Beckett Comments on Upper Deck cut autograph cards

[Archive]

Posted By: Richard Simon

This is a comment from a Beckett ad on ebay about autograph cut cards from Upper Deck. Beckett is advertising a Gehrig cut card and includes these words in their ad.



"Many auto cuts of late have been mis-cut, not fitting on the card, and simply, not of top quality presentation. This one does not have those common problems. No part of the signature runs off the paper."

If anyone on this board collects these cards, please explain to me why you are willing to pay 2-3 times the retail price of the autograph to get a card with a mis-cut autograph, an autograph that does not fit on the card or an autograph where the signature runs off the paper."

==

I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.

Unknown author

--

We made a promise. We swore we'd always remember.

No retreat baby, no surrender.

The Boss

[Archive]

Posted By: Fred C

Richard,



You're kidding right? This is "upper deck", there's NO WAY they'd get something wrong. We should have 100% faith in companies like these that cut documents, destroy bats, and cut uniforms in to little swatches in order to promote thier crap. What would happen if we were to find out that the "bat sliver" card of Babe Ruth's bat wasn't actually the Babe's bat? There's no way they can get this crap wrong.



People pay 2x - 3x because the stuff is supposed to be real because upper deck says it is. Kind of like the grading companies. We're supposed to completely have blind faith in them. Personally, I think people pay 2x - 3x more than they should for this crap because people are STUPID.



grumble, grumble, grumble.... ok, what's right with this hobby?:

• People that put forth an effort to piece together some history behind what we collect.
  
  
• People that contribute to these threads like Ted Z and his T206 info
  
  
• People like the OJ Trio (Jay, Richard, Joe and crew) that put together one of the best hobby books ever.
  
  
• Lots of good people that share the wealth of information we all cherish.
  
  
• People like Barry that hold nice clean auctions (even though I get denied most of the times)...
  
  
• Most of the people on this board!
  
  

Ahhh... now I'm feeling better about this hobby again...



Hold on, the old ball and chain is calling... ok, time to crack another cold one and now I'm back to my foul mood...back to Richard's question of why people would pay 2x-3x more for stuff that just aint worth the premium...



burp....

[Archive]

Posted By: DJ

First off, nobody EVER pays 2-3 times the value of a signature for a cut affixed to a card. It's often a lot more.

I once saw a Mother Theresa cut ($150 autograph at most) sell for over $10,000. The reason why Upper Deck (and now others, like Tri-Star) are so successful...is because people (collectors) chase name brands and feel comfortable buying these autographs.

This makes the point...

http://cgi.ebay.com/2008-LEGENDARY-CUTS-CUT-AUTO-LOU-BOUDREAU-43-54_W0QQitemZ220364666078QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_SM_S ports_Cards?hash=item220364666078&_trksid=p3286.c0 .m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3 A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

What's a Lou Boudreau signed Hall of Fame plaque worth? $4? $6? Someone chops off the signature, glues it to a plaque and bidding is at $30 (with time). Why doesn't someone just want the plaque itself, instead of this ugly clipped signature?

Next, read the book all about Upper Deck that came out like 10-12 years ago. Pete....(Williams?). You will be blown away by what you read and how shady this company comes across.

Lastly, there is a book in the works about baseball autographs that will come out next year and it will blow people's mind. Can't say anymore right now.

DJ

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Posted By: DJ

This one is even better.

Cleveland Indians logo, but they simply chopped up a Reds card so you only get torso. This is just sloppy.

http://cgi.ebay.com/TED-KLUSZEWSKI-2008-SP-LEGENDARY-CUTS-AUTOGRAPH-D-3-3_W0QQitemZ370160364907QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_SM_Sp orts_Cards?hash=item370160364907&_trksid=p3286.c0. m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A 1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Small cuts that fit, fine...but this?

DJ

[Archive]

Posted By: mark s.

...is the title of the book, by pete williams, about upper deck & it's ceo, richard mcwilliams.
the book is not only informative as well as pretty scary...
i'm afraid it's quite accurate!
NOTHING, that mr. mcwilliams might do, including fraud, would surprise me.

[Archive]

Posted By: Scott Fandango

The 2001 Legendary Cuts Set is a great example....place a $50 cut signature in card and "hand" serial number it to 68, and it becomes a $500 card....


a modern set collector almost HAS to go for this set....thus the demand for the cut signature increase (sometimes 10 fold) because its in a "set"....

the serial numbering (perceived scareness tactic) is one of the reasons Donruss lost its MLBPA license....2004 Leaf Exhibits may have been the breaking point

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Posted By: DJ

That is it. It's an amazing book. You have in one small portion of the book the fact that they had agreed upon to make a very small amount of French backed Upper Deck hockey cards for the Canadian market, but once they saw what they were selling for, they then decided to flood the market where the prices then crashed. They did that with all rarities, driving lower the price.

McWilliams comes across as a complete maniac in the book. Control freak who basically finds cause and reason to eliminate all of those who work closely with him. A must read!

A few days ago I received in the mail a pamphlet announcing a signed litho limited to 500 featuring Muhammad Ali, Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan...the price...$5,999!

DJ

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Posted By: Fred C

I think a lot of us got that Ali, Tiger, Jordan ad piece. I didn't realize they wanted so much for it...

How long is the book "Card Sharks"? I remember that French Hockey crap back in the early 90s. I knew someone that had over 250 cases of it and the story about how it got a warehouse just south of San Diego. People were actually paying about $2K a case for that crap and it was BRAND stinking new.

I've got a lot of that UD promo crap from the early 90s. I wonder what it would fetch these days? Probably not much and probably not worth the effort of looking for it.

I couldn't imagine people actually trying to make a set of the autographs. I suppose anything's possible. Heck, somone could get it slabbed by PSA. Then the person could try to have the best UD autograph card set that is in a PSA registry set... WOW!!!

[Archive]

Posted By: mark s.

fred c-
it's a short, easy read...
BUY IT!
believe me, it will be WELL worth your time.
used copies on amazon currently as cheap as 65 cents!
edited to add:
we're going to need something BESIDES ponies to discuss this summer at del mar...