quote:

Originally posted by PeanutsCardGuy:
This kicks us into 1991 with this list of contenders for 1st NS Auto Insert:

1991 - Collect-A-Card "Vette Set" Mario Andretti
1991 - Comic Images "X-Men" Jim Lee
1991 - Comic Images "Boris" Boris Vallejo
1991 - Historical Images "Defenders of Freedom" Norman Schwarzkopf
1991 - ProLine "Portraits" NFL Wives
1991 - Star Pics "Soaps of ABC"
1991 - Star Pics "Twin Peaks"
1991 - Tuff Stuff "Peanuts Preview"

I added the last one and I wouldn't be surprised if the list is even deeper, given the year. Anyone here interested enough to check their Wrapper, Gum, Becketts for monthly release dates? If not, I'll order some 1991 first quarter prints before proceeding.

I was at a local comic book shop in 1991 when they were opening boxes of the Boris Vallejo cards to make sets and they pulled an autograph card. It was indeed quite a novelty in those days. If my memory is correct, I think the store owner priced it around $300. Not sure what it sold for, but he definitely didn't have it anymore around 2015 when I bought his non-sports inventory out. That same card can today be purchased for around $30.

TCDB has it right: "One complete Preview Set of 33 cards was signed by Charles Schulz and randomly inserted into Preview Sets"
That was written on the retailer box, declaring each of the 33 Autos "Truly one-of-a-kind." I just uploaded an image of the packaging to tcdb a few days ago. (edit: image wouldn't post, but you can find it on tcdb)

The Vallejo card pull is a great story. $300 -> $30 haha yeah. After inflation that's what, ~3% value? In fact, that's one of my reasons for this deep dive. I'm very curious about the junk wax era NS cards that were scarce enough to actually INCREASE in value. And the Peanuts Autos in particular.

So there is a signed version of each of the 33 base cards ? People may have passed over them, not realizing that they were autographed...

quote:

Originally posted by PeanutsCardGuy:
This kicks us into 1991 with this list of contenders for 1st NS Auto Insert:

1991 - Collect-A-Card "Vette Set" Mario Andretti
1991 - Comic Images "X-Men" Jim Lee
1991 - Comic Images "Boris" Boris Vallejo
1991 - Historical Images "Defenders of Freedom" Norman Schwarzkopf
1991 - ProLine "Portraits" NFL Wives
1991 - Star Pics "Soaps of ABC"
1991 - Star Pics "Twin Peaks"
1991 - Tuff Stuff "Peanuts Preview"

I added the last one and I wouldn't be surprised if the list is even deeper, given the year. Anyone here interested enough to check their Wrapper, Gum, Becketts for monthly release dates? If not, I'll order some 1991 first quarter prints before proceeding.

Forgot 1990 UD Comic Ball....Chuck Jones signed inserts.

Oh! Thank you, glad you said that before I moved into 1991.

Could be a question if it was ever inserted. The sell sheet advertises the card but there is no indication of autographs on the box.

I don't believe I have ever seen one except for the sell sheet. Maybe someone else here can comment further.

Have to admit every time I read "Limited Edition" on those UD products I have to laugh. Here we are 34 years later and still plenty of sealed product to be found.

Haha, yeah, everything was 'limited' and reprinted in 1990. Seems likely that even if they didn't reprint they produced the set in waves so they could move the million or so boxes along. Which makes me wonder if/when during that process the autos got inserted. Seems impossible to collate into such a vast inventory, but I appreciate the pioneering effort they put into it.

Whatever happened, I can't find an example of one of these inserts. 1000 seems like enough that they'd be out there, even if so many were lost in the sea of surplus...

Update:
Here's an advertisement for the Autos, but you're right, their inclusion is not stated anywhere on the packaging.


While this could wrap up my inquiry, the 1990 Upper Deck Comic Ball set is technically Sports. Both PSA census and TCDB list it that way. I'd be curious to see which Beckett almanac it is in. And even more curious to find out if, as a Sports set, it predates the 1990 Reggie Jackson (I haven't looked into the earlier Sports Autos mentioned here yet, trying to stay focused on NS).

While I think it's debatable that 'Comic Ball' is Sports or NS, and I personally favor the latter, I have to defer to the authorities. Would be a neat little bow to say Comic Ball was first for both categories. Oh well.

Very interesting. So the Chuck Jones auto has never surfaced ?

In 1993, people questioned as to whether the Dark Dominion Steve Ditko sketch existed (only 5 made), and finally one was found 25 years later. There is a scan of it here on Card Talk

quote:

Originally posted by PeanutsCardGuy:
the 1990 Upper Deck Comic Ball set is technically Sports. . . . I have to defer to the authorities.

There are no "authorities". There are cards, and there are people who collect them. If you want Comic Ball cards, get them. The opinion of someone else shouldn't matter.

A /5 Ditko sketch! Sounds incredible.

"Authorities" indeed haha. Comic Ball definitely has a place in my personal collection! I'm just hoping for a consensus-supported conclusion.

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy C:
Very interesting. So the Chuck Jones auto has never surfaced ?

I couldn't find an image of one, but it looks like PSA has 2-20 in their census, depending on how you interpret it.

Here is one

https://www.worthpoint.com/wor...omic-ball-1991940756


Also, there was one on Ebay but it seems like the auction is long gone. It was item # 22629553613. The link doesn't work anymore

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy C:
Here is one

https://www.worthpoint.com/wor...omic-ball-1991940756


Also, there was one on Ebay but it seems like the auction is long gone. It was item # 22629553613. The link doesn't work anymore

Question is pack pulled or signed later? I only say that because the sell sheet indicates hand numbering.

Back when the Comic Ball set was still relatively new, I sent one to Jones in the mail for him to sign. He didn't sign it, but he did send me a nice signed print of Pepe le Pew.

Wow, there were a bunch of them on worthpoint. Good find. If you look, the serial numbers are very close. Makes me wonder if someone didn't crack open a ton of surplus Comic Ball to find a bunch of them then sent them all in for grading at once.

I had the same thought about the sell sheet showing them serialized. Curious. And Bill's story makes me wonder if Chuck Jones had an agreement to not sign the cards later. I found a CoA for a signed Peanuts promo that suggests contractual prohibition on Autographs.



I really wish someone had a story like Bill's about the Peanuts Preview Autos. I have looked everywhere for an example of one of those... The best I could find is a signed card that was addressed to the recipient, so clearly not an insert. Maybe addressing it was his way of upholding whatever agreement he might have had with Tuff Stuff (since they stated on their packaging that the inserts would be "truly one-of-a-kind").

For the Chuck Jones Signed Card on Wort Point, why is the front side of the card is #331 but the signed side of the card is #334.

The Comic Ball set was designed to be put together in pages of 9 cards. Each card was like a single panel of a comic strip and 9 together made a complete scene. When arranged like this the front page made one scene and the back page made another. They numbered the back to help arrange them and view the full scene correctly. So while the base set is numbered up to 594 there are only 297 cards.

I actually just ordered a few boxes of this set to open and put together with my kids this Christmas (completely unmotivated by a chance for an Auto insert..) so I was just researching it