Group Break Results - 1993 Bowman football, 1993/94 NBA Hoops Series 2, 2020/21 Upper Deck MVP hockey

 

This week's edition of my Affordable Group Break was a little different than in the past. For starters no baseball (blasphemous!) and we opened 3 boxes. I can tell you however this is will not be the new norm as my mouth was parched after talking so much. Combine that with the time it's taken to sort the cards and create this post...yeah, I'm going back to just one or two boxes max!

3 boxes, 3 different sports. We'll start with the box of 1993 Bowman football. I grabbed this box awhile back when I visited an eclectic candy store about an hour from my home. I wished it had been a baseball box, but I still thought the football box could be fun...and I was right.

Each pack contained a "special engraved foil" card and most of them turned out to be some good players, though there were a few players included that were busts.

Bowman is known for rookies and the box did yield a few such as this pair of Jerome Bettis and Natrone Means.

Not to be overshadowed by the young guys, we pulled some good veterans / HOFers as well. Overall this was a fun box and a nice change of pace from the newer, flashier cards.

Next up was the first basketball card box to be featured in one of my breaks. 1993/94 Hoops Series II may not have been the best pick, but finding reasonably priced sealed basketball boxes from any year can be a tough challenge right now so I had to go with what I could find.

Hoops may not be known for their photography, but these Scoops cards featured some nice under the basket shots.

The rookie crop this season wasn't too bad with the likes of Toni Kukoc, Chris Webber, Jamal Mashburn, Allen Houston among others. Many duplicates were pulled in this box.

Speaking of rookies, anyone need a Penny? We got plenty...even the 5th Anniversary Gold parallel.

Here is a selection of the one per pack 5th Anniversary Gold parallels. I personally like that Sam Cassell RC.

On the insert front we pulled 3 of the Admiral's Choice...and they were all Kenny Anderson...and they all suffered damage from being stuck to the one per pack 5th Anniversary parallel. Bummer.

I believe these inserts are just "one shots". Simple, effective, cool. My personal favorite was the "reprint" of David Robinson's Hoops RC.

Magic's All-Rookie Team inserts fell roughly one per box and we got Chris Webber (with a Shawn Kemp cameo!). I remember these inserts being a big deal back then.

While the Hoops box may not have been as exciting as I hoped that it be, it was a fun walk down memory lane at least for me as I was big into collecting basketball cards during this time period.

The third and final box of the night was another first for me, hockey! After hosting a hockey mini break a few weeks earlier I thought I'd try my hand at a full box and I just happened to get this hobby box of 2020/21 Upper Deck MVP for a good price. Plus I remember MVP being a fun baseball product.

During the break we figured out that the teal colored cards were the SPs, half were veterans with the other half being the RCs. The cards with the silver signature facsimile appear to be the Silver Script parallels.

I still haven't quite figured out what these inserts are called. Feel free to educate me in the comments.

Net Crashers were one of the insert sets we were chasing. These feature a holofoil front with a "black & white" photo in the background. Much more beautiful in hand than scanned.

Much like the Net Crashers, these Mirror Mirror inserts also feature the same holofoil front.

Colors and Contours was probably my favorite of the inserts pulled...and I'm not just saying that because the card pulled was a Hurricanes player (my chosen team). Beautiful, bright orange shiny foil, slightly die-cut and serially numbered to 250.

Yet again I'm impressed by the whole package Upper Deck manages to do w/ their hockey sets. If enough people keep asking for hockey I'll keep looking for affordable boxes to feature in future breaks from time to time.

This may not have been the most riveting break I've hosted in awhile, but it served it's purpose...to put some "new" cards in the hands of collectors without having to spend a lot of dough. Thanks for everyone's support...we'll see everyone next week!

Affordable Group Break - 1993 Bowman football

** UPDATE 09/30/20 ** All remaining teams have been reduced

 

This break will feature a hobby box of 1993 Bowman football. 24 packs per box. Each pack includes a specially engraved foil card. Notable RCs include Jerome Bettis, Drew Bledsoe & Natrone Means among others. Prices are listed by each team. All cards ship. Stacking applies so the price does not include shipping. If you have questions on his this works please let me know. We'll break this box live on my YouTube channel (youtube.com/flywheels) on Friday, 10/02/20 at 10 PM eastern.

To claim your team(s) please comment with your request and submit your payment at that time. If you haven't participated in one of my breaks, please email me (flywheels@yahoo.com) your name & mailing address. Please send your payment as Friends & Family - please don't put anything in the comments section: paypal.me/flywheels86

Atlanta Falcons $2 - Roy Galloway PAID

Buffalo Bills $2 - Roy Galloway PAID

Chicago Bears $2 - Ben Martin PAID

Cincinnati Bengals $2 - Trevor P PAID

Cleveland Browns $1 - Kin Kinsley PAID

Dallas Cowboys $3 - Ben Martin PAID

Denver Broncos $2 - @pennysleeves PAID

Detroit Lions $3 - Ben Morris PAID

Green Bay Packers $3 - Trevor P PAID

Houston Oilers $2 - Kin Kinsley PAID

Indianapolis Colts $1 - Ben Martin PAID

Kansas City Chiefs $3 - Jason McQuitty PAID

Los Angeles Raiders $1 - Jennifer Peebles PAID

Los Angeles Rams $3 - Kin Kinsley PAID

Miami Dolphins $1 - Ben Martin PAID

Minnesota Vikings $2 - Base Card Hero PAID

New England Patriots $3 - Kin Kinsley PAID

New Orleans Saints - Colbey PAID

New York Giants $2 - Jennifer Peebles PAID

New York Jets $1 - Ben Martin PAID

Philadelphia Eagles $2 - Kerry Biggs PAID

Phoenix Cardinals $1 - Ben Martin PAID

Pittsburgh Steelers $3 Jennifer Peebles PAID

San Diego Chargers $1 - Jennifer Peebles PAID

San Francisco 49ers $3 - Hal Sauceman PAID

Seattle Seahawks $1 - Ben Martin PAID

Tampa Bay Buccaneers $1 - Ben Martin PAID

Washington Redskins $1 - Ben Morris PAID

Cards, Candy and Fishing Supplies?!

I teased on Twitter a few images of a shop I found late Tuesday night while browsing Facebook and seeing a store mentioned on a friend's post. The store just happened to be located in a small NC town that I would be driving through the very next day on my way out of town for work. I set my alarm as I had added motivation for getting out of the house early.

It took me about an hour to get to my destination, which was pretty easy to find...just off I-85 in Salisbury, NC. Fleming Candy Company. Not much to look at, in fact I almost drove right by it as it looked like an old warehouse. Turns out a small section at the front of the warehouse is the store front. I got there a little before they opened at 9 AM. Shortly after 9 I walked in and was immediately greeted by a nice lady. The store wasn't very big, maybe 3 aisles total. I told her what I was there for and she showed me a section of cards in the middle aisle, a glass display case on the other side and mentioned there were a few cards/packs in the display case by the register. 

This section of cards was about 9 feet long give or take. Baseball on the right, football in the middle and basketball on the left with NASCAR all along the bottom shelf. The top was stacked with complete sets mostly.

The baseball section wasn't as robust as the pictures I found on their website, but there was some nice stuff left...at least in my opinion. The lady that greeted me said that stuff has sat on the shelves for awhile, but started selling in the last 3 months. Thanks COVID-19.

Prices of these boxes ranged from $12 (Score, Studio) to $60 (Bowman, Topps). The bottom shelf had some 1991 and 1992 Stadium Club, 1992 Fleer Ultra and 1991 Score...all right up any junk wax conasuir ally.

The football section definitely had more selection to choose from. Most of this product was early to mid 90's. Collector's Edge, Pacific, Pinnacle, Pro Set, Topps and Upper Deck...even some 1992 and 1993 Bowman. 

The basketball section had some old Fleer and Hoops boxes, but you could tell the prices had been marked up whereas it seemed like many of the prices of various football and baseball boxes had marked down. I would have loved to pick up a basketball box to feature in my Affordable Group Breaks, but I wasn't sure how many people would be excited about a box of mid 90's Hoops so I left them on the shelves.

By the way, the rest of this aisle was full of hard to find candy (opposite the cards) and fishing gear after the card section. Talk about eclectic!

Next I went around to the other side to look in the case. This is where the semi-new stuff was kept...and since it's behind glass you know the prices aren't cheap. I didn't spend a lot of time as pretty much everything was more than I wanted to spend at the time, but looking back at the pictures I took there was some nice boxes to choose from.

See anything you like? Allen & Ginter, Bowman, Pristine, Reserve, Triple Threads, Unique!

There was so much in this section I took a quick video so everyone could have a better idea of the selection.

Underneath the glass case were two long shelves. These shelves held non-sports stuff. Comic related sets such as Skybox Ultraverse, Youngblood, Savage Dragon. Desert Storm, Country Gold, Coca-Cola, Star Trek, Aliens, Kaya boxing, Corvettes, Harley Davidson. Most of these boxes were cheap. I tweeted a box of Demolition Man earlier today...just $8!

As I was at the counter checking out, I noticed even more boxes on shelves behind the counter. Most of the price tags used were those bright orange and with my poor eyesight it was hard to read the prices on those small tags. These boxes were cheap, but they didn't seem to be too bad...at least what I could see. 

Just above these shelves was a stand that displayed some of the loose packs they had. These ranged from just a few bucks to higher for older packs such as sealed tins of Donruss Preferred (football). They even had a sealed gold tin box in one of the side cases.

I was told earlier that they may have more cards in the warehouse! It does make me wonder and I will visit again in the near future. Upon checking out the guy did write down what I was purchasing as he mentioned he wanted to check the back to see if he had more of what I purchased. Hmm...

So, what did I purchase you ask? Well even if you didn't ask here you go...

My personal purchases were limited to just two boxes. Just two you ask? Well, I wanted to buy more, but I really had a hard time deciding 1) what to get and 2) did I really need it. I settled upon a box of 1993 Studio...which I was looking for anyhow and a box of 1995 Topps DIII...because lenticular cards are cool. Both of these boxes were just $12 each.

I almost didn't see this small box of 2002 Donruss Fan Club. I grabbed this specifically to feature in a upcoming edition of my Affordable Group Breaks. I've opened some of this product in the past and liked it...plus their asking price wasn't bad at all.

I mentioned earlier that the football section was much more robust with different product to choose from. Most of the stuff was pre-1995 and since I didn't pay the NFL much attention until the Carolina Panthers came along in 1995, I didn't know what to get. I was leaning towards a box of 1991 Upper Deck or 1992 Topps as they both were cheap. I also looked at 1994 and 1995 Upper Deck, but ultimately decided on this box of 1993 Bowman. More than likely this box will also appear in a future Affordable Group Break.

Overall this place was pretty cool. The store was organized in the sense that I could find what I was looking for, but the cards seemed to be all over the place, however being surrounded by candy and fishing gear while looking at cards was odd. I can see how someone could easily overlook this store because 1) it doesn't look like much from outside and 2) the selection is all over the place. The staff was very nice and very helpful. I asked if I could take pictures for this blog post and they didn't mind at all, if anything else it seemed they were happy that I was so happy! I'll be hitting up Fleming Candy Company again very soon...after all I should've brought that box of Demolition Man home with me!!