Here's a promo that wasn't sent to dealers and it wasn't a giveaway at a show. It's the "Spider-Man: The Venom factor" card (Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc., 1994) which was available only as an insert with the first printing of the hardcover novel of the same name. It was enclosed in a plastic holder attached to the inside front cover of the novel.

Many collectors didn't know about it right away but by the time we did hear about it, the hardcover was in the bargain section of bookstores so you could get the book with the card for about five bucks. Even today, you can find it for around ten bucks.

Here's the 7-card "Valiant Era Chromium Card Set" (Voyager Communications, Inc., 1994). It's an oddball set because all but one of the cards were available only by redemption and the seventh card was available only as a comic book insert.

The six chromium cards were numbered CH1, two CH2's, (no CH3), CH4, CH5, CH6) and they arrived in a clear plastic box with a chromium sticker on it identifying the set. The seventh card, CH7, was inserted with the comic, Ninjak #13.

I bought my 6-card boxed set at a local collectibles show maybe 10-15 years ago - got it for $7.99 as you can see. It still sells around that. The 14-card set you mailed away is harder to find and it's not easy tracking down sealed issues of the comics at a cheap price per issue. I saw a set sold for $30 recently but another went for $70. I was surprised at that high-end but that buyer was willing to bite the bullet to get them all in one shot at $5 per card. You can find singles for a couple of bucks each here and there if you're willing to wait.

Some time ago, I bought a 2-card Pro Line Portraits 2 (NFL Properties, Inc., 1992) promo pack for just a few bucks. The Pro Line Portraits sets are technically football card sets but they are highly unusual football cards in that they show players in street clothes or workout gear and the card backs doe not show stats. We've talked about these cards before in different threads because some of the cards feature non-players such as players' wives and celebrities so some nonsports collectors have some of these cards too.

I didn't open the pack for a while but then I did earlier this year. I thought the Kathy Lee Gifford card on the top was just a card from the set but it's actually a sample version with "SAMPLE" printed in smaller letters below the inset photo. The other card has just text describing the sets.

I get the feeling the promo pack was distributed in a limited way because I hardly ever see it for sale. The TCDB site doesn't list it.

I loved collecting those as a football fan, and also for the various non-sports subjects in there. The Martin Mull card is great.

The '92 edition might have been the very first box of packs type-product that essentially guaranteed an autograph in every box.

This official Pat Priest autograph card (A1 from The Munsters Series 2 set (Dart Flipcards, 1997) doesn't look unusual at a glance, though the four different autographs were rare (1 per 300 packs as per Allender's list). I noticed it, though, while looking at autographs. What's unusual is that this particular one is personalized unlike what we've seen of pack-inserted cards

When actress, Pat Priest, made her deal to sign cards for the set, she negotiated to receive some quantity of unsigned A1 cards for her own use. She has appeared at fan conventions and sold signed photos and presumably some of the cards she negotiated for. She has also given some away and that is the case with this inscribed and personalized one. It was a gift to "Dino," thanking him for some unknown gesture. Since it wasn't in the packs, I guess you could call it an unreleased variant of a released chase card.

When I first saw this card, I wondered if "Dino" was actually Dino Frisella, the owner of Dart Flipcards, and that he wanted a special one for himself. He passed away about 10 years ago so I thought an heir would be selling some of his possessions/collectibles by now. The seller told me that would be a better story but the owner was a different Dino, a friend of hers. He has since passed away and his daughter has started selling some of his stuff.

I had thought the autographs were 1-per box for Munsters Series 2 but they are actually a lot rarer - more like one or two per case. I don't know the value (haven't see any recent sales) but figured it might be $50-100 though a check of Beckett's 2021 Non-Sport Almanac has it at $30-75.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: catskilleagle,

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
This official Pat Priest autograph card (A1 from The Munsters Series 2 set (Dart Flipcards, 1997) doesn't look unusual at a glance, though the four different autographs were rare (1 per 300 packs as per Allender's list). I noticed it, though, while looking at autographs. What's unusual is that this particular one is personalized unlike what we've seen of pack-inserted cards.

I had thought the autographs were 1-per box for Munsters Series 2 but they are actually a lot rarer - more like one or two per case. I don't know the value (haven't see any recent sales) but figured it might be $50-100 though a check of Beckett's 2021 Non-Sport Almanac has it at $30-75.

In this case, I doubt if that personalized card would be worth much more than $10, probably less unless you found a Dino. The pack pulled and cleanly signed card has those odds, not this one. The fact that the back identifies it as the A1 doesn't actually make it a variant since the manufacturer didn't release it that way. It is essentially just a blank card that was autographed later on to one person and is only special to that person, on that occasion.

All inscriptions that include a "to or for" name automatically reduces the resale price because it limits demand. Only items inscribed by very rare signers, who are in high demand, don't lose a lot of value. Pat Priest isn't one of those, she has signed often. A name like Dino can't even easily be found so that card, although very nice looking and obviously authentic, isn't going to help the family finances very much.

Back when I used to go to many in-person autograph signings I always got one item personalized to me, usually an 8x10, to memorialize the event. Any cards or other photos or items I paid to have signed were just cleanly autographed or had general inscriptions that did not include my name.

Remember that while it's nice to have a collection that looks like it's just for you, some day you might want some money back for it. That will be hard enough to do as it is. For whatever reads "To my buddy Sigmund", it might be impossible.

I should have been clearer on the estimation of value. I was thinking about the pack-inserted autograph because I couldn't find a sale from the past couple of years. Yes, a personalized card is a personal souvenir for the recipient and it's unlikely anyone else is going to value it more than the recipient - a value not measured in dollars.

I see the card as an oddity as it is an official card but it wasn't signed by Priest and then packed by Dart. It was given to Priest, the signer, and then she intended to sign it at a show or wherever. I wonder what she charged for that (how many she sold/how many she gave away). I don't remember seeing her at SDCC or any local show.

Yeah, what's a trading card oddity without some clear connection to Marvel or Star Wars worth in today's world? It was sitting unsold before I bought it but I did get a discount.

I wonder how many Dart or Skybox signers made the same kind of deal. Leonard Nimoy did - that special card you got with a t-shirt. Mira Furlan received a quantity of exclusive cards from Skybox for her own use as well.

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
I see the card as an oddity as it is an official card but it wasn't signed by Priest and then packed by Dart. It was given to Priest, the signer, and then she intended to sign it at a show or wherever. I wonder what she charged for that (how many she sold/how many she gave away). I don't remember seeing her at SDCC or any local show.

I wonder how many Dart or Skybox signers made the same kind of deal. Leonard Nimoy did - that special card you got with a t-shirt. Mira Furlan received a quantity of exclusive cards from Skybox for her own use as well.

I don't know if that practice between card maker and signer still goes on or is it just a thing of the past? You don't really hear about it anymore. Maybe it's because most card manufacturers not called RA are storing sticker autographs and haven't even printed the cards yet.

I can understand extra cards to signers as a bit more compensation for doing it, but it should have always been a different card between the one that got pack inserted and the one that may get used at private autograph appearances.

That's always the problem that I saw with it. If it's not 100% apparent where a supposedly certified autograph card actually came from, it will call the authenticity of all of them into question. If it's a blank card that never got signed at least its documented, but if it was released and the same card is also kicking around unsigned, be it legitimately or illegally, you now need to prove the signature on the card is genuine.

It's like when you violate the warranty on an appliance, you can't get the parts replaced for free anymore. As an example, that Priest card is no longer certified by Dart despite the back text because she signed it in-person rather than a pack pull. Technically speaking it would need a separate verification. Not that the value would warrant it, just that Dart didn't send it out so it's no longer an official card, even though only the personalization gives it away.

Got that. I'm trying not to confuse myself.

There are a lot of things TCDB doesn’t have listed. I’ve been going through a number of Inkworks sets that are incomplete or wrongly listed. I have added a fair number of hockey cards, including a 100 card set produced by In the Game in the early 2000s.

I’ve come to the conclusion that unless it’s a major baseball release, anything prior to 2015 is suspect to missing something or having cards misidentified.

Don’t misunderstand, I love the site and use it for a number of things but it still has lots of holes. If it’s not there, post the photo in the mystery section and get it added.

catskilleagle wrote:
I get the feeling the promo pack was distributed in a limited way because I hardly ever see it for sale. The TCDB site doesn't list it.

quote:

Originally posted by jcracch:
There are a lot of things TCDB doesn’t have listed.

Don’t misunderstand, I love the site and use it for a number of things but it still has lots of holes. If it’s not there, post the photo in the mystery section and get it added.

Yep, absolutely, but I am in awe of the people who try to keep up things like TCDB, or the Promo Card Encyclopedia, or even Allender's Checklists when he was doing it. I mean these people are really in the weeds and it's an impossible task once you go beyond the published checklists, assuming that they were ever released.

And then there are all the grey areas where one collector calls a card one thing and the next collector calls the same card something else. Is it a variant or a misprint? Is it a different color or a faded color? Was it pack seeded or aftermarket? Licensed or unlicensed? Promo or incentive or out the back door?

The goal posts keep moving depending on the narrator. There will never be complete or definitive databases on trading cards, but if you can find more answers than holes its worthwhile for true card collectors.

So bravo to the people who try. I know I don't have that kind of determination.