Buzz 12 in 12: Busting a 1994-95 Signature Rookies Kro-Max basketball box (Hour 6)

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today’s your day then as we launch 12 in 12 — a series of a dozen breaks of past wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We’ll post one every hour on the hour all day long today … this is Hour 6.

The box: 1994-95 Signature Rookies Kro-Max basketball
The cost now: $19.95
The cost then: $180 ($5 per pack?!?!)

What’s inside this one? Keep reading …

Packs per box: 36
Cards per pack: 7
Cards per box: 252
Cards in this box: 263
Base set completion:  49 of 50 (98 percent)
Duplicates: 49
Triplicates: 49
Quadruplicates: 49
Quintuplicates: 38
Sextuplicates: 12
Septuplicates: 1
Octuplicates: 1
Nonuplicates: 1

Highlights on base cards – Donyell Marshall, Juwan Howard, Eddie Jones, Jalen Rose, Dickey Simpkins, Wesley Person, Charlie Ward, Damon Bailey, Lawrence Funderburke, Jason Kidd, Glenn Robinson

Inserts/variations: 13 (all in gallery below with some base)
Variations (unplanned) (2) – Kevin Rankin, Bill McCaffrey (backs have different colors)
Flash from the Past (7) – Rick Barry, Isiah Thomas, Dave DeBusschere, Dave Cowens, Elvin Hayes (2), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (/10,000)
First-rounders (2) – Yinka Dare, B.J. Tyler (/2,500)
Super Acrylium (2) – Dominique Wilkins, Tim Hardaway (/10,000)

Autographs/Memorabilia: 1
Authentic Signature (1) – Monty Williams (/2,250 … a long-expired redemption)

What’s Buzz-worthy: Behold, the worst box in Buzz Break history … 36 packs per box, seven cards per pack — and even extra cards — and a 50-card set can’t be built. (Missing player? Michael Smith. Player found nine times? Derrick Alston.) The design here is distinctly bad 1990s PhotoChoppery with a ton of neon and with a wannabe Chrome stock that’s still slightly sticky after all these years — but at least there’s clear “protective seal” on the front of each card that you can peel off. (Remember that “technology” and the value debate from back in the day?) Peel it and the fronts look slightly better — but that does nothing for the slightly sticky card backs. The checklist here is perhaps apt for its time but if you look at the “highlights” names above and you’ll wonder how this one was made and bought … especially at $5 a pack. Sorting this one was “fun” and during that torture I noted two cards that have different-colored backs than other copies of the same card, making them unintentional variations. … Oh, and the best part? The one autograph per box was a redemption … fail. Added insult to injury? It was in the second pack of a 36-pack box. This collector is a sucker for Signature Rookies releases (though mostly for football) but this one was a one and done. Thankfully, there were only 16,250 serial-numbered boxes of this one made — so cross off box No. 4,067. Yours, if you dare, will undoubtedly be better. (I hope.)

Product Grade: C-
Box Grade: F
Fun Grade: D

What’s next? Be back in an hour …

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