Football Flashback: Elite Passing the Torch Autographs – Beckett Pricing Insider

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2021 Elite Football has been out for around a month now and is priced in the Beckett database. One of the most popular parts of the brand are the Passing the Torch Signatures. This year’s checklist includes Tom Brady, Terry Bradshaw, and Barry Sanders.

Passing the Torch first appeared in 1999. That year is widely considered one of the best insert sets in modern football cards. Early editions of the set contained single- and double-player autographs with some of the most iconic players in the game.

Let’s take a look at three of the biggest cards to ever come from this set, and how their values have changed over time.

1999 Donruss Elite Passing the Torch Autographs #4A Walter Payton/Barry Sanders

This is easily considered the best Passing the Torch Autograph ever. It has on-card autographs from two of the best running backs of all-time. Anyone getting an autograph from Walter Payton alone will be happy, but adding Barry Sanders just makes it that much better. The serial number on the back of the card says 1500, but only the first 100 are signed.

When this card was released, it was valued at $1,500 and has gone up over the years. In 2016 it was raised to $2,500 and has been solid there ever since.

2004 Donruss Elite Passing the Torch Autographs #PT10 Tom Brady /100

This is Tom Brady’s first appearance in Passing the Torch. To think that this card was only valued at $150 back in 2006. Researching this article, I realized that the value needed to be raised again. It went from a high book value of $1,000 to $2,500. There is also a dual autograph card with Brady and Drew Bledsoe in this set that is numbered to 50.

2000 Donruss Elite Passing the Torch Autographs #PT5 Joe Montana

Number three on the list is the quarterback GOAT before Brady. Montana autographs are always in high demand, especially on-card. This card has seen some ups and downs, originally priced at $300 and dipped a little to $200. Over the past year or so, this card’s value has jumped up to $400.