2001 Fleer Legacy In Depth Report

I have been tracking all versions of Albert's 2001 Fleer Legacy card for about one year. As explained in this post, there is quite a deal of controversy surrounding this card. To summarize: unsigned copies of the card featuring the "authentic autograph" stamping were sold at Fleer's bankruptcy auction. These cards were forged and have been sold on eBay. Luckily, most collectors have gotten wind of this and the fake versions sell for about half as much as the authentic versions. As a refresher, below is a copy of an authentic version (top) and a fake version (bottom).




The authentic versions have a compact signature in the middle, lower portion of the card while the fakes contain a large, looping signature closer to the middle of the card.

Here is the data I have gathered regarding this card. To date I have tracked 129 (actually 126, 3 have popped up with the same serial number as both unsigned and non authentic signed) different copies of this card. Here is the summary:

Non Signed: 16
Signed: 113
Authentic Signed: 17, 15% of signed
Non Authentic Signed: 96, 85% of signed

This only represents 16% of the 799 print run, but it's clear the authentic signed versions of this card are very scare. Currently the unsigned version goes for about $125. Projecting my findings out to the whole print run, it appears that the unsigned version is just as scarce as the authentic signed version. (Here is my tracking sheet)

Another interesting issue surrounding this card is Beckett Media's coverage of the controversy. In the past year, I've browsed through a Beckett Baseball at the bookstore on two occasions. Both times I was shocked to see this:




If Beckett truly wants to be "Leading Source of Hobby Information", this is unacceptable. Either Beckett does not know about the controversy or Beckett is not doing its duty by providing its readership with accurate information. To the best of my knowledge, Beckett has never acknowledged this problem anywhere. For any card, let alone a card that is usually on its hot list, shouldn't it report on this? Even worse, perhaps the reason it has not reported on this card is because it does not know about it. To me, this is just another reason why Beckett is becoming less and less relevant in this hobby.

Edit
1. As Topnotchsy (excellent guide here) points out, it is misleading to suggest the unsigned version is just as rare as the signed version. There are suppose to be 499 unsigned versions and 300 authentic versions. Obviously, the authentic versions are much less, but there is nothing to suggest the unsigned copies are anything less than 499.

2. Further clarification on the authentic signed vs unsigned scarcity- most of the authentic signed versions I've tracked are in personal collections and will most likely not come up for sale, whereas almost all the unsigned versions tracked were on eBay. If you are in the market for an authentic signed version, you should probably jump at the first one you see.