The 1990 Topps baseball card set is one of the most iconic and collector sought after issues from the late 1980s and early 1990s. The design features crisp white borders and classic headshot photography that gives the set a very clean and timeless aesthetic. While not the most valuable set of the junk wax era on average, it certainly contains several highly coveted rookie and parallel rare cards that continue to excite collectors.
One of the biggest gems from the 1990 Topps set is the Frank Thomas rookie card, card number 213. Thomas would go on to have a Hall of Fame calibre career batting over 500 home runs and winning two American League MVP awards. His rookie card has long been a holy grail for collectors and in top mint condition can fetch thousands of dollars. Another hugely valuable rookie is the Kirby Puckett card, number 109. Puckett was already established in 1990 but this served as his first Topps base card. Like Thomas, Puckett would have a stellar career and be inducted into Cooperstown. Low number Puckett rookies in near mint to mint condition can sell for well over $1000.
One of the more interesting aspects of the 1990 Topps set that fueled additional collector interest were the tough to find parallel and photo variation cards inserted at low random ratios. The ‘Gold Stamp’ parallel cards featured the player’s photo screened with a gold embellishment. These parallel cards are incredibly scarce, with estimates of only one printed for every 500-1000 regular base cards. Some notable gold stamps include Ken Griffey Jr. (card number 356), Nolan Ryan (number 588), and Ozzie Smith (number 448). In top grades, Griffey and Ryan gold stamps can sell for upwards of $10,000 given their rarity.
AnotherParallel inserted was the ‘Gold Border’ parallel which placed a thin gold stripe along the borders of the photograph. These appear to also be roughly one per 500 packs or more. The Cal Ripken Jr. (number 278) and Wade Boggs (number 101) gold borders seem to attract the highest prices out of the set when available, each potentially selling for over $1000 in mint condition. One of the rarest parallels though had to be the ‘Black Border’ cards, which featured an all-black photo stripe. Only a tiny handful are known to exist, with Roberto Alomar (number 276) and Don Mattingly (number 379) thought to have less than 5 copies each printed. If one was to surface in pristine shape, it could fetch a bid well over $10,000.
A final parallel worth mentioning is the ‘Gold Stamp + Gold Border’ dual parallel, which contains both treatments on the same card. Only a minuscule number are believed to exist across the entire set. The Nolan Ryan (number 588) dual parallel was the holy grail in the set but remained uncollected for decades. Amazingly, in late 2018 one finally surfaced and it ended up selling at auction for a staggering $50,600, setting the new record price for a 1990 Topps card.
Beyond parallels, there were also several photo variations mixed into packs that took on added scarcity. The most famous is the ‘Tall Flag’ error Andy Van Slyke card, number 172. On the regular printed version, Van Slyke is holding a normal sized baseball team flag. A small batch were accidentally printed where the flag is noticeably taller. These tall flag variants command huge premiums, with one PSA 10 gem mint copy selling at auction in 2019 for $10,200. Another popular variation is the Jeff Bagwell card, number 171, where on some copies his skin tone looks more reddish compared to the typical printing. Redskin Bagwells command $300-500 depending on condition.
While the 1990 Topps set lacks huge star names or teams compared to the 1987 or 1989 issues, it makes up for it with incredible scarce parallel and photo insert variance cards. With the collapse of the junk wax era in the early 90s, the additional levels of scarcity attributed to these rare 1990 editions fuelled strong collector demand that still exists today. With the majority of keys selling consistently for $1000 or more over the past decade in top condition, the 1990 set remains a must for any vintage baseball card investor looking to get in on the ground floor before values potentially keep rising in the years to come.
While not as star studded as other late 80s/early 90s issues, the 1990 Topps set contains several of the most coveted and valuable individual cards for collectors due to the array of extremely rare parallel and photo variance cards inserted at very low print rates. Keys like the Frank Thomas and Kirby Puckett rookies, along with the Gold Stamp parallels of Griffey, Ryan and Smith will likely only increase in value long term. Meanwhile, one-of-ones like the Black Border Alomars or dual parallel Ryan ensure this set always has the potential to produce legendary six and even seven figure discoveries. Overall it’s a set that intrigues collectors as much today as when packs were first opened in 1990.
