Similar to a 1988 baseball test issue, this 1990 promotional set was a trial of Action Packed’s initial design. It’s on the back where we see that these were clearly promotional. In addition to the small photograph, short bio, and stats, the backs are distinguished by the outline of the word “Sample” and a very light outline of “Not For Sale” below that. There’s a crease where the card is folded. There’s also this blank white box with a star to the right of it…kind of seems extraneous, maybe someone has more info on that? The star takes the place of the card number in these promotional cards. Now to the front…we have Action Packed’s typical rounded corners and, in what can be considered the “base” set for these promos, we have a gold-foil stamped border. The player is embossed and, although I’m not completely sure, I think these are the first basketball cards ever with an embossed component (maybe someone can think of another before 1990)! Unfortunately, an Action Packed basketball set didn’t make the cut for this design, but the design was used for a football set.
Let’s return to that gold-foil stamped border! It’s actually the border that keeps collectors on their toes with this set. It’s common knowledge that the “white border” Patrick Ewing exists. Less common is the fact that three other cards have white border and even unfolded varieties. BGS even graded a Michael Jordan that they labeled as “Silver Border.” But be careful when collecting variations. Are they variations? Is it a bit of sunlight fading? Even camera angle can make the cards look drastically different. PSA now has silver and gold varieties listed for all of the cards on it’s website, but doesn’t indicate that cards have been found for all of them. All of this makes me think that things are still unsettled here. But the point stands to keep your eyes open and expect the unexpected in this set! Some price guides considered the set to be made up of four components, excluding variations: Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Sugar Ray Leonard. But a more complete list includes three hockey players (Lemieux, Gretzky and Yzerman). There’s also rumors of uncut sheets from this set.
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