Beckett News » Michael Jordan

Beckett 20 Questions … on the NBA (and cards) today

chrisolds — Mon, 06 May 2013 21:10:50 +0000

By Chris Olds | Beckett Basketball Editor

It’s a busy time in the NBA with the postseason marathon ongoing and the awards season generating headlines beyond the court.

On cardboard, it’s just as busy with several new products arriving and stars making their own pushes with strong performances. (Need a checklist or OPG for one of the 541 basketball sets already made this year? Click here.)

Here’s the latest Beckett 20 Questions on cards and the court. Tell us what you think about the state of cards today, its stars and more with your votes and the comments below.

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See the remaining 19 questions … after the jump.

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Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Basketball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Rare Air: Upper Deck readies Michael Jordan UNC Master Collection

chrisolds — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 19:47:54 +0000

By Chris Olds | Beckett Basketball Editor

If you like Mike, then this set might be for you.

Well, 250 of you that is.

Upper Deck is readying what will be the most-limited – and most high-end – Michael Jordan card set ever made with the 2013 Upper Deck Michael Jordan UNC Master Collection, which will arrive this summer.

Each wood-boxed set will be limited to just 250 serial-numbered copies and include 23 standard cards. It also will include one hand-painted Masterpieces card – each limited to 30 – four signed cards and one complete patch set with the cards comprising either the standard or alternate Carolina logos. In addition, each box will include one Master Collection Shadowbox, Precious Metal Gem or a 1/1 autograph.

“Upper Deck produced Master Collection sets over 10 years ago and fans still inquire about them frequently,” said Grant Sandground, Upper Deck’s director of product development. “We felt Michael Jordan would be the perfect subject to re-imagine these ultra-premium sets around. It’s the type of set that 99 percent of collectors can’t afford, but 100 percent of collectors would love to own.”

As an added bonus, each set also will include a replica 1982 UNC National Champions ring.

A price for the sets was not announced.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Basketball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Box Busters: 2013 Upper Deck All-time Greats basketball cards

chrisolds — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 22:23:43 +0000

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Join Beckett Basketball‘s Brian Fleischer and Chris Olds as they rip into boxes of 2013 Upper Deck All-time Greats basketball cards in this latest edition of Box Busters.

What will they find inside? Watch and find out …

Industry Summit: Upper Deck’s corporate address

Susan Lulgjuraj — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:00:41 +0000

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor

LAS VEGAS – Upper Deck’s Diamond Dealers were invited to the company’s corporate address at the Industry Summit on Monday.

Upper Deck gave out prizes during a contest geared around the eBay sales of popular UD cards. But more importantly, it addressed many new products dealers can expect.

However, its big announcement was that Upper Deck reacquired an MLB Players Association license (read more about that here).

Upper Deck created its Diamond Dealer program a couple of years ago for hobby shop owners. Currently, it has 1,639 certified Diamond Dealers with 1,244 in the United States and 395 in Canada – a 12 percent increase from 2012. Upper Deck takes the rules for Diamond Dealers seriously and removed 180 from its program for various reasons.

Here is information on several upcoming products:

Hockey

The 2013-13 double rookie class will be a point of focus for Upper Deck in next season’s products that will begin to appear in July.

Trilogy: Upper Deck is bringing it back. It will have a 100-player checklist, but the highlight will be the rookie autographs. There will be 33 holdover rookies from the 2012-13 season and three autographs for each of those players. Those 33 will take up 99 autographs in the product. Upper Deck will have a new card in Trilogy called UD Crystal, which will be similar to Ice, but modifying the acetate cards.

2013-14 O-Pee-Chee: One of the first products on the market for next season. The wrapper redemption program is coming back. There will be black-bordered hot boxes and on-card buy back autographs in OPC.

Football

2013 SPx: Upper Deck reconfigured the set. There will be 10 packs with five cards per box. There will be a hit in every pack.

NEW! 2013 Eminence: This is one-pack per box product. The cards will be acetate coated with autographs on the acetate. Eminence will feature Museum Relic Redemptions for vintage college football items.

Basketball

2013 All-Time Greats: There will be a number of new signers including Karl Malone, Reggie Miller, Allen Iverson, Jason Kidd and Gary Payton.

Michael Jordan Master Collection: Upper Deck is bringing this back from the late 1990s and early 2000s. This product will showcase Jordan with North Carolina and have four autographs in every box. “To be able to bring back Master Collection in this way with really powerful content is going to be exciting for collectors,” Upper Deck’s Chris Carlin said.

Susan Lulgjuraj is an editor of Beckett Sports Card Monthly. You can email her here with questions, comments or ideas. Follow her on Twitter here. Follow Beckett Media on Facebook and Twitter.

Beckett 20 Questions on … the hits

chrisolds — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:58:10 +0000

By Chris Olds | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor

If there’s one thing that’s on the minds of collectors besides “What’s new?” and “What’s it worth?” it’s the old standby of the last 15 or so years.

“How many hits?”

While the use of autographs and memorabilia cards in products have revolutionized the hobby, what we call hits seems to meander in meaning from person to person. To some, it’s just those autos and mem cards. To others, it might include cards of other types. The hits have included everything from some star shortstop’s autograph to a piece of Superman’s cape — and seemingly everything else, too.

For the next issue of Beckett Sports Card Monthly, we’re going to focus on “The Hits” — whatever they might be — and here is the latest batch of questions — some serious, some fun — that we’re curious about on the subject. Check them out … after the jump.

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Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Beckett Sports Card Monthly: Take a look back at 2012 via our covers

chrisolds — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 19:13:31 +0000

By Chris Olds | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor

With Beckett Sports Card Monthly, we intentionally take a step back away from the obvious — we leave that for the single-sport magazines — and instead delve into bigger topics that we feel are timed best to what’s going on, what’s coming up or what’s on the minds of collectors.

In short, it’s where we give readers a little more to read about your hobby each and every month.

Here’s a look back at its offerings of 2012 via its covers.

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Tell us which one you like best by voting below — and tell us what you might remember fondly, if you like, from 2012 in general and its issues in the comments.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Beckett By The Numbers: 2011-12 Exquisite Collection

chrisolds — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:00:45 +0000

By Chris Olds | Beckett Basketball Editor

The auctions have ended, the numbers have been crunched. The ranges have been tabulated and the OPG has been posted.

The 2011-12 Exquisite Collection basketball card set has arrived on Beckett.com with the favorites, autographs and memories in tow. Let’s take a look inside the numbers crunched by Beckett Basketball Senior Market Analyst Rob Springs – and see even more — after the jump.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Did you miss the recent Box Busters episode? Catch it right here.

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Total value: $58,987

Average value: $133.76

Highest card: 2011-12 Exquisite Collection UD Black Dual Patch Autographs #LP2JJ LeBron James/Michael Jordan/23 $800-$1,200

Other notable cards:
– 2011/12 Exquisite Collection Holo Parallel #64 Klay Thompson AU/25 $300-$600
– 2011/12 Exquisite Collection Dimensions #DJN Michael Jordan $400-$800

Springs Says: Exquisite was met with a lot of mixed emotions for collectors. They love the brand and all of the good stuff in it, but some have questioned whether it’s truly an Exquisite line with college photos and no memorabilia cards. But it still has a lot of strong sellers with a ton of LeBron James and Michael Jordan autographs (that range in high book value from $650 to $1,200) and plenty of Hall of Famers. As the product dries up, we will see if those values move up like the other Exquisite brands have done in the past. The Dimensions autographs are still pretty cool and despite the lack of serial-numbering are selling well in the secondary market. The draft class autographs (out of 199) and the parallel (out of 25) has some really strong sales and could end up being the sleeper of this product.

Olds’ Opinion: Exquisite is the brand that defined high-end in the past so there’s an air of superiority that should come with this one — but I’m not sure it feels the same. If you get a big card? Sure, it does. If you get a decent card? Well, it feels a bit more like something good out of a slightly lesser (but still expensive) brand. The dollars spent here aren’t very arguable, though, particularly when there are so many Jordan and James autos to be found. The real question in my mind is whether those in-demand autos will continue to be in high demand when there’s so many of them. (Jordan signed more than 900 cards for this one.) Could they drop over time and become a way for more collectors to get into that game? Maybe, and that’s an interesting thought for a high-end brand.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Basketball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Beckett 20 Questions … to start the NBA season

chrisolds — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:49:49 +0000

By Chris Olds | Beckett Basketball Editor

The NBA season tips off tonight with three games that will inevitably restart the fires with a few collectors and perhaps prompt a few others if there are any surprises.

But we’re not waiting for a 7 p.m. tip-off in Cleveland for the season to begin. We’ve got 20 questions about basketball and basketball cards that we’re curious to see how you, the collectors, answer.

Some are for fun, some are more serious … if you have more to say about the NBA these days — or collecting, of course — you can let us know in the comments below.

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See the rest of the questions … after the jump.

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Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Basketball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

RareInk signs art licensing deal with NBA

chrisolds — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:22:08 +0000

By Chris Olds | Beckett Basketball Editor

A California-based company started by a pair of former card company employees has entered the world of artwork.

NBA-licensed artwork that is.

RareInk.com and the NBA announced a partnership on Tuesday to bring fully licensed pieces to collectors featuring the work of several acclaimed artists.The collection will launch with 100 pieces of 40 players and 60 team logos. Collectors will be able to vote on what they want to see next.

“The goal of RareInk’s artwork is to capture the excitement and action of the NBA in a uniquely artistic way,” said Tim Muret, CEO of RareInk. “Fans can shape the future of the RareInk collection by voting for their favorite players and moments to be featured as art pieces.”

Each piece is offered as a print ($69 and $109) or a stretched canvas ($109 and $199) with every one numbered to 250 or fewer copies.

Some of the pieces, with styles varying by artist, include Lakers tributes featuring Jerry West, Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson while others include, the Boston Celtics, the Dallas Mavericks and John Stockton and Karl Malone. Other names featured will include Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to name a few.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Basketball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Box Busters: 2011-12 Exquisite Collection

chrisolds — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:43:31 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Join Beckett Basketball‘s Rob Springs and Chris Olds as they rip into a pair of 2011-12 Exquisite Collection boxes in this latest edition of Box Busters.

What will they find inside? Watch and find out …

Oh, and how can that dual autograph be yours? Check out an upcoming issue of Beckett Basketball for the details.