Buzz Break: 1991 Pro Set Platinum Series 1 NFL (four packs)

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The lot: 1991 Pro Set Platinum Series 1 football cards (four packs)
Where to buy: Check junk bins ... hit BlowoutCards.com for newer football cards

Keep reading for a breakdown and gallery for what was in this one.

Packs per lot: 4
Cards per pack: 12
Cards in this lot: 48
Base set completion: 44 of 150 (29 percent)
Duplicates: 4

Notables on base cards – Dan Marino, Derrick Thomas, Jerry Rice, Bo Jackson, Howie Long, Rod Woodson, Andre Rison, Bruce Smith, Lawrence Taylor

Rookie Cards: None in product (What?!?)

Insert/short-prints cards: None in product (Seriously.)

Autographs/Memorabilia: None in product (No, really.)

What's Buzz-worthy: Imagine a product with no Rookie Cards, no inserts (at least found on a regular basis in a box or case) yet with a premium feel (for its time) and cost ... welcome to the exploding football card landscape of 1991. Why did I rip this? Well, I recently grabbed a mystery box of old football packs with some simple, Throwback Thursday-style retro Buzz Breaks of single packs in mind but it turned out to be a box of several packs from about five products in just a couple of years -- my prime NFL years, really, back in the day, but, overall, the box was a fail. So, I'll do just a handful of breaks of a few packs and this one is the first. What did I like here? The clean approach and really good photos -- you can see all kinds of small details like what kind of cleats Dan Marino wore, for example, in photos that are bright and sharp. You can see details in the action perhaps not like in other sets -- on both the fronts and backs -- and it's something that I think today's sets miss more than they hit. In fact, something interesting to me here is that photographs get credits on the cards ... you don't see that often. What you don't get here are traditional stats on cards ... one reason why it might not hold up to some. One thing I know I hated back in the day was the font used for the player names ... it's still bad but not among the worst things that hit cardboard in the 199os. ... The second series of this one is loaded with RCs to make up for this one but those packs weren't in my mystery box. I wouldn't mind tracking down some of those on the cheap. I was a little surprised to see these were cut relatively cleanly -- it's Pro Set and dull blades and chippy stock are pretty much the norm for then -- and the gloss did not stick, which I had almost expected. All in all, this wasn't great but it also wasn't the worst of the batch from my mystery box gone wrong.

Product Grade: B (it's simple but strong photography holds up in my book)
Lot Grade: B (a good volume of Hall of Famers for a small lot)
Fun Grade: C+ (not much here)

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