The HolyGrail of Basketball Sets is up for auction!! 1986 Fleer Basketball BGS 9.5 set with stickers Start Price USD 1.00 Current Price USD 21,100.00 Time Left - Bid Count 24 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Thursday, August 14, 2008 End Time Sunday, August 24, 2008 Location Waterbury, Connecticut See more about 'The HolyGrail of Basketball Sets is up for auction!!' Description For the first time in the history of card collecting I bring to you the most sought after basketball card set in the world.  This set was 5 years in the making and according to the latest records it is the only completed 143 card BGS 9.5 set in the world.  This Basketball set probably ranks second only to the 1952 Topps Holy Grail of Baseball sets and we all know what that set is worth.  There are approximately 47 collectors in the Beckett Registry under the 1986 Fleer category and this set obviously ranks #1 with one other respectable BGS 9.5 collector on the list.  This set was to remain in my private collection however a business venture has convinced me to sell this rare masterpiece.  There is no telling what this set will be worth in the future, but with this set being the only one in existence it is impossible to put an exact price tag on it.  The last 2 Jordan BGS 10 cards fetched an astounding $150,000.00 for a single card so imagine what the entire 143 card set is and could be worth.  What makes this set so unique and rare is that not only is it a complete 132 card BGS 9.5 set, but it also includes the extremely rare 11 card sticker set with 9 of 11 cards graded as a BGS 9.5.  Of the 11 card sticker set, 4 stickers are 1/1 BGS 9.5's, 4 stickers are 1/2 BGS 9.5's and 1 sticker is a 1/3 BGS 9.5.  We all know how tough Beckett is with their grading and for a 22 year old card set to have only 4 1/1's and 4 1/2 BGS 9.5 graded cards shows just how rare this set is.  The 132 card set also consist of some low population BGS 9.5 cards making some these cards extremely hard to find.  It took me over a year to track down some of the low population cards.  Here is what two of the most respected grading companies in the world have to say about this set.   Here is what PSA has to say.  Somewhere along the line, and without much warning, modern set collecting became a thing of the past. No longer were collectors interested in scouring through the 100s of cards found in each set; now they wanted to focus only on the stars. If the collectors did dabble in modern set collecting, they bought, traded and sold the sets in the original packaging. Factory sets became the new thing, but collecting factory sets was nothing like the set collecting of the past. The sealed cases and sealed "bricks" of cards took all the fun out of it. I remember buying packs of baseball cards and trying desperately to find all the cards I needed to complete my set. It was a lot of fun going to the local baseball card shop or show and looking for those missing cards. By the mid-1980s, that purpose was virtually gone. All of a sudden, factory sets, sealed in plastic, were the wave of the future. You wouldn't dare crack the seal because the market value would automatically be affected. In some cases, each set was sealed. In other cases, the sets were not sealed but the case was, so not only could you not open the set, you couldn't even open the case that the set came in! It was like collecting unopened packs or boxes; you weren't allowed to actually enjoy the cards. You were only allowed to enjoy the thought of them. We all know that times have changed with modern card production. I can't keep up with all the sets, subsets, and super subsets that enter the market each month. Today, the remaining factory sets are broken down in order to retrieve the one or two key cards in hopes of finding that Gem Mint 10. One modern set, however, has stood the test of time. This is an issue that people actually collect as a set and one that they do consider having all the cards graded. What set am I talking about? The modern masterpiece otherwise known as the 1986-87 Fleer basketball set. For an assortment of reasons, the 1986-87 Fleer basketball set has been able to hold on through times of set abandonment. The combination of star power and reasonable difficulty, by modern standards, has kept collector interest strong. For years, the basketball card collector was not presented with a set that packed much power. Since the 1981 Topps Magic Johnson/Larry Bird rookie card, there wasn't even a key individual card to talk about. That streak would end with this Fleer production. Let's talk about the star power. Of course, no important modern set would be complete without a key Michael Jordan card. The 1986-87 Fleer set just happens to have the most important of all the Jordan cards, his classic rookie. Much like the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, you can almost see the signs of greatness from the image alone. Do you believe in destiny? Just take a look at this card and you will see what I mean. Jordan, at the time, wasn't even considered a top prospect, but that's not the feeling you get from the card. Jordan's rookie is not the only key of note in this wonderful basketball set. Other star rookies, including many superstar rookies, like that of Danny Ainge, Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, Joe Dumars, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Hakeem Olajuwon, Isiah Thomas, Dominique Wilkins, and James Worthy can also be found here. Can you name any other set, no matter what sport, that can claim to have as much rookie card power as this Fleer basketball issue has? I think not. In addition to the unusually strong rookie card crop is the usual assortment of modern stars like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Every player of importance from the era is included. The set is swimming in stars. Now, let's talk about modern card difficulty. While no modern issue is really comparable to any vintage production due to the evolution of the manufacturing process, this Fleer set is considered tough by modern standards. So what are the two main culprits? Centering and chipping. The serious 1986-87 Fleer set collector knows that the centering is the key. The centered copies fetch the biggest dollar on the open market and for very good reason. Poor centering, in some cases, will affect the common players even more so than the stars, depending on where the card was located on the sheet. Unfortunately, some of the cards are almost always off the mark. According to Daniel Chang, Vice President of Teddy's Ballgame, collectors will pay major premiums for low population, centered examples. "The cards that seem to be affected the most were 1, 11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, 99, 111, 121, and 132 because they were at the end of the sheet," Chang explained. "They seem to always be off-center, have print problems and edge damage. It is horrible but, when you can find an extremely high-end example, the collectors will pay for it. We can't keep them in stock" Chang claims to have sold several common and semi-star player rarities, in PSA Gem Mint 10, for thousands of dollars. That depends, of course, on how rare the particular card in question is. The demand for uniform Gem Mint sets is staggering and the interest in graded commons proves that point. Besides centering, edge wear and chipping are also cause for concern if you seek the best of the best. Colored borders surround the image, on each 1986-87 Fleer card. As you might imagine, the borders are very susceptible to chipping because the slightest touch will reveal the white cardboard underneath. Some examples are actually found with natural rough-cuts, allowing some amount of white to reach the surface. The problem, associated with colored borders, is probably most responsible for cards being dropped from a Mint 9 to a NM-MT 8. Finally, when the Michael Jordan rookie card began to surge in price, counterfeits naturally followed. They would flood the market for a time, but professional grading has assisted in getting more of these fakes off the market. Collectors still need to be very careful because these Jordan counterfeits were made with more care than some of the other modern counterfeits often seen today. By modern card standards, when you consider the obstacles above, this set provides a nice challenge in Gem Mint condition. There's no question that, of all the modern sportscards sets, this one steals the show. The 1986-87 Fleer issue offers the collector everything he or she wants in a set. It's tough, colorful, packed with stars, and home to the Jordan rookie. What more could you ask for?   Here is what Beckett has to say. Historic Sets: 1986-87 Fleer Basketball  Imagine a basketball card set that was printed today that had rookie cards of every top player in the NBA. Let's say, for example, that the set in question had the first widely available cards of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, Yao Ming, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Gilbert Arenas, Kevin Garnett and Tracy McGrady. It's no stretch to say that such a set would be one of the most popular products ever created from cardboard. Of course, a dream set with rookies of all of today's top players is just that. The athletes listed above entered the league in various different seasons, and all of them were featured on multiple rookie cards as soon as they hit an NBA court for the first time. There's just no way any one set in the current basketball card market would be lucky enough to have such an exclusive gathering of star power. Twenty years ago, that wasn't the case. After 13 consecutive years producing a basketball set, Topps bowed out of the game following the 1981-82 season. Five years later, Fleer stepped in to fill the hardwood void. In the meantime, a number of prominent NBA players made their debuts, including a guy named Michael Jordan. The Most Famous Basketball Rookie Card of All Time Basketball fans probably remember that Jordan dazzled fans for the first time in 1984, right in the middle of the gap between the end of Topps' run and Fleer's initial effort. The Star company did include Jordan in its 1984-85 set, and many collectors recognize the card as an official RC. Others do not, since the Star set was packaged in team bags instead of packs, and not as widely distributed as the products of other basketball card manufacturers. There's no question about Jordan's 1986-87 Fleer card, one of the most well-known and popular rookie cards in any sport. From the iconic shot of Jordan soaring to the rim for a one-handed dunk to the patriotic feel of the set's red, white and blue borders, it's a classic in every sense of the word. As PSA President Joe Orlando says in his article on the historic Fleer set, the Jordan rookie is basketball's equivalent of the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle. That kind of notoriety has also earned it a more dubious distinction: it's one of the most frequently counterfeited cards in hobby history. Fakes have been floating around in fairly large numbers at various times, forcing buyers to do their homework to ensure they purchase the genuine article. Much More Than Just MJ The Jordan card alone would assure the 1986-87 Fleer set of a place in the basketball card hall of fame, but it also includes the rookie cards of plenty of other NBA superstars. Some appear in earlier Star releases, like Charles Barkley, Isiah Thomas and Dominique Wilkins. Others, like Joe Dumars, Karl Malone and Chris Mullin, make their official trading card debuts. And there's more than just rookies on the checklist, with cards of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Julius Erving and Magic Johnson also included. Add it all up and there's something for just about every basketball fan, making it a hit with collectors to this day.   Feel free to view the entire set in the Beckett Registry.  Just click on the links below. http://www.beckett.com/estore/registry/myregistry/viewregistry.aspx?selSearchType=2&GroupId=1562057&Id=1183 http://www.beckett.com/estore/registry/myregistry/viewregistry.aspx?selSearchType=2&GroupId=1601900&Id=1184 I am sure that the next potential owner of this masterpiece will not even think about selling this extremely rare and historical set.  The price of this set will only continue to rise in years to come.  Be the next owner of this masterpiece and be recognized in the card collecting world as the sole owner of the only complete 1986 Fleer Basketball BGS 9.5 set in existence.  This set is certainly intended for the true collector.  Feel free to email me with any questions regarding this masterpiece.  My feedback speaks for itself so good luck bidding and thank you for viewing this auction.  Place a Bid!