In the 1996 Superman holo series, there was a very rare parallel red set (and a slightly less rare bronze, easily completed gold and standard silver). There were 400 of each card printed for the red set. I know of one person other than myself who has completed the set, and we are both specialist DC collectors. I have been in contact with at least 5 other specialist DC collectors unable to complete the set. It is very hard.

A seller has individual cards from the set - but they have been ruined with artist autographs. If you are going to get an artist to autograph a card (which I approve of), at least get him or her to autograph a common card so you don't interfere with people trying to complete something!

No, but it's a little different than someone (foolishly in the view of most, I think) who gets Stan Lee to sign a high grade early Silver Age Marvel key issue and yet that happens, too. It would be far better to have the best condition copies not written on, even by Stan Lee, and particularly when there's so much mid-grade material that would hold his signature very, very well, leaving the cream of the crop in as close to the original condition as possible.

I think where the person can be forgiven for what they had done to these Superman Red holograms is that there was just no way anyone besides very astute and forward thinking card collectors could've had any idea that those red parallels would be so truly scarce and sought after two decades later. I know I didn't. I easily could've gotten at least 20 of them or so, had I wanted, but I passed them by multiple times at the store. They were available for several months, as I remember.

Even so, for this seller to have had the reds in the first place means they surely had some silvers and golds, as well, and it really is too bad those weren't the ones they had signed. Silver and Golds would be improved by autographs. Reds are understandingly basically ruined by the autographs in the eyes of people who are in the midst of what is now nearly a two decade hunt to assemble the elusive full set of them.

Those were basically made, it seems, to sell off unsold Superman Holoseries at retail and only came out a good 6 months (at least) after the product was originally issued. They'd repacked them with 2 random red holograms and sold them at retail stores such as Target and the like for $29.99. I remember thinking it over the first few times I saw them, but that was just too costly given the other cards that were available alongside them on the "Vintage" racks for the same price (or $19.99 or even $9.99). It was difficult to spend the $30 for basically two new cards that weren't even new, just yet another version of a card we already had in three different colors (gold, silver, bronze) when there was so many other choices competing for the same money. There were some really neat made for retail Popeye
cards with early sketches (oversized) and numbered mini animation cel lithographs for the same $30 and I bought a few of those, at least one of the at the expense of the Superman repack with the pair of Red Holo parallels.
I do wish I'd bought a few of them now, but I don't regret the Popeyes, I must say.

One other thing that chilled us on the Superman Holoseries is the holograms were good, but not spectacular (even though the "Holocel" clear hologram remains one of the best chase cards ever made). By the release of the Batman Holoseries a year or two later, they'd really worked out the kinks, and those holograms are phenomenal looking.

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Originally posted by chesspieceface:

Those were basically made to sell off unsold Superman Holoseries at retail and only came out a good 6 months (at least) after the product was originally issued. They'd repacked them with 2 random red holograms and sold them at retail stores such as Target and the like for $29.99. I remember thinking it over the first few times I saw them, but that was just too costly given the other cards that were available alongside them on the "Vintage" racks for the same price (or $19.99 or even $9.99). It was difficult to spend the $30 for basically two new cards that weren't even new, just yet another version of a card we already had in three different colors (gold, silver, bronze) when there was so many other choices competing for the same money.

20 years of collecting and I still learn new stuff. Thanks

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Still, I wish I'd bought a few of them now. One other thing that chilled us on the Superman Holoseries is the holograms were good, but not spectacular(even though the "Holocel" clear hologram remains one of the best chase cards ever made). By the release of the Batman Holoseries a year or two later, they'd really worked out the kinks, and those holograms are phenomenal looking.

Yes, the Batman set is great. I hadn't realised there was that much of a difference. My biggest gripe with the Superman is that the holocel can be quite hard to see and doesn't have any markings, the symbol on the Batman one really helps. And my second biggest gripe - I can't tell whether a card is gold or bronze unless I have an example of each in my hands!

Yeah, they really learned from the Superman set, and I'm sure that's why they added the Foil Batman logo to that series' also amazing Holocel. I know I put another card in on top of my Superman holocel in the same pocket of an Ultrapro page one time as I had forgotten it was there. Luckily, when I figured it out, I found I hadn't scratched it, which I definitely could have. I now have a little sticker on the outside of that Ultrapro pocket reminding me it's in there.

As for the Superman Holoseries variations, I think the hobby's had the Silver and Gold and the retails the Silver and Bronze. I didn't know there were three variations until a couple of years after they were out when I was finally sorting them all out. The only place I'd ever bought any were our local comic store and the Kaybee toy store, and those packs are where I'm pretty sure the bronzes came from. You are right, it really is helpful to have a gold to compare them to. The colors aren't that different. I think that's why they dropped bronze for the Batman series, which did have playable Overpowers Holograms, with those now being fairly valuable.

At one time it was the considered opinion of expert card collectors that an autograph on a card defaced the card and nullified all value. This was prior to the days of certified autograph cards seeded in packs of course. The biggest rule for sports stars was that you never had them sign on their rookie card or any other earlier card that had value because the signature made it worthless to a card collector and an autograph collector would much rather have an 8 x 10 to display.

I went my own way and was quite happy to pick up signed rookie cards and get any card I wanted autographed. I always viewed the genuine autograph as increasing the card value, rather than decreasing it. It was just almost all the other collectors that didn't see it that way.

Now times are different, certainly for certified autographs which have come into there own as a separate catagory of collectible, a bit less so for cards signed in person. No one has to stick to the rules. If I think the autograph is the thing that provides the inherit value and the card is secondary, than that's my choice. Which is why I still have so many signed rookie cards.

About people "killing" some collectibles for just an autograph. It isn't the 1rst time or the last it will happen.

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My biggest gripe with the Superman is that the holocel can be quite hard to see and doesn't have any markings...

Yeah, very difficult. The 1rst time I open a box, I confuse it with a piece of plastic.

About the "Bronze" set. What box do you find it?

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Originally posted by kane1:
About people "killing" some collectibles for just an autograph. It isn't the 1rst time or the last it will happen.

Well yes, that is the majority opinion, at least in terms of older material. What I was trying to say is that there is room for the other opinion that a genuine autograph can only enhance the value of the object that is signed, even if it's a card.

Now if you are building a set and you find a signed card, you don't want it because it doesn't match the rest of your set. If you are an autograph collector, you may prefer larger items for display, so an 8 x 10 is bigger than a card. A signed 8 x 10 may also be cheaper than certain signed cards because you are paying for only the autograph value, as opposed to any cost that the card itself might add on.

The reason why genuine autographs on things of value is discouraged is not because it "kills" it, it's because it reduces the pool of demand from potential buyers and this is seen to be reflected in a reduction in value. The supply of such an item might be extremely limited, it could even be one of a kind, and the right buyer might pay a considerable sum for it as a highly personal collectible. Before the advent of the easily obtainable certified autograph card, I was always looking for in-person signings done on cards, as well as signatures on many types of odd ball items.

The only problem is that you must be knowledgeable enough to avoid any uncertified signatures that you can not confirm to be genuine. A fake autograph or a facsimile of any kind will destroy all the value of anything it is on. That is a given, it is worthless no matter you paid.

The Bronze ones are from WalMart, it seems, so I must've bought from there, too, as I do have some of them, but not a lot.

The "Vintage" with the Reds I saw at Target, but those may have been available elsewhere. Mostly, I bought the regular ones from our hobby shop and whatever kind they had at a KayBee toy store.