05.21
By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor
Topps‘ high-end baseball brand has arrived.
The company pulled back the curtain on 2012 Topps Five Star Baseball on Monday, a new high-end brand that will pack two autographs, one autographed Relic, one autographed booklet or extra autograph and a jumbo Relic, bat nameplate or bat knob card in every single box.
Of the standard autographs, one will be of an active player and one will be of a retired star with every card in the product signed directly on the cards themselves, not stickers.
Five Star is set to arrive on Oct. 31 and it will pack a high-end price. Factory cost for three-box cases of the product are starting north of $1,000, so a $400- to $500-per-pack cost should be expected.
See more after the jump.
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05.21
By Susan Lulgjuraj | Contributing Editor
One of the hottest television shows in the last year has been HBO’s Game of Thrones, a television adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s books.
A series like this has captured the imagination of so many people with its intrigue, violence, love and politics. Of course, it’s going to get the trading card treatment.
Rittenhouse Archives is readying its release of Game of Thrones Season One. The product, filled with autographs and shadow box cards, is scheduled to come out on June 6.
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05.20
By Susan Lulgjuraj | Contributing Editor
Sure seems like Topps is into its oldschool designs this football season.
First, we featured a post on tallboys coming back, inspired by 1965 Topps. Now, let’s fast forward two decades.
Topps is bringing back the 1984 Topps design for another special round of autographs from the NFL Players Rookie Premiere this past weekend.
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05.20
By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor
When 2012 Topps Archives arrives in hobby shops on Wednesday, some collectors will start getting their hands on a unique card that someone else already laid a hand on.
Cal Ripken Jr. to be exact.
As one of the inclusions in the multi-decade, multi-design throwback set, there will be 100 Touched By Greatness autograph cards that feature a signature from baseball’s ironman as well as an inked hand print from a Franklin batting glove that Ripken wore to do his “other inking.”
Ironclad Authentics was, well, on-hand to document the process. Check it out in a video after the jump.
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05.20
By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor
A circa 1920 New York Yankees road jersey worn by Babe Ruth sold for a record $4.4 million early this morning through SCP Auctions.
Including a buyer’s premium, the final price was $4,415,658 after 36 bids — the most ever paid for a single piece of baseball memorabilia by a wide margin. In 2007, SCP sold a PSA 8 Honus Wagner T206 baseball card for $2.8 million.
The auction opened with a $250,000 minimum bid and the winner of the jersey was another auction house, Lelands.com.
“We are ecstatic about the acquisition of what we consider one of the most important pieces of sports memorabilia in history,” said Lelands President Michael Heffner in a statement. “We are always on the lookout for high-quality sports memorabilia and this artifact represents the pinnacle.”
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05.19
By Susan Lulgjuraj | Contributing Editor
The 2012 NFL Players Rookie Premiere is a great way to preview the upcoming football card season. With the pictures card companies are putting together, every little image helps in helping collectors find the cards they want to chase.
On the first day of the Premiere, the companies were big on getting on-card autographs.
In Panini America’s session, the company showed off dozens of photos. But take yours off the athlete and look at what they are signing. Some autographed strips of leather from a football or manufactured patch cards.
But what is so special about the picture above with Robert Griffin III?
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