Greatest Trading Cards: Topps Mystery Cards from the 1990s

Back in the 1990s, trading cards were not about autographs or jersey patches. In fact, they were mostly about refractors and unique inserts. Inserts are special cards that are somewhat hard to find in packs and can be worth so much money. Trading card packs were merely two to three dollars at local retail stores such as Rite-Aid, Target, and Toys "R" Us. Nowadays these packs can cost up to eight dollars per pack! The worst part of these deals is that each pack contains five to seven trading cards. In the past (1990s), you would get around ten to fourteen trading cards per pack, thus improving your chances of pulling out a special insert of some sort. Anyway, Topps has been a little unfair with their consumers, but they somehow remain the trading card brand of choice among collectors. As a child, I personally preferred Fleer Metal because their card designs were extremely impressive. I remember back in 1996 purchasing one basketball pack that contained a Michael Jordan insert. The designs on that Michael Jordan insert card were pretty prismatic and seemed to be of high value.

The Topps Basketball Mystery trading card concept was first introduced to collectors in 1995. These cards had unique features that made base cards seem very plain to the naked eye. Mystery trading cards have a coat of gloss that tends to give them a fancy and dazzling touch. These Topps Mystery cards were indeed refractors and can be worth over one hundred dollars depending on which player you pull. I currently own a David Robinson Mystery refractor card from 1996 that is valued at $25.00. It is one of my prized basketball cards along with some of my other Michael Jordan inserts. These special Mystery trading cards from the 1990s can mainly be found on www.eBay.com. Unfortunately, some of them do go for very high prices. I suggest you try getting these cards by bidding on them since you may end up paying much less. I won my David Robinson Mystery card for only two dollars along with a Michael Jordan Sticky Fingers Chrome card. The Topps Chrome version of that Michael Jordan card is extremely difficult to find cheap since the basic version is very common. Like Mystery cards, Chrome insert cards have high value as well.