Then and Now: Ultra Award Winners

At this time, some of the big trends were Chris Webber, Anfernee Hardaway, and inserts that were inserted into found in either hobby or retail packs. At the time of release, these sets were often overlooked. But as time went on, "completests" went searching for their player's insert card that they couldn't find, and paying more for it when they finally found it. This drove-up prices and sellers started searching for those unique inserts only found in certain packs (because it obviously wasn't for the card's design).  Near the peak of it's popularity, the O'Neal version of the 1993-94 Ultra Award Winners set was selling between $35 and $60. Now you could probably find it in a $1 box (but still priced at $5-$12) at a show.

This Week's Best: Week 1

1993-94 Ultra Jam City
An example of the popular foil treatment of the mid-90's insert sets that I would like to see make a comeback. But this set was available only in retail jumbo packs at a rate of 1 in every 35 packs. The retail packs were tough to find to begin with and you only got one of these per box (a disappointment if you pull a Minor or Coleman). Nine cards in the set with Shaquille O'Neal (pictured), Derrick Coleman, David Robinson, Harold Miner, Shawn Kemp, Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, and Dominique Wilkins. Great design for a foil treatment, but huge condition problems with chipping along the edges. I don't remember how many packs I bought trying to just complete this small set and ended up buying a set at a show. I guess there's only one BGS 9 Mint O'Neal out there with no 9.5.