My tribute to the 2002 Diamond Kings

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

RGBII

Pro
71
5.00 star(s)
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
309
Location
Lanham, Maryland
2002 Donruss Diamond Kings was the inaugural issue
of a set dedicated solely to artists portraits of MLB
players. While the Diamond Kings had existed since
1982, this was the first release that was issued as
a complete set. It was by anyone's standard a small
set, 150 cards (160 with the update released 5 months
later in December 2002).

There were 6 artists contracted to portray the players
featured in the set.

Don Adair
Ron Adair (identical twins!)
Mark Chickinelli
Frank Scicchitano
Mike Schroeder
Mark Turnes

Here is my small tribute to Donruss and these fine
artists . . .


2002DKBeckettCoverAd.jpg
2002DiamondKingsBeckettarticle.jpg
2002DiamondKingsBeckettarticlepage2.jpg
2002DKBoxesBinders0002.jpg
2002DKBoxesBinders0004.jpg
2002DiamondKings.TheParallells.jpg
2002Heritage1.jpg
Timeline.jpg
Timelineback.jpg
 
Last edited:
DSCN2956.jpg
DSCN2955.jpg
2002DKDC80Wood.jpg
2002DKDC47Clemens.jpg
2002DKDC31Rodriguez.jpg
2002DKDC27Pujols.jpg
2002DKDC96Clemente.jpg
2002DKDC97Ruth.jpg
2002DKOriginalPaintingWood1of1.jpg
2002DKOriginalPaintingSoriano1of1.jpg

At this point in time, I have had the pleasure to acquire:

All 150 base cards and short prints (101-150) in multiple quantities
All 10 of the Update set (issued in Dec. 2002) in multiple quantities
All subsets, Heritage, Timeline, T 204's et al.
All 150 + 10 card Update Bronze (not numbered, but 5-6 per box), Silver (#'d to 400) & Gold (#'d to 100) Parallels and here is where it gets a little scary!
All 100 Diamond Cut Collection, 30 Autographs (from Vlad to Pujols), 50 jerseys and 20 bats (including Ruth & Clemente)
15 of the 48 Recollection Collection Diamond Kings Buy backs (on-card autographs numbered ridiculously low). These are by far the toughest cards from this glorius set.
2 of the original 2002 Diamond Kings Paintings- Soriano & Kerry Wood
3 1 of 1's from the 2002 Chicago National Sports Collectors Convention
Nolan Ryan 1 of 1 GU Jersey Card
Bo Jackson 1 of 1 GU Jersey Card
Curt Schilling 1 of 1 GU Jersey Card

90 Different Silver Beckett Sample Cards
41 Different Gold Beckett Sample Cards
46 Bronze Foil Chicago NSSC Cards #'d to 5 + 6 Dupes (can't very well call them dupes when they are foil stamped to 5) 3 Hildago's, 2 Ramirez's & 2 Dewon Brazelton's
44 Hawaii Trade Conference ( The Hawaii Trade Conference show used to be owned by Kit Young, the finest vintage baseball card collector and salesman on this planet, the show has since been sold to Krause Publishing (Tuff-Stuff).
59 #'d Hawaii Trade Conference cards#'d to 20 or less
Unopened pack of Hawaii Trade Conference cards.

Thanks for the looks & Collect Hard!,
RGBII
 
Last edited:
That is one crazy collection.... 1/1's...5/5...20/20.......autos/gu...Must have deep pockets! I'm trying to finish a serial set limited to only 10 of 100 players and its taken 6 years to get about 73% of the cards!! Best regards, David
 
Very impressive. It's too bad cards don't look so nice anymore. I do have a schilling silver beckett sample if you need it.
 
I appreciate the responses.

I have had the pleasure of chasing this stuff for
8+ years now and I can truthfully state that it
has given me more insight into the hobby, disregard
for sanity and genuine joy than any other quest
I have attempted.

I have been doing this (collecting Baseball cards)
for 39 years and this is still the most visually
appealing set that I've ever known. I think the folks
at Donruss (God!, I want them back!) deserve the
kudos and accolades.

One lesson that I'd like to pass on from the
acquisition of this set is this . . .

Collecting is a marathon, not a sprint!

Thanks again folks.

Collect Hard!,
RGBII
 
Last edited:
Ah, the ever present battle of set collector vs player collector. I think Garvey had a couple recollection autos in the set, but I want to say they were all 1/1s. I'm guessing we (the OP and I) traded bids on a couple of them! There is still one out there somewhere, if this is the set I think it is.

Let me know if you ever decide to part with the 8/8 Murray Recollection!
 
Also here are some scans of some of my favorite autos in my Bonds collection:

RonAdair.jpg
DickPerez5.jpg
DickPerez6.jpg
 
Top