deepbluejacket
Verified Trader,
A recent discussion of Alexandre Daigle (of all players) got me thinking about the first autographed cards created by the major companies. To the best of my knowledge, it started with 1990 Upper Deck baseball. As related in Card Sharks by Pete Williams, UD’s VP of Marketing Don Bodow was inspired by Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to create his own version of the golden ticket. That turned out to be a Reggie Jackson autograph. It was a huge hit, and the following season, the phenomenon made its way to hockey.
I wanted to compile what I could on the first major issues, so below is what I put together for 1991 through 1994. (I.e. not Classic, Ultimate, those weird tuxedo draft cards, etc.) Please correct any mistake I made and feel free to provide additional detail, and I’ll update the main thread.
You'll notice I have a category called Difficulty to Acquire. This relates to the difficulty TODAY. The difficulty at the time of these releases was EXTREME for every one of them, despite what now seem like pretty large print runs. Pulling any of these cards from an unopened box remains just shy of impossible. And in at least one instance, perhaps literally impossible.
Here we go!
1991-92 Upper Deck
Continuing with its Heroes theme from the 1990 baseball set, Upper Deck debuted Hockey Heroes and its first member was super sniper Brett Hull. As with the Reggie Jackson auto, Hull signed the checklist card, with featured a painting of him in various uniforms.
Player: Brett Hull
Card: HH9
# Auto’d: 2500
Unique Design: Yes. These appear to be autographed copies of the regular insert card, hand numbered on the bottom right corner of the card front, but the reverse shows a diamond hologram versus the usual oval. (Thanks one20!)
Difficulty to Acquire: High. This card has not lost any of its value, despite the high number of copies. If you want it, expect to pay $100+.
Fun Fact: The first pricing mention of this card came in the Readers Write section of the September 1992 Beckett. It listed at $250-$400. So I stand corrected. It has lost some value.
1991-92 Score
All five of Score’s releases (American, Can 1, Can 2, Bilingual 1, Bilingual 2) gave you the opportunity to pull an autograph from the legendary Bobby Orr. As Score beat Upper Deck to market, this is probably the first autographed insert by a major company.
Player: Bobby Orr
Card(s): All six cards from the Bobby Orr insert set featured an autograph’d version.
# Auto’d: 2500 in total across the 6 cards.
Unique Design: Yes. Each insert had its back altered to accommodate the autograph and features a stylized serial number printed on it. Reminder: the official autograph is on the BACK of the card.
Difficulty to Acquire: High. It’s Bobby Orr. If you want this, you will pay for it.
Fun Fact: A Score advertisement in the September 1991 Beckett proclaimed that a 4 card Bobby Orr insert would be in its 1991 product and that Orr had signed 400 copies of each card for a total of 1600 autos.
Fun Fact 2: Packs of 1991 Score state that a total of 1238 autographed cards (and 270,000 unsigned cards) have been randomly packed in SCORE Canadian 1991. Oddly enough, the American packs also say that, implying that there are no Orrs in the American issue. Presumably, it's a misprint on the American packs. An additional 12 cards (per country, presumably) were available via sweepstakes.
1991-92 Pro Set Series 1
True to form, Pro Set failed to announce its key chase cards and evidently one of them was an autographed card of Patrick Roy. This card was apparently only available in French boxes, despite the card being from the English set. But this is Pro Set, so who really knows?
Player: Patrick Roy
Card: #125 (American)
# Auto’d: 1000 per Beckett
Unique Design: No, it’s a regular card and there are forgeries out there. It looks like Roy himself numbered the cards.
Difficulty to Acquire: Well, depends if what you find is legit or not. Because they’re hard to verify, values tend to be suppressed on this card, but it’s still usually north of $50.
1991-92 Pro Set Series 2
Another Roy auto, again evidently only in the French packs. This time, he’s signing the French version of the card. According to Beckett, Pro Set also packed out a signed Kirk McLean card in its Series 2 American packs. This appears to be a mistake, possibly caused by confusion with the 1992-93 release.
Player: Patrick Roy
Card: #599 French
# Auto’d: 1000 per Beckett, but I’ve seen them numbered into the 3000s.
Unique Design: No, it’s a regular card and there are forgeries out there. It looks like Roy himself numbered the cards.
Difficulty to Acquire: Definitely easier than the Series 1, but the numbering kind of freaks me out. It’s hard to tell if they’re all pack pulled or part of some after market thing. A whole lot of them seem to have been slabbed by GAI, which went bankrupt in 2009. GAI had been accused of authenticating fakes.
1992-93 Score
Following up the apparent success of the Orr campaign, Score got another legend to sign some cards – Maurice Richard! These inserts were issued only in the Canadian version. Americans got nothing.
Player: Maurice Richard
Card(s): There are two unnumbered insert cards, each featuring an autograph’d version
# Auto’d: 1250, for a total of 2500.
Unique Design: Yes. Each insert had its back altered to accommodate the autograph and features a stylized serial number printed on it. Reminder: the official autograph is on the BACK of the card.
Difficulty to Acquire: High. It’s the Rocket, and he’s been dead for some time so there are no new autos coming on the market.
NOTE: winniescards reports that an Artist Proof version exists serial numbered to 10.
1992-93 Ultra
Ultra debuted with chase cards of its spokesman, Jeremy Roenick. There were ten insert cards (plus a mail-in for two more) and these cards could be found with autographs. The number is unknown, but they were supposed to fall 1 per 8000 packs. So good luck!
Player: Jeremy Roenick
Card(s): Any of the ten insert cards could feature an autograph.
# Auto’d: At least 2000, per Beckett.
Unique Design: Yes. These are insert cards with an auto on the cover, a non-flashy black marker. A hand-signed card is potentially difficult to distinguish, but the word FLEER is embossed on the auto card, and it is not on the regular insert. (Thanks one20!)
Difficulty to Acquire: High, although they’re not that expensive because they look like in person autos.
1992-93 Pro Set
Pro Set went out of business to the great sadness of all. They did manage to release a Series 1, but there was no Series 2. Pro Set included an autographed card of Kirk McLean.
Player: Kirk McLean
Card: #239
# Auto’d: 1000
Unique Design: Very! Pro Set changed its design between the prototype and final issues and this card is the prototype version. Thank goodness, because the auto is very bland – doesn’t even look like a Sharpie. No serial or hand number.
Difficulty to Acquire: Well, it doesn’t show up too often, but demand is low. There are allegedly 8000 20 box cases of 1992-93 Pro Set and 2000 jumbo cases. So it’s still a hard pull.
1992-93 Parkhurst
(Thanks to NMarch to alerting me to these.)
While the flagship was burning, Pro Set sunk all its resources into Parkhurst, completing two series and issuing a final series. They also issued signed a deal with Don Cherry to provide his Cherry's Picks, and included him in a Parkie Reprint insert set. He autographed both cards.
Player: Don Cherry
Card: NNO, Cherry's Picks
# Auto'd: Unknown
Unique Design: Not that I can see. It's an autographed checklist card with Cherry giving us his trademark thumbs up. The copy I've seen is signed in silver.
Difficulty to Acquire: Seeing as I had forgotten it existed, it might be pretty hard.
Player: Don Cherry
Card: NNO (101)
# Auto'd: Unknown
Unique Design: Not that I can see. It's an autographed version of the redemption card.
Difficulty to Acquire: It was only packed out in Canadian Series 2 boxes and has a pretty high Beckett value, higher than the Cherry's Pick.
1992-93 Upper Deck Locker All-Stars
(Thanks to TADontAsk for alerting me to these)
While the Locker All-Stars is not a major set, they do include autographed card(s) from the 1992-93 Upper Deck set, so if you come across one, it will look like it came from a major set. UD had Gordie Howe sign some of his Hockey Heroes cards, and they inserted them at a rate of 1 in 120 Locker sets.
Player: Gordie Howe
Card(s): Hockey Heroes from '92-93 UD
#Auto'd: Unknown, not believed to be serial numbered
Unique Design: While the front of the card is the Hockey Heroes checklist, it can be distinguished by the hologram on back. Instead of a puck, it's a diamond. (Thanks TADon'tAsk!)
Difficulty to Acquire: Should be difficult due to the disinterest in the locker sets, but they are out there and can occasionally be nabbed at low prices.
1993-94 Ultra
Same game as before, except now it’s Adam Oates and now it’s one in ten thousand.
Player: Adam Oates
Card(s): Any of the ten insert cards could feature an autograph.
# Auto’d: At least 2000, per Beckett.
Unique Design: Yes. These are insert cards with an auto on the cover, a non-flashy black marker. A hand-signed card is potentially difficult to distinguish, but the word FLEER is embossed on the auto card, and it is not on the regular insert. (Thanks one20!)
Difficulty to Acquire: Ought to be high, but they don’t sell for much. The most recent sale included the entire insert set with it and still only cracked $20.
1993-94 Pinnacle
Pinnacle had two autographed cards over the course of the year, but I don’t know the details of how they were packed out. I hear Lindros was in the American release and Daigle was in both English and bilingual.
Player: Eric Lindros
Card: NNO
# Auto’d: Unknown
Unique Design: Yes, Eric is the “Center of Attention” and the card does not resemble anything in the set.
Difficulty to Acquire: The card is readily available for $40, possibly much less if you can catch it on an auction.
Player: Alexandre Daigle
Card: 236
# Auto’d: 1500
Unique Design: Yes. On the front, it looks like the base card, but the back is different with a space for the auto. Not serial numbered, but it does state it is one of 1500. Comes in both English and bilingual, so we’re guessing it’s 1500 total autos.
Difficulty to Acquire: I didn’t know this card existed until last week and it doesn’t seem to be around much, but it’s not going to cost anything when it shows up.
1993-94 Leaf
Leaf signed Mario Lemieux to be its spokesman for its inaugural year and did a very nice insert set featuring Super Mario. But the real draw was the autographed card, serial numbered to 2000.
Player: Mario Lemieux
Card: NNO
# Auto’d: 2000
Unique Design: Yes. It features a portrait of Mario on the card front with his auto, and the card back contains a write-up and a pressed serial number.
Difficulty to Acquire: It’s not hard to find, but it’s rare to grab for under $100.
Note: I'm not including the 1993-94 Parkhurst Missing Link or Tall Boys sets as both had autographed insert sets and this post is concentrating on single chase cards.
I wanted to compile what I could on the first major issues, so below is what I put together for 1991 through 1994. (I.e. not Classic, Ultimate, those weird tuxedo draft cards, etc.) Please correct any mistake I made and feel free to provide additional detail, and I’ll update the main thread.
You'll notice I have a category called Difficulty to Acquire. This relates to the difficulty TODAY. The difficulty at the time of these releases was EXTREME for every one of them, despite what now seem like pretty large print runs. Pulling any of these cards from an unopened box remains just shy of impossible. And in at least one instance, perhaps literally impossible.
Here we go!
1991-92 Upper Deck
Continuing with its Heroes theme from the 1990 baseball set, Upper Deck debuted Hockey Heroes and its first member was super sniper Brett Hull. As with the Reggie Jackson auto, Hull signed the checklist card, with featured a painting of him in various uniforms.
Player: Brett Hull
Card: HH9
# Auto’d: 2500
Unique Design: Yes. These appear to be autographed copies of the regular insert card, hand numbered on the bottom right corner of the card front, but the reverse shows a diamond hologram versus the usual oval. (Thanks one20!)
Difficulty to Acquire: High. This card has not lost any of its value, despite the high number of copies. If you want it, expect to pay $100+.
Fun Fact: The first pricing mention of this card came in the Readers Write section of the September 1992 Beckett. It listed at $250-$400. So I stand corrected. It has lost some value.
1991-92 Score
All five of Score’s releases (American, Can 1, Can 2, Bilingual 1, Bilingual 2) gave you the opportunity to pull an autograph from the legendary Bobby Orr. As Score beat Upper Deck to market, this is probably the first autographed insert by a major company.
Player: Bobby Orr
Card(s): All six cards from the Bobby Orr insert set featured an autograph’d version.
# Auto’d: 2500 in total across the 6 cards.
Unique Design: Yes. Each insert had its back altered to accommodate the autograph and features a stylized serial number printed on it. Reminder: the official autograph is on the BACK of the card.
Difficulty to Acquire: High. It’s Bobby Orr. If you want this, you will pay for it.
Fun Fact: A Score advertisement in the September 1991 Beckett proclaimed that a 4 card Bobby Orr insert would be in its 1991 product and that Orr had signed 400 copies of each card for a total of 1600 autos.
Fun Fact 2: Packs of 1991 Score state that a total of 1238 autographed cards (and 270,000 unsigned cards) have been randomly packed in SCORE Canadian 1991. Oddly enough, the American packs also say that, implying that there are no Orrs in the American issue. Presumably, it's a misprint on the American packs. An additional 12 cards (per country, presumably) were available via sweepstakes.
1991-92 Pro Set Series 1
True to form, Pro Set failed to announce its key chase cards and evidently one of them was an autographed card of Patrick Roy. This card was apparently only available in French boxes, despite the card being from the English set. But this is Pro Set, so who really knows?
Player: Patrick Roy
Card: #125 (American)
# Auto’d: 1000 per Beckett
Unique Design: No, it’s a regular card and there are forgeries out there. It looks like Roy himself numbered the cards.
Difficulty to Acquire: Well, depends if what you find is legit or not. Because they’re hard to verify, values tend to be suppressed on this card, but it’s still usually north of $50.
1991-92 Pro Set Series 2
Another Roy auto, again evidently only in the French packs. This time, he’s signing the French version of the card. According to Beckett, Pro Set also packed out a signed Kirk McLean card in its Series 2 American packs. This appears to be a mistake, possibly caused by confusion with the 1992-93 release.
Player: Patrick Roy
Card: #599 French
# Auto’d: 1000 per Beckett, but I’ve seen them numbered into the 3000s.
Unique Design: No, it’s a regular card and there are forgeries out there. It looks like Roy himself numbered the cards.
Difficulty to Acquire: Definitely easier than the Series 1, but the numbering kind of freaks me out. It’s hard to tell if they’re all pack pulled or part of some after market thing. A whole lot of them seem to have been slabbed by GAI, which went bankrupt in 2009. GAI had been accused of authenticating fakes.
1992-93 Score
Following up the apparent success of the Orr campaign, Score got another legend to sign some cards – Maurice Richard! These inserts were issued only in the Canadian version. Americans got nothing.
Player: Maurice Richard
Card(s): There are two unnumbered insert cards, each featuring an autograph’d version
# Auto’d: 1250, for a total of 2500.
Unique Design: Yes. Each insert had its back altered to accommodate the autograph and features a stylized serial number printed on it. Reminder: the official autograph is on the BACK of the card.
Difficulty to Acquire: High. It’s the Rocket, and he’s been dead for some time so there are no new autos coming on the market.
NOTE: winniescards reports that an Artist Proof version exists serial numbered to 10.
1992-93 Ultra
Ultra debuted with chase cards of its spokesman, Jeremy Roenick. There were ten insert cards (plus a mail-in for two more) and these cards could be found with autographs. The number is unknown, but they were supposed to fall 1 per 8000 packs. So good luck!
Player: Jeremy Roenick
Card(s): Any of the ten insert cards could feature an autograph.
# Auto’d: At least 2000, per Beckett.
Unique Design: Yes. These are insert cards with an auto on the cover, a non-flashy black marker. A hand-signed card is potentially difficult to distinguish, but the word FLEER is embossed on the auto card, and it is not on the regular insert. (Thanks one20!)
Difficulty to Acquire: High, although they’re not that expensive because they look like in person autos.
1992-93 Pro Set
Pro Set went out of business to the great sadness of all. They did manage to release a Series 1, but there was no Series 2. Pro Set included an autographed card of Kirk McLean.
Player: Kirk McLean
Card: #239
# Auto’d: 1000
Unique Design: Very! Pro Set changed its design between the prototype and final issues and this card is the prototype version. Thank goodness, because the auto is very bland – doesn’t even look like a Sharpie. No serial or hand number.
Difficulty to Acquire: Well, it doesn’t show up too often, but demand is low. There are allegedly 8000 20 box cases of 1992-93 Pro Set and 2000 jumbo cases. So it’s still a hard pull.
1992-93 Parkhurst
(Thanks to NMarch to alerting me to these.)
While the flagship was burning, Pro Set sunk all its resources into Parkhurst, completing two series and issuing a final series. They also issued signed a deal with Don Cherry to provide his Cherry's Picks, and included him in a Parkie Reprint insert set. He autographed both cards.
Player: Don Cherry
Card: NNO, Cherry's Picks
# Auto'd: Unknown
Unique Design: Not that I can see. It's an autographed checklist card with Cherry giving us his trademark thumbs up. The copy I've seen is signed in silver.
Difficulty to Acquire: Seeing as I had forgotten it existed, it might be pretty hard.
Player: Don Cherry
Card: NNO (101)
# Auto'd: Unknown
Unique Design: Not that I can see. It's an autographed version of the redemption card.
Difficulty to Acquire: It was only packed out in Canadian Series 2 boxes and has a pretty high Beckett value, higher than the Cherry's Pick.
1992-93 Upper Deck Locker All-Stars
(Thanks to TADontAsk for alerting me to these)
While the Locker All-Stars is not a major set, they do include autographed card(s) from the 1992-93 Upper Deck set, so if you come across one, it will look like it came from a major set. UD had Gordie Howe sign some of his Hockey Heroes cards, and they inserted them at a rate of 1 in 120 Locker sets.
Player: Gordie Howe
Card(s): Hockey Heroes from '92-93 UD
#Auto'd: Unknown, not believed to be serial numbered
Unique Design: While the front of the card is the Hockey Heroes checklist, it can be distinguished by the hologram on back. Instead of a puck, it's a diamond. (Thanks TADon'tAsk!)
Difficulty to Acquire: Should be difficult due to the disinterest in the locker sets, but they are out there and can occasionally be nabbed at low prices.
1993-94 Ultra
Same game as before, except now it’s Adam Oates and now it’s one in ten thousand.
Player: Adam Oates
Card(s): Any of the ten insert cards could feature an autograph.
# Auto’d: At least 2000, per Beckett.
Unique Design: Yes. These are insert cards with an auto on the cover, a non-flashy black marker. A hand-signed card is potentially difficult to distinguish, but the word FLEER is embossed on the auto card, and it is not on the regular insert. (Thanks one20!)
Difficulty to Acquire: Ought to be high, but they don’t sell for much. The most recent sale included the entire insert set with it and still only cracked $20.
1993-94 Pinnacle
Pinnacle had two autographed cards over the course of the year, but I don’t know the details of how they were packed out. I hear Lindros was in the American release and Daigle was in both English and bilingual.
Player: Eric Lindros
Card: NNO
# Auto’d: Unknown
Unique Design: Yes, Eric is the “Center of Attention” and the card does not resemble anything in the set.
Difficulty to Acquire: The card is readily available for $40, possibly much less if you can catch it on an auction.
Player: Alexandre Daigle
Card: 236
# Auto’d: 1500
Unique Design: Yes. On the front, it looks like the base card, but the back is different with a space for the auto. Not serial numbered, but it does state it is one of 1500. Comes in both English and bilingual, so we’re guessing it’s 1500 total autos.
Difficulty to Acquire: I didn’t know this card existed until last week and it doesn’t seem to be around much, but it’s not going to cost anything when it shows up.
1993-94 Leaf
Leaf signed Mario Lemieux to be its spokesman for its inaugural year and did a very nice insert set featuring Super Mario. But the real draw was the autographed card, serial numbered to 2000.
Player: Mario Lemieux
Card: NNO
# Auto’d: 2000
Unique Design: Yes. It features a portrait of Mario on the card front with his auto, and the card back contains a write-up and a pressed serial number.
Difficulty to Acquire: It’s not hard to find, but it’s rare to grab for under $100.
Note: I'm not including the 1993-94 Parkhurst Missing Link or Tall Boys sets as both had autographed insert sets and this post is concentrating on single chase cards.
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