Rolling Ron Harper Mail Month Thread

[Harper]

Hey everyone! I've been a long time lurker, but have started posting more recently. Early on in my collecting, I didn't have the best Ron Harper collection, so it felt kinda silly to show off my collection with mail days. But now I think my collection in the biggest, so I've decided to start posting my top 5 finds per month. I'm gonna start with January of this year and then update as the months go by in the future.

Hope you enjoy!!

[AbraCalabro]

looking forward to it, let's see'em!

[Harper]

January 2016

First 3 are not too exciting. Panini rewards cards, but low print run.

5) 2015-16 Panini Court Kings Brush Strokes Sapphire /25 (Rewards Site)

Of all the Panini products, I like the Court Kings the best, followed by Flawless. I think these are just really cool looking cards that are so much different than everything else Panini produces. The style sets it apart for me.

2015-16 Panini Court Kings Brush Strokes Saphire #BS-RH /25 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

4) 2015-16 Panini Totally Certified Gold Auto /10 (Rewards Site)
2015-16 Panini Totally Certified Certified Competitors Gold #CCA-RH /10 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

3) 2015-16 Panini Totally Certified Green Auto /5 (Rewards Site)
2015-16 Panini Totally Certified Certified Competitors Green #CCA-RH /5 by Mark Miller, on Flickr


2) 2012-13 Panini Flawless Patch Auto 5/25

I love this year of Flawless. This was actually my 4th version of the /25 card. I have all 4 plates, the 1/1, one of the /5. Still need the Gold /10 to complete my rainbow though!

2012-13 Panini Flawless #27 5/25 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

1) 2014-15 Panini Preferred Roundball Auto Black 1/1

Adding a 1/1 to the collection is always a win and makes for a good month! And for it to be a Bulls card with an on-card auto was icing on the cake!

2014-15 Panini Preferred Roundball Autograph Black #87 1/1 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

[ThoseBackPages]

Great thread! i ALWAYS have thought "1987 Fleer" when i hear his name

[Doublexthebeast]

You have an awesome Harper collection. I'm always on the hunt for Harper cards in private collections while looking for Hills.

[Harper]

February 2016

5) 1997 Upper Deck Chicago Bulls Sheet /5000

1997 UDA Chicago Bulls - 5 Time Champions Sheet /5000 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

4) 1996-97 Upper Deck Ceramic Bulls Team Card /2500

Very cool card, and relatively rare for UDA release. The back is hand numbered.

1996 UDA 95-96 Chicago Bulls - 72 wins - 1996 NBA Champions Ceramic /2500 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

3) 2000-01 Upper Deck UD Exclusives Gold /100

This was one of those not-so-rare cards that just never came up for sale because I think no one felt it was worth their time to list it! I found this one and then in the next month I found 2 other copies! Feast or famine...

2000-01 Upper Deck UD Exclusives Gold #79 /100 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

2) 1997-98 Hoops Chicago Bulls Team Night Sheet

These team night sheets are incredibly hard to find now. Thanks to kukocitb, our resident Toni Kukoc collector, for giving me a heads up on this one!

1997-98 Hoops Chicago Bulls Team Night Sheet by Mark Miller, on Flickr

1) 2001-02 Topps MVP Promotion

This is the first and only MVP promotion card I've seen anywhere for Harper out of the 3 years Topps ran this parallel. A member on another sportscardforum contacted me and we made a deal on it. It is a little rough shape with some sort of water stain on the back, but I was so excited to add this one to my PC!

2001-02 Topps MVP Promotion #68 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

[Harper]

March 2016

This was a slow month so I got some cards graded

3) 2000-01 Fleer Ultra Gold Medallion BGS 9.5

I have a huge soft spot for Ultra cards. Have a BGS graded copy of each platinum and wanted to go for the whole Ron Harper Ultra Product line in BGS gold. [BTW, anyone know where the 1997 masterpiece is????] This is my first attempt on a gold medallion. Waste of money? yes. Do I care? no.

2000-01 Fleer Ultra Gold Medallion #199 BGS 9.5 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

2) 2010-11 Panini National Treasures Silver BGS 9.5

There are 12 different versions of this card with variety of combinations of autos, patch, jersey and tags. I have the tag auto 1/1 and the tag 1/1 already in BGS 9.5 so I sent this one in to keep the set going. Still missing the base 1/1 and the auto 1/1 from my collection, but gonna try to get the rest in BGS 9.5 eventually.

2010-11 Panini National Treasures Silver #183 /10 BGS 9.5 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

1) 1988-89 Fleer BGS 9.5

His second year card. Iconic. Pop 1. Highest graded.

1988-89 Fleer #23 BGS 9.5 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

[Harper]

April 2016

5) 1994-95 SP Die-Cut BGS 9.5

I found this by searching some image hosting site (Flicker maybe) and reaching out to the guy. He was really cool to work with and we struck a deal pretty quick. I have no clue why/how he had this card, graded it, and posted a picture... But then again, now I'm posting a picture of it, so I guess I can't really talk.

1994-95 Upper Deck SP Die-Cut #50 BGS 9.5 by Mark Miller, on Flickr


4) 2015-16 Panini Gold Standard Golden Graphs /75

I was thrilled to find out they only made one card for me to chase in this release. Plus it was a Chicago Bulls on card Auto.

2015-16 Panini Gold Standard Golden Graphs GG-RH /75 by Mark Miller, on Flickr


3) 1989-90 Hoops PSA 10

Got this for a great deal. Another iconic late 80s card, although terribly overproduced. I'm normally not a shoe person, but I love that you can see his Nike's in this with the orange accents that match the card border.

1989-90 Hoops #205 PSA 10 by Mark Miller, on Flickr


2) 1996-97 Hoops Chicago Bulls Team Night Sheet

Another really tough to find team night sheet!

1996-97 Hoops Chicago Bulls Team Night Sheet by Mark Miller, on Flickr


1) 2013-14 Panini Intrigue Dunk Co. Platinum 1/1

Another Chicago Bulls Auto 1/1! I later sent this in to BGS and it graded a 9.5!!! This ended up being my 3rd BGS Gold 9.5 1/1 in my collection I'm still missing the gold /10 for my rainbow. There is one on COMC that I will not be purchasing with asking price of about 5-10x going rate for a Harper /10 card. Gonna wait it out until I find something more reasonable.

2013-14 Panini Intrigue Dunk Co. Autograph Platinum #26 1/1 BGS 9.5 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

[AbraCalabro]

really sweet cards so far, the team sheets are a highlight for me, those can be tough to find!!!

[Hoops2088]

Enjoying this thread. Keep it coming!

[Harper]

May 2016

5) 1983-85 Nike Postercard Set

I've seen the posters, but am not really a poster person. I wasn't aware they made postcard sized version of their 80s posters until I saw this one on eBay. Harper doesn't have any collegiate cards, so this was a unique add.

1983-85 Nike Poster Card - Ohio Flyer by Mark Miller, on Flickr

4) 2015-16 Panini National Treasures Lasting Legacies Prime /25

A lot of the patches in NT for Harper this year were boring trim cards. The lasting legacies cards, however, had great patches. Seven cards in this release for Harper, and besides the 1/1 this was by far my favorite.

2015-16 Panini National Treasures Lasting Legacies Prime Jersey Auto LL-RHP 19/25 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

3) 1993-94 TSC Frequent Flyer Points #2

Included below is the whole set #1-5. card #2 was the last one I needed. Deceptively hard to put this set together. I think a ton of these were sent for redemption and a ton were tossed in the garbage.

1993-94 Topps Stadium Club Frequent Flyer Points 2 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

1993-94 Topps Stadium Club Frequent Flyer Points Rainbow by Mark Miller, on Flickr

2) 1994-95 Collector's Choice Japanese Gold Signature

This card is much more difficult to find than any of the other international parallels in this release of collector's choice. I knocked the others off within the first year of collecting, but this one had alluded me for half a decade. I save a search on ebay for 1994 japanese gold and whenever someone listed one of the higher end cards, I asked them if they had any Ron Harper. Eventually this tactic paid off! I ended up sending a 20 card/45 day submission to BGS in July and threw this one in there. Not expecting a super high grade, but since it's the only one I've seen in 5 years, figured I'd protect it!

1994-95 Collector's Choice International Japanese Gold Signatures #177 BGS 9 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

1) 1998-99 Fleer Brilliants 24 Kt Gold /24 BGS 9

I previously bought out a former Ron Harper collector of most of his cards, sscorp84. I was browsing ozcard and stumbled upon this card that he must have had forgotten he owned earlier and he was trying to sell it. FINALLY ADDED THE SCAN!!

1998-99 Fleer Brilliants 24 Kt Gold #35 /24 BGS 9 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

[bkcardcollector]

"forgot" ... good one Very cool collection man. Perfect PC Guy.

[rdleifriaf]

Love the oddball stuff. Not nearly enough people have appreciation for 80s and 90s oddballs and international stuff.

Thanks for sharing!

[Harper]

Originally Posted by AbraCalabro

looking forward to it, let's see'em!

I realized after I posted the OP without any pictures/scans that it was a bit of a tease and tried to hurry!

[Harper]

Originally Posted by ThoseBackPages

Great thread! i ALWAYS have thought "1987 Fleer" when i hear his name

My first BGS upgrade from one of my ungraded cards was to find his rookie in BGS 9.5. Still one of my favorite cards of his I own. He doesn't have a pristine version in pop report and I've never seen one with all 9.5 subs. I've seen some PSA 10s floating around that I've thought of making an offer on, but I much prefer BGS and would probably try to convert to BGS if I ever did that. Maybe in the distant future

1987-88 Fleer RC #49 BGS 9.5 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

[Harper]

Originally Posted by Doublexthebeast

You have an awesome Harper collection. I'm always on the hunt for Harper cards in private collections while looking for Hills.

Thanks! Where do you go through private collections? Photobucket collections or real ones? I've tried searching photo sharing websites for Harper but have not been very successful with that strategy overall. He is small timer that any time I go to a card show I normally don't find anything other than a recent panini jersey card to /199. I've mostly just started looking online at this point.

I saw a Grant Hill topps chrome refractor /99 hit ebay yesterday at what seemed like a pretty good price. I have been so envious of your collection and all the cool insert sets that I see of Hill I almost picked it up. In the end I was able to convince myself that I could be opening a very expensive can of worms and stayed away from it I did search some other Hill refractors today and was shocked at how affordable the prices were on some of his stuff. Last time I actively looked at Hill prices I think he was still playing with the Pistons; a time when he had all the hobby love in the world.

[Harper]

Originally Posted by Hoops2088

Enjoying this thread. Keep it coming!

Hah! Thanks for the words of encouragement! After the first couple months I was thinking "Maybe I should have just done a top 10... people probably don't care about a lot of these cards." You convinced to to keep going

[Harper]

Originally Posted by bkcardcollector

"forgot" ... good one Very cool collection man. Perfect PC Guy.

It was weird... he was aggressively trying to sell it over there on the forum and I was incredibly fair with pricing on the other cards including several 1/1's. I honestly think he forgot he had it and found it after clearing out a big chunk of his collection to me. I was surprised he didn't just reach out to me and try to sell directly once he found it. I had previously bought a total of 20 cards from him in 4 different transactions over 2 months.

[Harper]

Originally Posted by rdleifriaf

Love the oddball stuff. Not nearly enough people have appreciation for 80s and 90s oddballs and international stuff.

Thanks for sharing!

Yeah I'll admit, some of these cards, like the Japanese gold signature card, would not be nearly as high on this list if I hadn't been searching for it for so long. These oddball cards can be very hard to find, but I don't mind the underappreciation. For the most part it means once I finally do find the card I need listed on ebay, I can get it for much cheaper than anticipated due to lack of flipper interest.

[ThoseBackPages]

Originally Posted by harper

my first bgs upgrade from one of my ungraded cards was to find his rookie in bgs 9.5. Still one of my favorite cards of his i own. He doesn't have a pristine version in pop report and i've never seen one with all 9.5 subs. I've seen some psa 10s floating around that i've thought of making an offer on, but i much prefer bgs and would probably try to convert to bgs if i ever did that. Maybe in the distant future

thats the one! :d

[Harper]

June 2016

5) 1996 UDA Chicago Bulls Best Ever NBA start (at the time)

I know what you are thinking.... but Harper is on the back of the card so to me it still counts. I was comparing notes with Geonut for the UDA cards trying to figure out what the checklist was between what we had already and what we saw and I mentioned I still needed this one. He had seen one on eBay that had a poorly worded title so I had not seen in my searches. It is numbered to /4103.... Does anyone have any clue why this print run????

1996 UDA - Chiicago Bulls Best Ever NBA Start /4103 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

4) 1998-99 Finest Refractor no protector BGS 10

I got this card a long time ago, but sent it in for grading this month. My first BGS 10 card!!! So close to a black label! This is the only card of ONLY Ron Harper to get a BGS 10 (there are several Chicago bulls team cards) out of the 440 in the BGS registry of Harper. Furthermore, only 4/330 cards graded from the no protector refractor set were graded 10.

1998-99 Finest No Protector Refractors #30 BGS 10 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

3) 1992-93 Fleer Mark and See Magazine Sheet

Thanks to Geonut, aka, Odditycards, for telling me about this one and then selling it to me! I had no idea this card existed. The front is like the normal Fleer card, however, the back has a black and white photo and no numbering. This has to be one of the rarest cards from this year. I've never seen another.


1992-93 Fleer Slam Dunk Mark and See sheet single by Mark Miller, on Flickr


2) 1991-92 Panini Spanish

For this year of Panini, the Spanish versions were really hard to find. The cards have another player on the back rather than stats or card number. Mine has Olden Polynice on the back; not the most exciting card-mate but helped the purchase price I'm sure. This is another card that I had never seen until I bought this one (and a second) off Geonut. I ended up sending this to BGS and getting an 8.5, and considering the age, rarity, and foreign release - I felt very happy with this grade. I'm working on a BGS registry...

I will upload the graded pic once I receive the cards back from BGS

1991-92 Panini Stickers Spanish #10 BGS 8.5 by Mark Miller, on Flickr


1) 2015-16 Panini National Treasures Colossal Super Prime 1/1

Completed the 2015-16 product rainbow with this addition. I was a little bummed that the patch wasn't more "super" but it was definitely better than the prime trim cards. I was expecting much better after seeing the patches on the other cards in this set and the patches of Harper in the Lasting Legacies prime set. However, I got it for a great deal for an on card auto, prime patch 1/1 from NT.

2015-16 Panini National Treasures Colossal Super Prime Jersey Auto CJ-RHP 1/1 by Mark Miller, on Flickr

[jbarnett83]

Very cool thread Can I ask why you collect Harper? I don't mean that in any negative form whatsoever but just wondering if there is any certain reason or meaning behind your PC. Either way keep em coming!

[kukocitb]

Amazing man! Glad I could help out! Now I have to add more Kukoc stuff to my list. Lol

[duron]

Originally Posted by Harper

I have no clue why/how he had this card, graded it, and posted a picture... But then again, now I'm posting a picture of it, so I guess I can't really talk.

Lol.

I think my favorite is the 00-01 UD numbered to 100, the photo used is just nasty.

Where are those Nabisco team sheets from? Were they available at home games or something?

[Harper]

Originally Posted by jbarnett83

Very cool thread Can I ask why you collect Harper? I don't mean that in any negative form whatsoever but just wondering if there is any certain reason or meaning behind your PC. Either way keep em coming!

I just love how he changed his game after his injury and became the ultimate team player/defensive stopper after previously being a primary scoring option. It was so cool how he molded his game to exactly what the Bulls team needed.