Does it matter? (Stickers vs Hard Sign)

[sedinfan]

I think I'm with the majority - hard signed is all I'd be interested in for anything other than my PC guys. For the Sedins, of course I'll take everything - but I'd much prefer when they do a nice job

Brutal sticker card... doesn't look like it was even designed to have an auto where they put the sticker, the security lettering on the sticker just calls even more attention to the fact its a sticker.

Much nicer... you can barely tell its a sticker, a beauty of a card. If they made all stickers autos like this I wouldn't mind them nearly as much.

 

[mortuus]

I hate stickers, one they look crap like someone just stamped the auto sticker, and two you know it can be an old sticker not really signed for the actual card they just stamp it in the factory,, how fun is that? and usually stickers are sometimes badly done because it can be hard to sign on a small area and they sign hundreds of thoose probably and not really take extra time if you sign an actual card and not just a sheet with blank stickers..

 

[hextall27]

ITG does a good job with the stickers but panini and UD are generally horrible. I'd value a hard signed much more.

 

[thorn]

How long do stickers stay stuck too? Do they peel at some point? I have similar thoughts regarding autos on material. At what point do they really bleed and then just become a smudge.

You have to store them correctly. Nothing will happen to autographs if that is done right.

 

[SNobles]

I am ok with sticker AU if they are done right.

As has been meantioned before ITG does a great job.

 

[romeoi2006]

For me,if the card is signed on a sticker,then the actual player or person never signed the card.They signed a bunch of stickers that were placed on the card by the card company.I definately would never keep a sticker signed card whether it is sport or non sport.Just my opinion.

 

[gratzi]

Hard signed are so much better for a number of reasons but there are times when a sticker can look good. Auto Draft set from SPGU is a good example

 

[surmy]

Much prefer hard signed, stickers are just kind of lame.

 

[cbjhockey61]

only hard signed for me....imo, stickers take away from the design of most cards

 

[TheGriceBoys]

I did everything when my PC guys still had cards produced. Alas, that is no more.

An interesting perspective is through the eyes of my oldest son Austin.

He is almost 8 and collects Anze Kopitar. We used to buy everything of him but he has gotten a little disenchanted with cards. He says a lot of them "look the same" and are "boring" which they do/are.

He is very astute when it comes to signatures of his boy Anze. He can tell the difference between his rookie year sig and current one and also a quality sig versus a sloppy one.

It generally was the sticker autos that were horrendous because, when given space to sign, Kopitar has a fairly attractive signature.

At that point, about a year ago, Austin decided we will only go after Kopitar's hard signed stuff.

Recently though Kopi seems to have just thrown slop across the board, a "tee time" signature as I refer to it.

We have even started passing on some hard-signed cards of late if the quality of the autograph doesn't meet Austin's standards. It's funny and cute to watch him apply his criteria to the cards.


Examples:

Rookie Year

Current

Slop

 

[troyjk]

My Hossa autos began much like everyone else's. Buy anything he signed no matter what, but I am now only collecting hard signed auto's as well.

 

[joecoolio]

Stickers lead to sticker dump products as well... I think UD just released one...

 

[mwheeler27]

I can't stand sticker autos. To me it's a quality issue.

On-card autos equal quality. Sticker autos equal what's convenient. Sort of like taking a short cut when producing something.

 

[Rraincock]

The difference to me is in how long sticker autos will last.

Hardsigned autos on paper (not foil) will last longer than foil paper.... and those last longer than stickers. Hard signed also seem to be larger and nicer.

 

[Greg Brown]

It matters to me with a couple of my collections. I got sick of seeing all of the thoughtless designs that ended up with a sticker auto slapped on them, making for one ugly card. I especially hate the cards that are shaded out lighter with a hard signed auto in mind, only to see a sticker slapped in its place. Those are the worst. As others have mentioned, there have been a couple of designs that work with the sticker auto, but as a whole, I do not collect them.

 

[c_bass22]

Itg for me has seemed to really use their stickers well. To me though an autograph is an autograph. the only thing i hate seeing is when the wrong autographed sticker is placed on a card of a different player, or when the sticker is upside down!

Could you imagine if ITG used Hard Signed Autos for Ultimate the secondary market for the product would be nuts!!!!
I know they don't want to do it because they don't want redemption but I can see the difference in price for autos (which is very low) vs their GU stuff that sell very well.

Just my 2 cents

 

[byrone]

I don't collect any cards with sticker autographs.