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Thursday, April 20, 2017

'92-93 Ultra All Over Again

I don't do a great job of keeping up with new releases, so you can imagine my surprise when I recently learned that the 2016-17 Fleer Showcase hockey set contains buybacks from 1992-93 Fleer Ultra!

The '92-93 Ultra set was a favorite of mine when I was a kid, so I was pumped to learn that some of these would be available as buybacks.  Unfortunately, they're pretty limited, being serial-numbered to just /25 copies each (to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the set I presume).  I've been fortunate enough to land a few of them on eBay though, and today I've got the first one to share with you:

This card in particular really takes me back to my days as a pre-teen collector in the early '90s.  The "overseas invasion" was going on in the NHL at the time, and as a kid who was playing ice hockey myself I was enamored by guys like Fedorov, Mogilny, Pavel Bure and yes, even Vyacheslav Kozlov!

"Slava", as he was affectionately known, was never going to be a HOFer, but he was a key component to those powerhouse Red Wings teams of the '90s and won a couple of Stanley Cups during his time in Detroit.  In those days you could count on him for 20-30 goals, at least as many assists, and solid defensive play.  He ended up playing professionally for a long time as well, having last skated in the NHL in 2010.  If you count his time in Russia's KHL after that, he actually played all the way through the 2014-15 season!

I always loved the design of the first couple of Fleer Ultra sets, and the cards like this one that featured the gold foil ROOKIE ribbon emerging from the Ultra logo were always extra cool.  Fleer did a great job with the backs as well:

A nice layout, and two separate photographs that differ from the one on the front of the card.  Even 25 years later, Panini could learn a thing or two here on how to make an attractive card back!

So, there's my first ever '92-93 Ultra buyback.  You might think I'm crazy for shelling out $7 and change for a re-stamped copy of a card that is worth probably a dime in its original format, but I couldn't be happier!

I'll be showing off some more of these in the future for sure...
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6 comments:

  1. Billy KingsleyApril 20, 2017 at 12:08 PM

    I was not lucky enough to pull one from the hobby box I got for Easter, but that is very cool in my book. The packaging states there are Autographed versions as well.

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  2. Pro Set CardsApril 20, 2017 at 1:13 PM

    Whoa!!! I had no idea these existed! I can see the a few of the Rookies being a hot commodity from this set. I may have to track down a Guerin. Thanks for sharing and cool pick up!

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  3. MarcApril 20, 2017 at 5:12 PM

    You're turning into the buyback King. I really dig the autograph buyback versions. But, correct me if I'm wrong. If the original set was released during the 1992/93 season, wouldn't it make this the 24th anniversary?

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  4. AnonymousApril 20, 2017 at 7:27 PM

    '92-93 Ultra was one of my all-time favorite sets as well, and I noticed a few of these buybacks pop up on COMC. Not sure how I feel about this, I think I'd like them (and the '90-91 UD hockey buybacks) a lot more if they weren't so scarce. But is it better than what Topps does with the baseball buybacks? For $7 you could get about a dozen 'Rediscover Topps' cards from the late 1980's. As a buyback collector, which would you rather spend your money on?

    Also, Marc is right...this is the 24th anniversary. Did no one at Upper Deck realize this? Or is the card calendar irrelevant now that they've released 2015-16 sets after releasing 2016-17 sets?

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  5. FujiApril 21, 2017 at 12:43 PM

    Big fan of 1992 Ultra anything. Give me baseball, basketball, football, or hockey. Loved their designs that year.

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  6. shoeboxlegendsApril 24, 2017 at 7:32 PM

    Thanks for the comments guys! Billy, I'm aware of the autos and have landed one that I will be posting soon!

    Marc and Chris, I definitely noticed the discrepancy in the number of years, maybe they just randomly chose to number them to /25 to keep them scarce and not as a "25th Anniversary" deal...either way I like them quite a bit!

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