Incredible Sale

On the eve of Albert's second multi-homer game of the year, there was a huge sale on eBay.

2001 Bowman Chrome 141/500, Raw condition $7,000 4/11/2010

The seller has only 68 (100% +) feedback and doesn't have any previous card sales in the 90 day history.

Here's the description:

"You are bidding on one the hottest cards out there. This autographed card of Albert Pujols is numbered 141/500. Albert Pujols is one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game and this is his best card!

As you can tell in the picture, this card has perfect centering and razor sharp corners. I have taken very good care of this card. It should grade out very good! Insurance is including in the shipping and handling.

Good luck with the auction!"

While there could be some shenanigans going on, the bid history looks relatively legitimate. I believe this is a substantial new all time high for a raw copy. Even in spring 2006 they only reached about $4,000. This is an exclamation point on a gradual uptick in this card's price. For the second straight year, these have dipped significantly over the off season only to rebound as soon as the season starts. Could it be related to concerns about Albert's elbow? He has had a procedure done each of the past two offseasons. Whatever the reason, if you are in the market for one of these, it's probably best to buy during the offseason.

Signed, Authenticated Pujols RCs

Sorry for the lack of posts in January. I had acquired Pujols's 2001 Studio and 2001 Ultimate Collection RCs to get signed at the Winter Warm Up over MLK Weekend. Albert would sign for $175. Unfortunately he sold out and I did not win the ticket lottery. eBay seller invest.in.legends had a similar idea. He got Albert to sign three RCs and submitted them to BGS/JSA (the seller did not acquire these at the Warmup). Now that the auctions have closed, would this be a profitable idea? I'll use $175 as the cost of obtaining Albert's signature and $20 as the cost of JSA authentication (not including shipping).

2001 Topps Reserve $306

This is probably the best looking of the three. For some reason, Albert did not insrcibe this with the +5(cross) like he did on the other cards. This also looks a lot like pack inserted retail rookie autograph. This card closes anywhere from $100-150, so if you were to do this, you would most likely break even.

2001 Bowman Heritage $290

Again, this is a great looking card. I was hoping to pick this up for around $200. I was really surprised at how high each went. Since this card costs about $30 to acquire, it is undoubtedly the most profitable out of these three.

2001 Topps Traded Gold $286.99

This was most interesting to me. This was the most valuable card (sells for $120-140 with more consistency than the Reserve) and the dark background doesn't lend itself very well to the signature. It looks like other bidders agreed with me as it closed for the least out of the three.

Complete Run of Pujols National or Fanfest Promos

I finally completed the complete set of all Pujols National or Fanfest promotional cards. Here they are:
2001 Bowman Heritage National (Limited to 500, distributed in sealed packs)

2005 Donruss Fanfest (Open 5 Packs of DLP Product)

2006 Topps Fanfest (Open 5 Packs of Topps Product on Sunday)

2006 Upper Deck Fanfest (Open 5 UD Packs on Friday, Sunday, or Tuesday)

2006 Upper Deck National (#'d /500)

2007 Upper Deck Fanfest (Open 5 UD Packs on Friday, Sunday, or Tuesday)

2009 Topps Fanfest (3 Packs of Topps Product any day)

2009 Upper Deck Fanfest (3 Packs of UD Product on Friday)

2009 Topps Fanfest Patch (Must purchase factory set)

2009 Topps ASG Factory Set Bonus (Purchase Set for $50)

Fake Topps Reserve Autograph Listed

Here is the auction in question. Someone must have gotten hold of a blank card stock, signed Pujols's name, and then added an authentication sticker from another Topps autograph. It is clear this signature is not authentic. The seller attempts to cover himself by saying he is not an autograph expert. Obviously, he knows it is fake. My best guess would be this is a big time seller using a new account to dump this.

2001 Donruss Studio Masterstrokes Prime

I was thrilled to acquire this card. Pujols only has 100 2001 issued patch cards. There are 25 on this card and 75 on the Studio Diamond Cut Collection card (actually two cards, 25 are autographed 50 are not). Needless to say this is an awesome card. The two other copies I have seen feature much smaller patches. For around 60% of a Bowman Chrome auto, this is a heck of a deal. The trouble is finding one.

2001 Ultimate Collection

The 2001 Ultimate Collection set is beautiful. When it was released, it featured three of the year's top cards in the Mark Prior, Mark Teixeira, and Ichiro autographed rookies. Each card is #'d /250 and signed on card. With Prior's injury, his fell by the wayside. Despite Teixeira's outstanding play, his hovers around the $200 mark. The Ichiro, however, has soared. Many of the copies are locked in personal collections, so when a nice one (many have a faded autograph) shows up on eBay, they usually close for over $1,500.

Albert did not have an autographed card for some reason. His base card is still #'d /250 and features the exact same design. Despite being unsigned, it is the second most valuable card in the set going for $250-300. As with all cards in this set (autographs included), chipping is a problem. Expect to pay a high premium for a good looking copy. The BGS population report lists only 4 9.5 "Gem Mints" out of 27 copies graded (15%).

I'm hoping to get this signed by Albert. I purchased a lot of base Ultimate cards to try to test various kinds of pens on them. What if UD had made this an autographed card rather than an unsigned base card? How much would it go for today? Ichiro's card commands the high price because it is one of his only signed RCs (SPx). I think the BC would still be the best RC, but if this were signed, it would probably be his second best card. I think it would sell for around $1,300.

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.