What are the Post-90s Pre-Panini Case Hit Inserts?

[Chain]

This got me thinking as I have been contemplating starting a certain insert card themed side PC.

We all know the iconic 90s inserts and are probably familiar with the Panini-era case hit inserts. But from 2001-2010, the hobby landscape was so dominated by autograph cards and GU/memorabilia cards that it is to me the forgotten and barren era for insert cards.

Off the top of my head I can think of the following sets when it comes to rare insert sets from this decade:

2006-07 Jambalaya
2004-05 Hot Hands
2003-04 and 2007-08 All-Star Die Cuts

Aside from these, I'd probably have to think real hard to recall any other set. Do you guys know of any more?

[Jasondr91]

03-04 UD Black Diamond Rookie FX
04-05 UD Black Diamond quads

04-05 Upper Deck Immaculate

[Chain]

Originally Posted by Jasondr91

03-04 UD Black Diamond Rookie FX

Good call on these.

Originally Posted by Jasondr91

04-05 UD Black Diamond quads
04-05 Upper Deck Immaculate

These are definitely rare but they are parallels. I'm thinking just non-auto, non-gu, non-parallel (but parallel of insert sets are OK) sets.

[Jasondr91]

Originally Posted by Chain

Good call on these.



These are definitely rare but they are parallels. I'm thinking just non-auto, non-gu, non-parallel (but parallel of insert sets are OK) sets.

To share with you HOW rare the 03-04 Rookie FX are, I've been hunting Pavlovic stuff daily since what, 2004? I've seen one....I bought it for like $6 shipped.

Another set....

03-04 UD Standing O! gold embossed die cuts (a parallel of the insert estimated to /10 or /15 And since Randy owns the majority of the print run of every player seen, guys wanting to get into that game are in trouble....unless they want to overpay for a Lebron etc...

[phdbeckett]

Originally Posted by Jasondr91

To share with you HOW rare the 03-04 Rookie FX are, I've been hunting Pavlovic stuff daily since what, 2004? I've seen one....I bought it for like $6 shipped.

Another set....

03-04 UD Standing O! gold embossed die cuts (a parallel of the insert estimated to /10 or /15 And since Randy owns the majority of the print run of every player seen, guys wanting to get into that game are in trouble....unless they want to overpay for a Lebron etc...

Agreed. I was stoked when I got a Lebron a few months back. 1:42 cases!

[phdbeckett]

The 2004-05 Fleer Tradition USA are serial number of 99 and are near impossible. A few non numbered Lebrons are on ebay but very tough to find anyone.

[Doublexthebeast]

Sorry for the bad pic but I pulled this a couple of years ago. The UD Immaculate cards are awesome. 1 per case.

[Jasondr91]

Originally Posted by phdbeckett

Agreed. I was stoked when I got a Lebron a few months back. 1:42 cases!

Damn, I didn't realize they were THAT rare.

What would you guestimate the print run of players then?

[duron]

Bit shy of your 01 cutoff, but what about the 00-01 Topps Finest Moments Autograph Refractors?

Personally I'd give these a pass since the underlying design is predicated on an insert first and foremost rather than just an autograph.

Some of these were even harder than case hits, forget which players/group.

[Caffrey]

Originally Posted by Doublexthebeast

Sorry for the bad pic but I pulled this a couple of years ago. The UD Immaculate cards are awesome. 1 per case.

Lebron is such a good player that two teams are needed to play against him.

[phdbeckett]

Originally Posted by Caffrey

Lebron is such a good player that two teams are needed to play against him.

Rookie sophomore game. Nice catch.

[vto47]

04-05 Skybox LE Rare Form were a case hit too right??

[Chain]

Originally Posted by vto47

04-05 Skybox LE Rare Form were a case hit too right??

Yes, I think you are right. That set, like Hot Hands, I believe has GU parallels as well.

@UD Immaculate LeBron: That's a really cool pic with three future Hall of Famers from 3 different teams (and uniforms) in a single game photo.

[Saraste]

Originally Posted by phdbeckett

The 2004-05 Fleer Tradition USA are serial number of 99 and are near impossible. A few non numbered Lebrons are on ebay but very tough to find anyone.

Fortunately I pulled a LeBron about a year after the original release. I periodically look for those but rarely see them. The non-numbered were everywhere for some time but even those have mostly dried up.

[ljandkg]

Originally Posted by Chain

Yes, I think you are right. That set, like Hot Hands, I believe has GU parallels as well.

@UD Immaculate LeBron: That's a really cool pic with three future Hall of Famers from 3 different teams (and uniforms) in a single game photo.

Sure did, very nice ones.

[Chain]

Originally Posted by phdbeckett

The 2004-05 Fleer Tradition USA are serial number of 99 and are near impossible. A few non numbered Lebrons are on ebay but very tough to find anyone.

I just googled these. Nice set. I have never seen one in person. What is the estimated value of a numbered Lebron?

[Czeslaw1513]

2001-02 Fleer Marquee We're NO. 1
They were 1:240 I believe

[vto47]

Originally Posted by ljandkg

Sure did, very nice ones.

To make this more complicated, there were several tiers:

Rare Find (case hit)
Rare Find Jersey (/50)
Rare Find Patch (/Jersey # of player)
Rare Find Purple (1/1)

for some strange reason, pure case hits are more valuable than the jersey or patch numbered similar to Hot Hands.

bTW... weren't there 2 Hot Hands inserts in consecutive years?

[duron]

saw you post that one before ljandkg, what a great card

[buckunteer]

Originally Posted by duron

Bit shy of your 01 cutoff, but what about the 00-01 Topps Finest Moments Autograph Refractors?

Personally I'd give these a pass since the underlying design is predicated on an insert first and foremost rather than just an autograph.

Some of these were even harder than case hits, forget which players/group.

awesome set, I have the Mitch for my Mitch PC AND the Magic Johnson for my Dream Team auto collection.

They grade well too- just sent them in a group sub, the Magic got a 9 and the Mitch a 9.5

[duron]

Originally Posted by buckunteer

awesome set, I have the Mitch for my Mitch PC AND the Magic Johnson for my Dream Team auto collection.

They grade well too- just sent them in a group sub, the Magic got a 9 and the Mitch a 9.5

Nice, those are 2 incredible cards you have there.

[TaneleerTivan]

Originally Posted by phdbeckett

The 2004-05 Fleer Tradition USA are serial number of 99 and are near impossible. A few non numbered Lebrons are on ebay but very tough to find anyone.

I can second that. I PC Team USA stuff and these are super scarce

[vto47]

Originally Posted by TaneleerTivan

I can second that. I PC Team USA stuff and these are super scarce

just curious, what do these look like? and the players selected for this set was the allen Iverson Team USA one with Nick Collison?

[Chain]

Originally Posted by vto47

just curious, what do these look like? and the players selected for this set was the allen Iverson Team USA one with Nick Collison?

They look like this:


It's the 2004 USA Olympic Team that only won Bronze. Iverson was in it but not Collison.

[Chain]

There was really a pattern with Fleer doing insert sets with GU/Auto parallels during this era where the GU/Auto versions are more easily accessible than the ones with no GU (Hot Hands, Rare Form, Were No. 1, and I think there were more from the EX brands). I think that move devalued the inserts.