Rare As F**k Modern (post-1980) Boxing

[Exhibitman]

Let's kick around some rarities from the modern era, besides the 'rainbow' of ultra-modern limited edition cards.

1991 Kayo Signature Series


Kayo boxes and packs advertise autographed cards. TCDB has images of the following:

014 Charles Williams
015 Meldrick Taylor
089 Donovan Ruddick
180 James Toney

It also lists 190 Carlos Palomino but the photo is of a regular card. Jeff Allender's checklist site also lists the Palomino but without a picture. Not sure if the card actually exists. Please post a pic if you have one. I have developed my doubts given that the others were all active at the time.

There is also an unsigned Pernell Whitaker known.

The year before I published my last guide, signed cards of Prince Charles Williams and James Toney both surfaced (at the time, 3 copies of Williams, 2 of Toney). I scooped up 2 of the Williams cards and one of the Toney cards at the time. I've since sold one of the Williams cards but still have a Williams and a Toney. I am not sure whether the Williams that sold on eBay last week is part of the recycled find.



2016 The Greatest Boxing Ringwalk Songs


An interesting UK set icreated as a promotion of a CD compilation of music. The company selling the CDs, Split Records, advertised a free set of cards with online purchases, while supplies last. My guesstimate is that the print run was well south of 200 sets. As far as I can tell, PSA has never graded one. These were gobbled up fast and never seem to surface. Fantastic checklist of fighters at the time and even one of Brad Pitt as Mickey, the Gypsy champion bareknuckles boxer, in the Guy Richie film Snatch. Speaking of Gypsy fighters, the set also has the first card of Tyson Fury.

[sthoemke]

The tcdb.com/Checklist show the 190 Carlos Palomino signature card.

[Exhibitman]

Wonder what i saw?

Any chance you have a checklist on the Ringwalk Songs set?

[sthoemke]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Wonder what i saw?

Any chance you have a checklist on the Ringwalk Songs set?

There is no existing checklist for the set?!?

I'd have to type one...

[sthoemke]

FYI, The Ringwalk set was a promotional give-a-way item distributed to 50 media outlets (radio stations, social media, websites, online stores). The outlets held drawings/contests to determine the winners. Most were UK-based businesses. Most were given two CD's, each with the card set, some only one. Traces of press releases of the the promotion can be found on the web or Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.

I personally haven't seen any indication the set was initially available with an online purchase. (I had checked Wingwalk's website and the record label when the CD was first released, but perhaps I missed the offer, if there was one)

[sthoemke]

It is also noteable that the Ringwalk set was produced by Top Trumps, a major game card company in the UK.

Initially, I thought a mass produced (or limited edition) set would probably be produced, which never happened.

[sthoemke]

Here is an image my set. I'll try to make a list when I get the chance.

[sthoemke]

Ringwalk checklist:

Tyson Fury
Muhammid Ali
Manny Pacquiao
Mike Tyson
Lennox Lewis
Deontay Wilder
Nigel Benn
Carl Froch
Dereck Chisora
David Price
George Groves
Ricky Hatton
David Haye
Scott Quigg
Tony Bellew
Micky Ward
Callum Smith
Neven Pajkic
Naseem Hamed
Mickey O'Neill
Brandon Rios
Paul Smith
David Allen
Hughie Fury
Chris Eubank
Amir Khan
Mikkel Kessler

[Exhibitman]

Thanks.

I wonder what the set is worth?

[sthoemke]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Thanks.

I wonder what the set is worth?

Good question. When was the last time any of the cards came up for sale?

[Exhibitman]

Really good question...

[sthoemke]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Really good question...

Worthpoint shows nothing. Ebay's Terapeak shows nothing for the last 3 years.

Not a single sale.

[Exhibitman]

I am kind of surprised, but not. My guess is that a considerable number of people who won these card sets weren't collectors and tossed them aside without any consideration. The lack of history on sales probably exacerbates the situation: a non-collector who runs a search on them and finds nothing may well assume that they are nothing and toss them back in the junk box.

Someone is going to have to do the work to get the cards into PSA holders, and then to get some of them into PSA registry sets, and then be the first to sell. Once that happens it should flush some of them out of the woodwork.

[sthoemke]

None at PSA, yet.

I will probably eventually get my set slabbed.

[D. Bergin]

Back to the 90's "Autographed" releases.

I just noticed this sticker on the front of some of my 1991 "Ringlords" sets.

In addition to confirming how incredibly over-produced they were (if indeed they did actually print that many), it also confirms the crazy low odds of pulling an Autographed card from one of the sets.

1 per 333 "sets", which retailed for about $15-$20 when they first came out.

Not sure I've seen a legitimate factory autographed card of these either.

TCBD has an autographed Holyfield listed that is numbered to 150 in Gold sharpie, but I'm not convinced that's not from an after-market signing (if real to begin with), since bulk lots of these are not hard to come by.

https://www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm/si...ld?PageIndex=1

These were also released in little cello packs in the U.K., though I see no evidence of any autographed chase cards offered in those packs, based on the header cards of the packs I have.

Also, I'm not clear if only the sets with the "Special Offer" sticker on it were part of the autograph release, or ALL the sets that don't also have that sticker are part of the release. Either way there's still tons of sealed sets out there that have never been opened, lowering the known population (if there is one) to much less than 900.

[sthoemke]

I once pulled an odd card out of one of the Ringlords promo cello packs (UK?). At the time, I didn't think much of it at the time. I thought maybe it was a miscut or some type of printing error. All I can recall is that the back was different from the other cards (vertical text, I think, with maybe an oval design element. I don't think it was numbered.). From memory, I can't match the back to any cards from either the UK or US set, including promos and sales samples. Perhaps it was a Signet card, but I don't think it had mail-in instructions. I still have it, but I doubt I could locate it.

Update: I might have bought it out of a dollar bin. I really can't remember exactly. I remember seeing the promo packs for sale at the place I bought it from.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by sthoemke

I once pulled an odd card out of one of the Ringlords promo cello packs (UK?). At the time, I didn't think much of it at the time. I thought maybe it was a miscut or some type of printing error. All I can recall is that the back was different from the other cards (vertical text, I think, with maybe an oval design element. I don't think it was numbered.). From memory, I can't match the back to any cards from either the UK or US set, including promos and sales samples. Perhaps it was a Signet card, but I don't think it had mail-in instructions. I still have it, but I doubt I could locate it.

Oh wow, I missed the whole “redeemable” portion of the sticker. Guess there weren’t ANY actual signed cards to pull in the sets or the packs.

[D. Bergin]

I guess the question now is……anybody have an actual redemption card at least?

[sthoemke]

Here is an autographed Signet card:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/16592566754...kaAhgIEALw_wcB

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by sthoemke

Here is an autographed Signet card:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/16592566754...kaAhgIEALw_wcB

Thanks for posting that. Neat that all the pieces regarding the redemption were kept together. Especially since at quick glance it seems there’s nothing about the card itself, that seems any different from a standard issue card, outside of the autograph.

More questions raised that I don’t have time to go into right now, but may circle back on later.

[JustinD]

I thought this listing was neat as it shows the redemption card (which sure seems easy to fake and send in multiples). Also, interesting that it is for just a random card and has no information as to subject.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/23557599177...Bo7-6ZA&edge=0

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Let's kick around some rarities from the modern era, besides the 'rainbow' of ultra-modern limited edition cards.

1991 Kayo Signature Series


Kayo boxes and packs advertise autographed cards. TCDB has images of the following:

014 Charles Williams
015 Meldrick Taylor
089 Donovan Ruddick
180 James Toney

It also lists 190 Carlos Palomino but the photo is of a regular card. Jeff Allender's checklist site also lists the Palomino but without a picture. Not sure if the card actually exists. Please post a pic if you have one. I have developed my doubts given that the others were all active at the time.

I know it was posted above but just to show they are out there, I found a pic of Palomino on the CU boards as well-