The late 90's were a great time for collecting. There was tough-to-pull inserts, fun to collect base sets and especially rare parallels.
When I say rare parallels, I am not talking about 35 different parallels in one product. These were one parallel per product finds and they were very limited.
In the past, when I have brought the topic of rare 90's parallels to fellow 90's card fanatics, most bring up Fleer Metal's Precicous Metal Gems and some mention Fleer Ultra Platinum.
Most though tend to forget about another hidden gem from that time, Skybox Rubies.
The parallel line began in 1996 with easier to pull parallels that was simply just a foil color change of red. However, in 1997, they became much more impressive with a splattered shiny look. They also became tougher to find with them being limited to only 50 copies of each card. That's rare in 90's years.
When I use the word rare with these, I am not treading lightly with that word. We are talking Tampa Bay Rays fans at a home game vs the Yankees rare or Panini and Topps customer service actually returning your emails and phone calls rare or a game where Daniel Jones doesn't turn the ball over rare. Maybe even that steak a canibal would order at a restuarant rare. I hope you get the point.
Earlier this year I was able to finally land the Red Precious Metal Gem of Rodney Hampton, other than the Green PMG I may never see, I still had a huge gap to fill with the 1997 Skybox Rubies parallel. This card hadn't ever popped up on eBay so this became a concern that maybe I wasn't ever going to find one just like the Green PMG.
But, the concern didn't last too long as the card found me.
On Instagram, I had a follower who saw that I collected NY Giants who messaged me and let me know he had a few rare G-men cards he wondered if I was interested in. I told him I was only able to trade, which he was fine with, and showed me the cards and what values that were attached to them. I honestly wanted every card he had. Charles Way PMG's, Kerry Collins rares, and other Giants were on the list. But, one, definetely stood out above the rest, that card, a 1997 Skybox Rubies Rodney Hampton.
OH SNAP.
The problem I ran into was not being able to gather enough to pull off a trade. Which in itself was upsetting that it sat there looking at me and there was no way I could have it. Not for the value it held. I felt like that kid at the toy store that had $10 but wanted the toy on the top shelf for $50 that I couldn't afford or reach.
I had to just window watch it for now. The guy had promised he would hold it for awhile while I tried to find a way to land the card. He knew that card had to somehow make it into my possession.
In the meantime, on Twitter, I started having discussions with fellow 90's card fanatic, @roroweber1 and we were simply talking cards. I had brought up the Hampton rubies card when we were discussing those parallels and even he knew I needed that Rodney for my PC. Especially owning some of those parallels himself and knowing how rare they were and how tough it would be for me to cross this off my list.
Being the great guy he is, he not only found a way to land the card from the guy on Instagram, but he also traded it to me right after he got it. Within a few days.....
THIS CARD WAS MINE!
Stunning....isn't it?
Card is 16/50.
A big thanks goes out to @roroweber1 for the assist on this card!!! Can't say thanks enough for this and for the friendship. I would strongly, strongly suggest you go give him a follow. While you are also at it, check out his
Next Gem App where you can store all of your cards in photo form front and back. It's fast, easy and you can share them all across social media right from the app. The only thing you need are cards, an iPhone and of course the downloaded app.
Thoughts on my biggest treasure piece (can't keep my eyes off of it) for my Rodney PC is welcomed in comments. Also curious if any of you own any Rubies cards (tell players to if you can) and if you have heard of or have tried the Next Gem app?
