Baseball Cards on eBay, Most Watched Soccer Cards for Sale on eBay, Most Watched Unopened Sports Card Boxes, Packs on eBay, Most Watched Vintage Sports Memorabilia on eBay, Hottest Panini National Treasures Cards on eBay, Sports Memorabilia Auctions Ending Soon on eBay. Nolan Ryan's "1990 Record Breaker" card is also high up on the list of cards from this set. Sports collecting news - Sports cards and sports memorabilia industry news. Only his other MVP-winning campaign in 1983 comes close to matching what he did in 1991. As far as rookie cards go, Jeff Bagwell is still the only key rookie in the checklist. 2022 Bowmans Best Baseball Checklist, Team Set Lists and Details, One-Sheet Collections: Best Active NBA Stars Who Have Never Been All-Stars, 2022 Bowman Inception Baseball Checklist, Team Set Lists, Odds and Details, 2022-23 Leaf Exotic Basketball Checklist and Details, 2021-22 SP Game Used CHL Hockey Checklist and Details, 2023 GAS Arnold Schwarzenegger: Built to Perfection Trading Cards Carry Some Heavy Weight, 2022 Panini Flawless Collegiate Basketball Checklist and Details, 2022 Topps Allen & Ginter Chrome Baseball Checklist, Team Set Lists and Details. Total Cards: 792. Each wax and cello pack contained an Instant Win Game card that provided the opportunity for the collector to win a complete set from Topps past 40 years. Baseball Almanac. 1991 Topps #333 Chipper Jones Rookie Card Estimated PSA 10 Value: $85 It may not be quite as valuable as the Mark Whiten variation or Griffey's base card but the Chipper Jones rookie card is easily the face of the entire set. This Championship Ticket parallel, which is limited to just 100 copies, has sold for as high as $3.8 million. Though the Kid would finish third in voting for the 1989 AL Rookie of the Year Award behind Baltimore's Gregg Olson and Kansas City's Tom Gordon, he clearly showed the most long-term upside of any player in that season's rookie class. I can safely say many, many cases worth of most packing types. His production during the 1980's playing for the sport's most popular team seemed to put Mattingly on an easy trajectory towards a future Hall of Fame induction. Ungraded & graded values for all '91 Topps Archives 1953 Reprint Baseball Cards. 1991 Nolan Ryan Topps Desert Shield #6 Buy on eBay One of the most underrated cards of all the Nolan Ryan baseball cards. Click on any card to see more graded card prices, historic prices, and past sales. The 1991 Topps set debuted just as America was engaging in the first Gulf War. But compared to other cards in the junk wax era, the somewhat rare moniker probably fits. The price guide is linked in the top menu of this page. I have about 200 cards baseball, my oldest son started collecting ,Dow to youngest,49 yrs ago , how do I find value. But there were still all those randomly inserted cards. Well past his prime but still pitching at a high level in 1991, it was anyone's guess at how long his career would eventually last. It may not be quite as valuable as the Mark Whiten variation or Griffey's base card but the Chipper Jones rookie card is easily the face of the entire set. How high can these cards rise? The top card in the set is easily the rookie card of Hall of Famer Chipper Jones. I have a brand new box still wrapped up are they wourth anything. Uribe was the Giants' starting shortstop from 1986-1992. And, by the time his fifteen years with Houston were up, he'd smashed 449 home runs, appeared in four All-Star Games, won an MVP, collected three Silver Sluggers and one Gold Glove to tie the knot on his Hall of Fame career. One Million Dollars, the pack advertisement continued. He also did backflips and other acrobatics on the field which always amazed me as a young kid. Counting down the most valuable baseball card sets from the late 1990s using the highest recent sale in any grade 9 or below from any grading company (PSA, B. So which of the 1991 Topps baseball cards are most valuable? 21 Surprisingly Cheap: Tony Gwynn 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn was arguably the best pure hitter of his era or perhaps any other. Its that 40th Anniversary, as collectors from that year recall buying box after box of 1991 Topps, attempting to Chase the Mick, as the company advertised that it had inserted randomly one of every single card it had issued from 1952-91 into individual packs. A Baseball Card Database by Baseball Almanac. Topps Tiffany gave us all those things we wanted, as listed above, in complete set form that we could by at a premium. What we do know is that Ryan accomplished the unthinkable during the 1991 season as he became the oldest player in MLB history to throw a no-hitter when he roasted the Toronto Blue Jays on May 1, 1991, at the age of 44. #10 1962 Topps Joe Torre (RC) #218 PSA 10 sold for $15,344 1962 Topps Joe Torre rookie card on eBay I have over 2000 91 baseball cards how do I know which ones are worth money ? Card fronts display a vivid color photo surrounded by colored piping and an outer white border. The combination of the low-profile design, the open presentation of the photos and traditional card stock has caused many collectors to come back to 1991 Topps Baseball with a new respect. I hve the whole collection of topps 40 baseball cards how do I find value. 9 Roger Clemens #530 One of the most memorable cards in the '91 Topps set, this horizontal stunner shows Clemens posing in front of Fenway Park's famed scoreboard. Sadly, this was the last set in which Topps inserted gum into wax packs. Its commonplace to find PSA 9 Chippers RCs selling for around $2000 on eBay, and PSA 10s of most of the eras superstars north of $1000, as well. I started high school in 91 so by late summer I packed all the cards safely away and never checked them out. Its hard to believe but the 1991 Desert Shield baseball cards issued by Topps have turned 30. PSA 10 Chipper Jones rookie cards that sold on eBay for north of $21,000 in March of 2021. The image on this card perfectly exemplifies why baseball nicknamed him one of the "Bash Brothers" as it portrays him getting ready to do exactly that: bash the cover off the ball. So there you have it, the ten most valuable 1991 Topps cards in both their base and Desert Shield forms. Check out those clouds! 1991 Topps Traded Baseball has a straightforward checklist of 132 cards. Honus. This set was a monster and contained a 792 card checklist in total and that is not counting the enormous amount of errors and variations, some of which are still being discovered today. Nonetheless, PSA 10s in the following still command respectable coins. Topps issued many spinoffs of its 1991 set, from the glossy Tiffany sets, to the Micro set, to the box-bottoms, rookie debut cards and the tough Desert Shield versions. However his iconic 1983 Topps rookie card only goes for $475. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2022 by Old Sports Cards, LLC. Get my weekly newsletter with the latest hobby updates delivered straight to your inbox! Prices are updated daily based upon 1992 Leaf listings that sold on eBay and our marketplace. This PSA article, in part, details several types of counterfeit Desert Shield cards with fake foil stamps. Prices are updated daily based upon 1991 Topps listings that sold on eBay and our marketplace. A pair of thin frames are also around the photo. There are faked versions of this card, so this is one worth buying authenticated. The 91 design offers an element never before seen on Topps cards, instead of merely listing the team name, it utilizes word marks for each club, mimicking the script on the uniform. After batting .327 with 100 RBI, 20 home runs, and 76 runs scored to go along with a .527 slugging percentage and .926 OPS during the 1991 season, there was no question that Griffey was well on his way to superstardom. Prices are updated daily based upon 1991 Topps Traded listings that sold on eBay and our marketplace. 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Shortcuts: From 1984 to 1991, Topps released a limited edition version of both their regular and traded sets called "Tiffany" sets. From Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer Honus Wagner to Los Angeles Angels standout Mike Trout, here are nine iconic cards of star players that were sold or auctioned for significant sums: 1. To put things into perspective, Mattingly led the Majors in 1986 with a .573 slugging percentage and .967 OPS. 2022 Topps Chrome Baseball, Sonic Base Cards Are Different. To honor our troops and maybe give them a tiny taste of home, Topps produced a parallel of their base set, designated as Topps Desert Shield. As far as athletes go, only Michael Jordan seemed to be more popular than Griffey Jr. back then and everybody wanted his cards. Now that we got that out of the way, let's take a look at the list: 1991 Stadium Club #270 Ken Griffey Jr. The 1991 Topps set featured a thin team-colored border inside a traditional thicker white border (goodbye, comic pixels!).