We’ve been looking at a lot of common cards recently. I most enjoy studying cards in my collection that, for years, I simply overlooked. But today, we’re looking at one with some monetary value. This is the Michael Jordan No Boundaries insert from Skybox’s 1995-96 E-XL, number 1 of 10 for this set. Look at the reverse of this card…isn’t that one of the coolest card backs you’ve seen? There’s nothing on the card that indicates it’s from E-XL, just a gold Skybox logo in one corner, and a gold-foil “No Boundaries” set logo in another. The same gold foil is used for the player’s name. This one has a wide range of prices. As of this video, it looks like basic, ungraded cards are staying above $50 (an August 20, 2024 sale was for $64), PSA 8 and 9’s can range from $100-$200 (an August 15, 2024 PSA 8 sold for $107.50 and a July 15, 2024 PSA 9 went for $180.50) and I see a PSA 10 recently topped $2,200 on July 23, 2024. So on this particular card, I don’t really feel like thinking about what this slight damage on lower corners is costing me… That’s what makes a 10 a ten I guess! Damage barely visible at the right angle and a minimum of $150 disappears!
These No Boundaries cards were difficult, but not impossible to find. They were in hobby boxes only, 1:18 packs. It’s a very short and simple set…just ten solid players. Really neat background on these cards where the face is expanded and incorporated into the metallic foil background. To me, the coolest part of this insert set is the back. If you remember the base E-XL cards from this year, there were black, die-cut, raised windows around the photos. So at first glance, this insert set seems like a step back with everything on one level. Until you turn it over. The entire back is actually the die-cut, raised element! Cool surprise! There’s brackets around the text that are inset and the profile picture on the back is inset as well. The rest of the back has a golf-ball like texture. Really neat three-dimensional design that you never would expect until you turn the card over!
I refer to these ’90’s Skybox cards as the “E” Skybox cards. It started in 1994-95 with E-Motion. The next season, this 1995-96, Skybox considered E-XL an evolution of E-Motion. And the name would continue evolving…E-X2000 (well ahead of the year 2000 in 1996-97), E-X2001 (because they probably realized the futuristic sound E-X2000 was only a few years away so, QUICK…let’s just add a year) and E-X Century (which was still only 1998-99). The only thing left to do when the year 2000 arrived in 1999-2000 was to drop everything and call the cards E-X.
Back to this Jordan. Really happy to add this particular insert to our video collection!
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