Autograph Registry Sets and Serial Numbered Cards
VitoCo1972
Posts: 6,135 ✭✭✭
Now that PSA has officially separated Autographs into their own entity on the registry, it's time to have a discussion about a general theory on which should be the cards necessary to complete the signed sets. This debate has been had a bit in the FB HOF thread but needs to be applicable to all sports/sets.
For cards prior to 1995 or so, there are really no issues. But I'll use this as an example and I think it works pretty well.
If I want to complete an All Time Boston Celtics PSA Graded card set, the card chosen for Paul Pierce is a 1998 SP Authentic (a card numbered to 3500). For a graded card set, that's a reasonable population. But when PSA translates that in to the same Autographed set, it gets far trickier. The first issue is that a much higher percentage of post 1995 cards have PSA 9/10 grades compared to prior years. Therefore, unless you're crazy, you're not going to crack out a PSA 10 to get signed. It would probably hurt the value (I've never seen a PSA 10 on card after-market signed card, have you?). So the best you'll do is a 9. Secondly, every time one is signed, the unsigned population increases in scarcity and drives up the value. There are about 5 other reasons I think it's a little ridiculous but I'm curious what others think.
I don't care if the base card is Bowman, Topps, Finest, Donruss Elite or whatever. A Short Printed card should not be part of autograph registries. The premier example is probably Tom Brady's 2000 SP Authentic. It's a $700 card unsigned because of the short printed serial. How many collectors could afford that plus the signing and grading fees. It eliminates regular autograph chasers from attempting it. It's exclusionary. His rookie on a signed registry should be Bowman or Bowman Chrome (and we should also eliminate Chrome cards where possible - the don't take pens very well). Regular glossy or matte cards should always be preferable.
Curious what you guys think.
For cards prior to 1995 or so, there are really no issues. But I'll use this as an example and I think it works pretty well.
If I want to complete an All Time Boston Celtics PSA Graded card set, the card chosen for Paul Pierce is a 1998 SP Authentic (a card numbered to 3500). For a graded card set, that's a reasonable population. But when PSA translates that in to the same Autographed set, it gets far trickier. The first issue is that a much higher percentage of post 1995 cards have PSA 9/10 grades compared to prior years. Therefore, unless you're crazy, you're not going to crack out a PSA 10 to get signed. It would probably hurt the value (I've never seen a PSA 10 on card after-market signed card, have you?). So the best you'll do is a 9. Secondly, every time one is signed, the unsigned population increases in scarcity and drives up the value. There are about 5 other reasons I think it's a little ridiculous but I'm curious what others think.
I don't care if the base card is Bowman, Topps, Finest, Donruss Elite or whatever. A Short Printed card should not be part of autograph registries. The premier example is probably Tom Brady's 2000 SP Authentic. It's a $700 card unsigned because of the short printed serial. How many collectors could afford that plus the signing and grading fees. It eliminates regular autograph chasers from attempting it. It's exclusionary. His rookie on a signed registry should be Bowman or Bowman Chrome (and we should also eliminate Chrome cards where possible - the don't take pens very well). Regular glossy or matte cards should always be preferable.
Curious what you guys think.
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"1948 LEAF 8 OR 1949 BOWMAN 224 SATCHEL PAIGE"
"1948 LEAF 120 OR 1949 BOWMAN 26 GEORGE KELL"
"1948 LEAF 138 OR 1949 BOWMAN 233 LARRY DOBY"
It seems to me like that system works just fine for those issues, why is it different for more modern cards? It seems like all of these should for example have multiple options:
1983 TOPPS RYNE SANDBERG 83
1983 TOPPS TONY GWYNN 482
1983 TOPPS WADE BOGGS 498
1987 FLEER BARRY LARKIN 204
1988 SCORE TRADED ROBERTO ALOMAR 105T
Why was the topps issue selected for Ryne Sandberg and the Fleer issue for Barry Larkin? It seems pretty inconsistent how it is. I would rather the option to select any of the manufacturers for both cards.
For more recent sets when there are 20+ examples of rookie cards, I again think any should qualify. You could give a weight to better issues, but I think more appropriate would be to allow any card graded by PSA and recognized as a rookie to qualify.
If some collectors are against this I would say make 2 different registry sets for example baseball HOF rookies:
Hall of Fame Players - Post War Best Rookies Autographs
Hall of Fame Players - Post War Any Rookies Autographs