Today we’re looking at the Dennis Rodman gold parallel, #29G, from 1997-98 Ultra. This is one of my favorite gold parallel sets. In 1995-96, Ultra started gold parallels with Gold Medallion, and these were loaded with gold foil. The whole background was replaced with gold foil marked with a giant “Ultra” logo. This design was intense, so the next year, 1996-97, Ultra was much more subtle. They just changed the foil around the player’s name to gold. A very small difference… In 1997-98 Ultra Gold, they kind of did both! The background changing to gold returned, but you could still see some of the original photograph. I really like it. It isolates the player, but you still have the context of the original. And the gold has a sparkling, rough texture to make the glossy player stand out even more. And the foil making up the player’s name is gold as well, just like the previous season. So it’s like they combined ’95-96 and ’96-97 in a way. You could find one in every hobby pack, so they’re not extremely rare, but they sure stood out when you got one!
Some notes… 1997-98 is the year that 1/1 Masterpiece parallels were introduced in Ultra. And the four checklist cards (#149, #150, #274 and #275) were not included in the parallel sets.
This Dennis Rodman is a favorite card of mine because of the photo. It’s a reminder about how aggressive Rodman could be when he wanted a rebound. Feet flying, arms extending further than you think they could… Good memories when his rebounds would make the highlight reel! Although the reverse is identical to the base cards, the bullet points are worth reading before we go. As of this printing, he led the league in rebounding for sixth straight seasons and yes, this would become seven. He led the league in defensive rebounds for a third time setting a record. And he had a season-high 26 rebounds against Milwaukee on January 10, 1997.
Subscribe and collect with us! Because we’re making a separate video for every card, we cover a lot of ground: basketball history and card design are just the tip of the iceberg. But the channel is something a bit different from the usual big-money investing or box breaks. I’m having a good time, and I hope it allows you to spend time with some of your cards that have been overlooked too.
You must be logged in to post a comment.