Ryan Barone (@ballcardgenius, Card Expert) is a lifelong member of the hobby. He has been quoted in PSA Magazine, and his content has regularly been mentioned in “Quick Rips” (the Topps RIPPED Newsletter) and across other hobby publications. hello@ballcardgenius.com; Last Time Ago LLC dba Ballcard Genius.
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It’s called the junk wax era because even to this day there are warehouses full of unopened Topps, Donruss, Fleer, and Upper Deck cards from the late 80s and early 90s.
But even with the insane amount of volume of most of these sets, there are still some rare gems worth quite a bit of money.
What do we mean by rare?
Well, both cards printed in small quantities and cards printed in huge quantities but in a pristine condition that is way better than 99% of the cards like it. These can be misprinted and error cards, star rookie parallels, and more. (I’ll also say there are plenty of “test” and “preview” or “promo” cards, and while rare, I won’t be including them here.)
Here a 7 rare baseball cards from the 1990s:
1. 1990 Topps NNOF Frank Thomas Error PSA 10 (and PSA 9)
Sure, let’s start as far back as we can go (1990) and with a card that was a mistake, yet ended up being the showcase rookie card for one of the greatest sluggers to play the game in Frank Thomas. (NNOF stands for “No Name on Front” because Thomas’ name was missing.)
How rare? There is one single PSA 10 copy according to the pop reports, and only 19 PSA 9s in existence (compared to nearly 3,500 regular issue PSA 10s and over 100 1990 Topps Tiffany PSA 10s). Thus, it’s not so surprising that a BGS 8 sold for nearly $10K in November of 2023.
2. “1990 Topps” George Bush
Sticking with 1990, kind of. When is a rare baseball card not even really a baseball card? When it features a former president in his ball playing days while at Yale.
The story of this 1990 Topps George Bush card is one you should read in full, but the gist is there might only be 100 of these cards in existence (and perhaps a couple of different versions).
Read More: Best Junk Wax Boxes to Buy
Anyway, the card last sold for $2.28K and that was as a PSA 6! The highest sale over the last year was $7.87K for a PSA 8. Only 2 PSA 9s according to the PSA population report and not one single PSA 10.
3. 1993 SP Foil Derek Jeter PSA 10
Imagine you’re opening up a back of 1990 Topps and see that sweet Ken Griffey Jr. rookie cup card, only to realize it also has a gigantic stain on the back thanks to the stick of gum that has been attached to it for 34 years.
Bummer, right?
Well, while 1993 SP didn’t have gum, you can imagine what the surface of a foil card might look like when sandwiched between other cards for decades. (Yep, chipping.)
It’s for that reason that the 1993 SP Foil Derek Jeter RC has a PSA 10 pop of 21 and why a card in such condition is one of the rarest of the 1990s.
4. PMGs, Essential Credentials, Star Rubies
I can write an entire blog post on the rare and valuable cards that came from SkyBox and Metal Universe. These aren’t only some of the best looking and “shiny” cards of the 90s, but they were printed in such small quantities that finding them is an absurd come up.
So, combine that rarity with gem mint or even mint condition and you’ve got one of the 90s most valuable baseball cards. Here are some examples:
- Ken Griffey Jr. 1998 Metal Universe #161 Precious Metal Gems /50 BGS 9 $66K
- Ken Griffey Jr. 1999 SkyBox Molten Metal #33F Titanium Fusion /50 PSA 10 $30.4K
- Ken Griffey Jr. 1999 Metal Universe #95 Precious Metal Gems /50 BGS 8.5 $28.8K
- Ken Griffey Jr. 1998 SkyBox E-X2001 #10 Essential Credentials Future PSA 9 (/91) $20.4K
- Ken Griffey Jr. 1999 SkyBox Premium #137 Star Rubies /50 BGS 9 $18.6K
5. 1993 Upper Deck Gold Hologram Derek Jeter PSA 10
You know a card is rare when you can’t even pull one from a pack of cards. That’s what is propping up this Derek Jeter RC as one of the 90’s rarest. It’s the 1993 Upper Deck Gold Hologram Derek Jeter, and while one factory set in every case is a gold hologram set, getting that Jeter to gem is tough—as in PSA Pop 47 tough.
Sure, you can easily find a raw copy on eBay (I see one that just sold a few days ago for $20), but condition is key—a PSA 8 sold 12/5/23 for $300, with the last PSA 10 selling in November for nearly $6K.
6. 1991 Topps Desert Shield Chipper Jones RC PSA 10
The card probably looks familiar, but don’t get too excited yet as you scurry to your collection. (Still, though…it’s worth checking if you own one.)
This Chipper Jones is the much rarer Desert Shield counterpart, of which there are only 32 PSA 10s (compared to 5652 of the regular 1991 Topps issue!)
7. 1996 Certified Gold Derek Jeter PSA 10
Yes, more Jeter? But can you blame me? His rookies came after the junkiest of junk wax era cards, he played for the biggest franchise in sports, and at a Hall of Fame level for his entire career, pretty much.
So yes, more Jeter!
What makes this one unique and different than those mentioned above is that it’s not a rookie card issue. What also makes it different is that in PSA 10 condition, it’s worth a lot more as well.
With a print run of only 30, the card on it’s own is ridiculously valuable. I mean, a raw Johnny Damon sold for $300 in November 2023. No disrespect to Damon as I was a fan of his career, but his card market doesn’t come close to Jeter’s.
Anyway, the image gave it away but in case you missed it—$280K for this one.
