Trading Card Glossary › Products & Breaks
Junk Wax Era
Also known as: Junk Wax, Overproduction Era
The Junk Wax Era refers to the period roughly from 1987 to 1993 when trading card manufacturers (Topps, Donruss, Fleer, Score, Upper Deck) drastically overproduced cards to meet unprecedented collector demand. Millions of cases were printed, often exceeding actual demand, flooding the market with cards that most collectors assumed would be valuable. Today, the vast majority of cards from this era are worth very little due to the oversupply. However, a small number of rare inserts, error cards, and high-grade stars from this period remain valuable.
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