One more Mailday

Thanks to some fast shipping from eBay, this arrived today:


This was one of Albert's hottest cards back in 2001 and for good reason: These were inserted as redemption into Donruss. They are uncommon, and one of his best true RCs in my opinion. For whatever reason I got this for $85 whereas a PSA 9 went for over $200 just days before.

Today I also took advantage of the BGS weekly special that grades Pujols cards for $7 at the 10 day level. I sent in both retrofractors (min grade 9) and my eTopps autograph (min grade 9.5). Hopefully they all meet or exceed the min grade!

Recent Pickups

Here's some of the cards I've recently acquired.

First are two issues from previous Fanfests held in Pittsburgh and San Francisco. I really like the look of the 2007 card. Both of these were from the Upper Deck booth. I believe I only need the 2009 Topps Factory Set Insert and the 2006 Topps Fanfest card to have a complete run of Fanfest issued cards (Playoff distributed green bordered portrait cards at the 2003 Fanfest, but they featured no Fanfest logo).

Next up is a card I've always wanted to own. I am usually not a fan of plain jersey cards (or most patch cards for that matter), but I've always been attracted to the 2005 Absolute set. The Babe Ruth Jumbo Jersey from this set, is arguably one of the top 10 cards of the decade. I got this for a nice price on a Saturday night.

I think one of my side Pujols goals is going to be to complete the Absolute Home Openers run. I already have the auto down and would love to acquire either of the Home Run parallels. I thought I did well grabbing this single version for a $30 BIN, but it arrived damaged (mark on back, chipping on front by the banner). Luckily, the seller was a class act and issued a $15 refund. I will be looking to get a clean version in the future.


Finally, my favorite non-autographed parallel from 2001. The Topps Chrome Retrofractor. I always thought this card looked amazing and being the proud owner of a Bobby Abreu, I knew they looked even better in person. That being said this is a gorgeous card. I've been trying to formulate a print run estimate but it's very tough to do since Topps Chrome had Hobby and Retail versions and very little serial numbered inserts. I'd like to think it's slightly less than the Topps Chrome Traded Retrofractor run. Beckett has graded 51 of these compared to 97 of the Chrome Traded, so maybe it's halve? Seems plausible. There were only 266 cards in the Chrome Traded set with Retros at 1:12 compared to over 300 for the regular Chrome set which were also 1:12 inserts. I imagine there's a significantly higher run of Chromes printed than Chrome Traded, but who knows. This is a gorgeous card. I'll probably submit both this and the Chrome Traded to Beckett. Hopefully they come back 9s.

Barring some insanely fast shipping, this will likely be my last mailday post for a couple of weeks. As I'll be returning to school. I will still update on various other Pujols related items.

BGS Pujols Mailday

I just received my most recent BGS grading order back. This order was actually not due to until August 24th, but BGS finished the grading on August 19th and I have the cards today.

First up is a regular Topps Traded. I was pretty pleased with this. I would never buy this card graded, much less a gem, so it was nice to add a gold label to my collection.

Next up is the Elite TOTC AU. I was incredibly pleased with this. I thought it may get knocked down a bit for what could have been a surface problem (x-fractor type line on the bottom), but I guess not.


I placed a minimum grade of 8.5 on this and it reached it. The edges and corners show white pretty easily on this.

Was hoping for a 9 on the Reserve, both on the auto and the card. I may resubmit for a sub bump in the future, but I will definitely be looking to upgrade this card in the future.

All in all it was a pretty successful submission. I am already gathering cards for my next one.

2009 Fanfest

Every all star game, the card companies usually produce a limited wrapper redemption set for distribution at Fanfest. This years set was decent, I would rate the 2003 redemption set as the best I've been to (also attended 2004,2005). Albert was a predominant figure in each of the companies releases. Upper Deck produced five different four card sets and distributed each on different days. Albert was included in the Friday set (opening day of Fanfest). This was the least attended day of Fanfest and it is likely that these cards will be much rarer than those distributed later. To obtain the Upper Deck set, collectors needed to open 3 packs of an Upper Deck product at the booth.
In addition to the base card, Albert was also featured on the randomly inserted painting card. These cards are each hand numbered to 500 and were randomly inserted equally across the days of the Fanfest.

For Topps, collectors had to open 3 packs of a Topps product to choose one of five Cardinal base cards. These cards were available each day.
In addition, Topps produced a manufactured patch card commemorating the All Star game. I was told these had a print run of 800. To obtain this card, collectors had to purchase a special edition of the Topps factory set for $50. Inside the set, there was also a sealed set of additional All Star cards featuring Pujols (I still have not obtained this card).

2001 Fleer Legacy Ultimate

The 2001 Fleer Legacy design is beautiful and the gold background Ultimate edition is great contrast to the white base card. The Ultimates are #'d /250 and sell between $150 and $200.

Updated: I sent this for grading and received an 8.5.

2001 Fleer Legacy

This is easily Albert's most controversial 2001 issue. In 2001, Fleer placed clear, peel off stickers on 300 of the regular Fleer Legacy cards. Collectors could choose to either peel the sticker off and keep the unsigned card or send it in and receive an autographed version once Albert got around to signing them. Once the redemptions were filled, these were very hot. However, around the time of Fleer's bankruptcy, there was a deluge of them listed on eBay. It is important to note, however, many of these are FAKE and FORGERIES. It is very easy for the trained eye to distinguish between the different cards. First, here are some authentic ones:


Notice how these two copies have neat, compact signatures in the lower, middle portion of the card. Next, here are some examples of the counterfeit versions that began to show up on eBay after Fleer's bankruptcy.



Most of the forgeries feature much larger, sloppier signatures in the dead center of the card. Most of the forgeries run about $200-300 on eBay, but they are essentially worthless. The authentic versions are much rarer (much less than the 300 redemptions available) and rarely are listed. When they are expect to pay at least $450 and upwards of $650 for one. All the base (unsigned) cards are fine and if you want to add one for your collection, they run about $125.

Many suspect the forgeries arose from unused cards that Fleer should have destroyed but did not. When Fleer went bankrupt, all its assets were auctioned off and it is likely that the remaining unsigned Pujols cards were in this auction. There is some evidence for this theory as both of these cards were listed on eBay at the same time:



There are some other variations that need to be covered. Some authentic copies do have a hand written serial number like this one:
Others are signed in red or blue ink, these are not authentic.

Caution should also be used when purchasing graded copies. Once rumors started about possible forgeries, PSA discontinued grading them. BGS, on the other hand, continued to grade these until 2009 when they mandated that the card would first need to be authenticated by James Spence before it could be graded. The whole process with BGS takes about 20 days and cost $50. I am pleased with the result though:


This is one of Albert's finest cards provided you can obtain an authentic copy.

2001 eTopps Albert Pujols AU

In 2005, Topps offered collectors the opportunity to purchase autographed Albert Pujols 2001 eTopps cards. The original eTopps were offered with a print run of 5,000 while the 2005 autograph offering had an offering of only 32. The autograph was priced at $199.99 and collectors needed to also own a Pujols 2001 eTopps in their portfolio. The cards are not serial numbered, but come with a COA that matches the Topps hologram on the pack. Collectors are also able to access the online eTopps database to ensure they are holding an authentic card. These cards were very hot in summer of 2005 and sales peaked at $1,500. Each card features a bold, on-card autograph, and with only 32 available, these rank as one of Albert's rarest rookie offerings.



Here is the COA, which is the size of a greeting card:


Here is the entry on the eTopps online database:

2001 Topps Reserve Rookie Autograph

This card has a stated print run of 160 (no #ing), but since it was a retail only insert, I suspect that significantly less than 160 have been pulled and are available. This card, along with the Fleer Legacy, Donruss Elite TOC, and SP Authentic Chirography are the only on card issues that allowed Albert an unboxed area to sign as big as he wanted. This issue should not be confused with the hobby rookie autographs, which were nothing more than a graded base card, with a signed sheet of paper the holder. 555 of the hobby version were available (the first 555 of the 1500 base card run) and 554 of them were graded PSA 8, with 1 receiving a PSA 9 grade. Expect this version to run between $250-350 depending on how Pujols is going at the time.
The rookie autograph should run about $1,500. My copy is currently being graded at BGS and I suspect I will receive a 9/9 since there is a slight smudge on my signature.

UPDATE: It came back as a BGS 8.5/8

2001 Donruss Signature Series #'d /330

In my opinion, this is one of the most underrated Pujols cards out there. Numbered to only 330, it is one of Albert's more limited RC autos. For comparison, the SPx has a print run of 1500; Bowman Chrome, 500. This card is also more condition sensitive than the other, more plentiful issues. The BGS population report is below:

8: 7
8.5: 22
9: 19
9.5: 3
10: 0

If you are looking to buy a mint copy, expect to pay a slight premium. One of the 9.5s closed on eBay for $2,500 in mid-July. With raw copies fetching between 450-550, depending on condition, this is an astronomical premium. For comparison, 9.5 chrome need to get about 2x the price of a raw copy. When purchasing, be mindful of the foil borders. Many copies of this card feature an imperfection along the bottom border like this one:
There is also a Proof version of this card, which is essentially the exact same card #'d /25. The only distinguishing characteristic on the front of the card is the word proof on the right border. Proof 13/25 sold for $3,105.55 in late July.
I was fortunate enough to buy a nice raw copy and have it graded BGS 9.