Leslie Hindman Auctioneers ran The Official 14th Annual National Sports Collectors Convention Auction on July 22 and 24, 1993. This 1948 Leaf boxing complete set on an uncut sheet was one of its standout items.
The sheet was lot 482 and was described as follows, “1948 Leaf Boxing Complete Set Uncut Sheet, 49 cards make up this rare sheet. Joe Louis, Jake LaMotta, Tunney, Conn, Corbett, Jack Johnson, Sugar Ray Robinson, Max Baer, Jack Dempsey, etc. Sheet is in excellent to mint condition. $5,000/7,000.”
I’m unsure what it sold for in 1993, but REA re-sold the 17 x 20-inch sheet in the fall of 2020 for $3,120, describing it as having a Vg appearance despite numerous imperfections.
Here’s the original artwork used for John Schweder’s 1952 Bowman football rookie card. REA sold it for $1,800 in the fall of 2014, but its sales history goes back to Guernsey’s Topps Auction in 1989 and the 13th Annual NSCC Auction in 1992.
Here’s a bit of the auction history for the card (as much as I could find): first, it was included as an individual lot, 68C, in Guernsey’s Topps Auction in 1989. It sold for $800 plus the 10% buyer’s premium. Here’s a scan of it in the catalog.
Then, it was included as part of Superior Galleries Official 13th Annual National Sports Collectors Convection Auction in July 1992. A color photo was included on the Color Plate 1 page at the front of the catalog (it wasn’t common to include color photos of every item in early ’90s catalogs) and in B&W above its description that simply said “1952 Bowman Football Artwork of John Schweder. A very rare item in Near-Mind condition.” The estimated value then was $1000-1200.
Finally, in the fall of 2014, Robert Edward Auctions sold it for $1800. They included the following item description including the details about the item having been a part of a museum’s collection:
One-of-a-kind original artwork for 1952 Bowman football #72 John Schweder short-print rookie card (Pittsburgh Steelers). This is the actual artwork used in the production of both the 1952 Bowman Small and Large Football series.Original artworks from this set are extremely rare. This artwork has survived beautifully, with bold colors, a flawless surface, and only light wear to the corners. The reverse bears standard production-related remnants along with the pencil-written name of the player. The artwork measures 4 x 6.25 inches and is in overall Excellent or better condition.
The item in this lot is part of the deaccessioned property of a prominent northeast museum which has selected Robert Edward Auctions to handle the sale of donated sportscards and memorabilia in an effort to fund purchases more in line with the mission and goals of the museum.
And just for completeness, here’s an example of a high-grade Bowman Large variation of Schweder’s card that Memory Lane Inc. sold for $1171 in January 2023.
This was the only known T216 Ty Cobb Standing Mino Cigarettes card in May 1992, as featured in the catalog of Richard Wolffers Auctions, Inc.
The lot, number 102, was titled and described as follows in the catalog:
1914 T216 Mino #16b Ty Cobb (Detroit Americans, standing), fairly well centered, gorgeous colors, fabulous gloss with a trivial surface wrinkle at the bottom right, this is the only known Ty Cobb “Mino” and, as such, one of the great tobacco card rarities, Ex-Nr Mt.
The estimated value was $7000-8000.
Now, concerning the claim of it being the only known Ty Cobb Mino back, Love of the Game Auctions wrote a piece about a rare T216 Honus Wagner with a Mino back that they were auctioning and said, “population reports for this issue are unreliable as they do not accurately reflect either the different variations of the set’s cards or the three different backs, it is our belief that there are fewer than a half dozen graded Mino Wagners in existence.” The grading companies each slab them a little differently. PSA puts “T216 People’s Tobacco” on the slab’s flip without a year and does not designate the back type but does add a glossy designation. SGC differentiates the set by the back, either “1911-16 Mino Cigarettes,” “1911-16 Kotton Cigarettes,” or “1911-16 Virgina Extra,” for example.
I did find the following scan of a Ty Cobb Mino on Flickr, with the description “T216 Ty Cobb—Standing—Mino—SGC 10.” It does share a couple of markings with the example in Wolffers’ catalog, but I can’t imagine they would have described this card as Ex-Nr Mt. So, it looks like there are at least two copies in the hobby.
The T216 baseball set is a product of the People’s Tobacco Company of New Orleans, Louisiana, and was printed with various cigarette advertisement backs including Kotton, Mino and Virginia Extra. Produced from 1911 to 1916, the People’s Tobacco Co. issued this 73-player set over several season and displayed similar images to those of their contemporaries such as the E90-1 and E92 releases. The players hail from the American, National and short-lived Federal (1914-15) Leagues with the images appearing in full-color with his surname, position, team an league printed along the bottom border. The Kotton Cigarettes brand is far scarcer than the other two issues. Kotton offers two variations with one style having glossy image front while the second can be found on very thin stock paper, making high-grade example difficult to find. The backs are printed in black with the Kotton, Mino and Virginia Extra names as well as People’s Tobacco Co. Ltd. Chock-full of Hall of Fame talent, this unnumbered set is anchored by three Ty Cobb variations Christy Mathewson (2) Eddie Plank, Tris Speaker, Honus Wagner (3), Hooke Wiltse and Cy Young, among many others.
Kudos to Sports Card Magazine and its readers in late 1993 for the “All Most Valuable Rookie Card Team,” along with the Best Name, Not as Famous, and All Ears Teams.
Before I share the article, I have to question why the author acknowledges that the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle isn’t his official rookie card but still includes it!! Okay, it’s a great card, whatever, but then at least give me the Worst Haircuts of All-Time Team!
The All-Most Valuable Rookie Card Team
The All-Best Name Team
The All-Not As Famous As The Other Guy With My Name Team
The I’m All Ears Team
Who among you has all the cards on one of these teams?
Upper Deck brought the first premium product to the hobby with their 1989 baseball set. They backed that release up in 1990 with another innovation, the first major chase card. Upper Deck inserted 2500 copies of a signed and numbered Reggie Jackson card in the 1990 Upper Deck baseball high series. They called the promotion Find ‘”The Reggie.”‘ The card was like a myth!
First, Upper Deck inserted a header card into packs explaining the chase. The header card has the Baseball Heroes logo on the front. The back said that Upper Deck inserted a 9-card Reggie Jackson Baseball Heroes set in packs and that he signed 2500 cards that baseball artist Vernon Wells created. The header also explained that the signed cards had a unique hologram to differentiate them from the other Wells’ drawn Reggie cards.
1990 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes Header Card – Front
Here’s an example of the front and back of a 1990 Upper Deck Heroes Reggie Jackson Checklist 1-9 Autographed Card.
1990 Upper Deck Heroes Reggie Jackson Checklist 1-9 Auto – Front
1990 Upper Deck Heroes Reggie Jackson Checklist 1-9 Auto – Reverse
You can see that he both signed and numbered each card. Also, on the back of the card, notice the diamond-shaped hologram near the top. Unsigned Checklist cards (card 9 of 9) have circular holograms.
I’ve read from a pair of sources that Jackson added the inscription “Mr. October” to every 100th card, meaning that 25 of these special variations should exist: cards 100, 200, 300, etc. However, I read on a forum that he added the inscription to every 50th-numbered card, and I found the following photo of a card sold back in July 2016, serial 850/2500, with the inscription. So, every 50th having an inscription makes more sense; however, another collector told me it’s every 25!
1990 Upper Deck Heroes Reggie Jackson Checklist 1-9 Auto With Inscription – Front
1990 Upper Deck Heroes Reggie Jackson Checklist 1-9 Auto With Inscription – Reverse
Collectors have discovered two other fun card variations: Harmon Killebrew also signed card 573/2500 (he had 573 career home runs), and Willie Mays also signed card 660/2500 (he had 660 career home runs).
1990 Upper Deck Heroes Reggie Jackson Checklist 1-9 Auto With Harmon Killebrew
1990 Upper Deck Heroes Reggie Jackson Checklist 1-9 Auto With Willie Mays
In terms of forgeries, indeed, some exist. No one thinks Reggie signed any circular hologram cards in person, so I wouldn’t risk buying one that doesn’t have the diamond-shaped hologram. It is possible that Upper Deck printed a few replacement cards that would have a diamond hologram but no serial numbers, as Upper Deck probably kept a few if a collector pulled a damaged card and wanted a replacement.
Now, 2500 autographed cards may sound like a lot, but companies printed A LOT of cards during this era. Folks have estimated that Upper Deck printed about 200M cards for high series boxes making the odds of hitting a Reggie auto about 1 in 148 boxes.
But as the guy who runs the Unopened Archive, I have to talk about the products you need to find if you want to try and pull your own Reggie Jackson Heroes Autograph. As I wrote, the cards came in the 1990 Upper Deck High Series product, and high Series cases sell for around $650 these days, despite some sellers listing them for well over $2k on eBay.
1990 Upper Deck Baseball High Series Case – Angle 1
1990 Upper Deck Baseball High Series Case – Angle 2
Factory-sealed wax boxes generally sell for around $35 (shipped).
1990 Upper Deck Baseball High Series Box
For completeness, here’s a photo of the front and back of a foil pack.
1990 Upper Deck Baseball High Series Foil Pack – Front
1990 Upper Deck Baseball High Series Foil Pack – Reverse
Now, back to the individual cards. 2500 cards were released, but some have probably made it to the garbage dump. The PSA Population report can be a little weird to interpret for autographed cards, but it looks like they have encapsulated ~200 cards.
Regarding cost, graded samples sell for between $550 and $600. Serial 1221 sold for $565 in June 2022.
1990 Upper Deck Heroes Reggie Jackson Checklist 1-9 Auto With Inscription – 1221/2500
Serial 2337, a BGS-graded card, sold for $605 in July 2022.
1990 Upper Deck Heroes Reggie Jackson Checklist 1-9 Auto With Inscription – 2337/2500
Serial 1026, an SGC-graded card, sold for $554 in December 2024.
A slew of raw examples have sold for between $325 and $455 in the past few years, but the gap between raw and graded has been closing more recently.
Upper Deck had a lot of success in its early days, partially thanks to the Heroes Chase series that they continued in subsequent years and sports. They were all numbered to 2500. 1991 Upper Deck baseball had “Find the Nolan” (Nolan Ryan). 1992 Upper Deck baseball had autographed Ted Williams cards and dual autographs of Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan. In 1991, Upper Deck football had chase cards for Joe Namath and Joe Montana.
While companies overproduced their base cards at this time, Upper Deck set a new path for what the industry would become. Upper Deck’s Heroes series gave them the edge for a few years until another innovation emerged: the first refractors from the 1993 Topps Finest baseball set. But more on them another time. Happy collecting!
I’m lucky my office/Hobby Library walls don’t have any space left, or I’d be all over vintage baseball star advertising memorabilia like this ad for Popsicle featuring Bob Feller. Popsicle is Topsicle!
Mastro offered this one in their Fine Sports Auction catalog in November 2000. It was described as “a classic original window advertising display, circa 1948, picturing a ‘cartoon’ image of World Champion Indians ace Bob Feller endorsing his favorite summertime treat. ‘Popsicle is Topsicle!’ is the pitch, and the vibrant display vividly recalls the days of Mr. Softee and the Good Humor Man. In exceptional Near Mint condition with incredible color. The display measures 8” x 17-1/2.”
Memory Lane Inc. has sold one of these, perhaps the same one, twice, most recently in August 2018 for $565 and $352 in September 2007.
In its Summer 1990 issue, Topps Magazine published Kenneth M. Liss’s great article about “The Rarest ‘Rookie Cards.'” PSA has only slabbed 252 cards from this 35-card (ok, 36-card) set!
I want to draw your attention to two things from the article. First, instead of a program in booklet form, in 1964, Topps presented a boxed set of 36 over-sized cards with all the same information. Second, Topps only made 600-700 sets, making them exceedingly rare.
Here’s the original sleeve/box that held the cards.
Leland’s included that box and 35 cards, a handful of which were PSA-8 graded, in their 2018 Invitational auction. The lot sold for $1,886.40.
But what’s really interesting is that it seems Topps pivoted at some point and printed a sample program! Huggins and Scott sold a newly discovered, potentially one-of-a-kind example in August 2023 for $1,740.
They also wrote that only about 300 (or so) invitees attended. The auction believed that after this 1964 program was made, someone at Topps realized they were card manufacturers and that a card set should be made instead of a program. Topps didn’t do much work, as there’s a page number on the lower right-hand corner of each card (see the Page 12 notation on the following example)!
Huggins noted a few differences between this program and the cards:
The thicker card stock versus the thinner paper pages of the program, the cards are blank backed versus the back-to-back printed program pages, and the size. The program is 3/16″ wider than the card set (so, the bigger program was not part of the snugly fitting boxed card set.) We believe the programs were likely deemed redundant and were probably trashed, assuming they even made more than one or two to begin with.
Unfortunately, Topps went back to banquet programs in 1965 and 1966. REA offered a complete run of seven 1959 to 1966 Topps Rookie Banquet Programs in their 2018 Spring auction. They sold for $2,040 then but would command A LOT more today.
