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.

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.

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.

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