In The Mail Yesterday

1998 Upper Deck Hardcourt Homecourt Advantage PLUS

I've always liked this set but it's unfortunate that it wasn't released until after the season was over. This meant that the rookies the previous year aren't labelled as official "RCs". But I still like the design and the gold (or PLUS) parallels are awesome. Numbered to 500 copies and having a wood feel, I couldn't pass up this Drexler. Again, under $5, this was an awesome deal.

If Money Didn't Mean Anything...

2005-06 Upper Deck Portraits Quad Kidd/Stockton/Nash/Billups

Limited to only 10 copies, this 8x10 card would be the centerpiece of any playmakers collection. These four point guards are the NBA's best ever, minus Cousy, Magic, Thomas... okay, so it might not be the best-of-the-best (see Today's Top 5), but it's still damn cool.

If I Only Had The Money...

2005-06 Upper Deck Portraits Timeless Tens

Okay, so they're on-sticker autographs and there's no Jordan autograph here, but with only 3 copies produced and the level of players on an 8 x 10, it would be difficult to pass up. One copy recently sold for $1,600. To some a small price to pay for Magic, Bird, Thomas, Dr. J, Russell, Kareem, Stockton, Rodman, Pippen, and Olajuwon, making up a virtual dream team autograph collection on one card.

This Week's Best: Week 3

2000 Upper Deck Legends Master Collection

One of the most difficult set to find, much less complete, is also one of my favorites. Not released in packs, this set was packaged in a wooden box (pre-Exquisite) and limited to only 200 individually numbered sets. The checklist is short on quantity but long on quality, including: Jordan, Russell, Magic, Bird, Erving, Chamberlain, West, Walton, Cousy, Havilcek, Baylor, Robertson, Frazier, Gervin, Maravich (shown), Thomas, Malone, and Barry. Each box contained a complete base set and a group of insert cards (jerseys, autographs, etc.). Good luck finding any of the cards from this set, I know I wouldn't want to part with them.

This Week's Best: Week 2

1996 Upper Deck USA Follow Your Dreams Exchange Set

How can you go wrong with a set that includes Barkley, Robinson, Miller, Pippen, Hill, Richmond, O'Neal, Hardaway, Malone, Payton, Olajuwon, and Stockton? I rarely see these sets for sale, but when they sell, they go for surprisingly low prices. Could be that mint condition copies are even more difficult to find because of the full-bleed printing that make the smallest of chips extremely visible. Released in a silver and a gold version, this set was only available in exchange for a contest card of either Reggie Miller or David Robinson that were both inserted into packs. No Barkley, Payton, or Richmond cards were included in the regular set (these were late additions to the team), and these are Gary Payton's only olympic cards (he did not have any in the SkyBox Olympic release that same year).