Jeff Allender's website says that there was a Brent Spiner auto in the 1996 SkyBox ST 1st Contact Cinema Collection set.

Is this the first Star Trek auto insert?

It was the first official pack inserted auto, but it was very rare (1:100 boxes).

The following year (1997) saw the release of Skybox's Star Trek TOS season one which had an autograph per box.

One sold recently on ebay for about $ 600.

Thanks.

While we're at it ("it" being discussing old auto cards), Imagine had some "Night of the Living Dead" autos in 1988, also a Tom Savini in "Grande Illusions". Can anyone think of any older NS auto inserts?

Both Comic Images and FPG had artist autographs in their sets in the early 90's.

If we're talking early 90's, I think you'd have to call Star Pics the leader in coming out with celebrity non-sport autographs.

In 1991 they put out signed cards for both All My Children and Twin Peaks. The autographed cards are of course very problematic to get today because of the peeled stars and seals.

So nothing prior to 1988, then.

FWIW, this is what I know of for early (1991 and before) NS autos:

1988 - Imagine "Night of the Living Dead" green border
1988 - Imagine "Grande Illusions" Tom Savini
1990 - Imagine "Scream Queens"
1990 - Imagine "Night of the Living Dead" red border
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"

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy C:
One sold recently on ebay for about $ 600.

I know of a dealer in the UK that's still got his for sale with a £1000 price tag

quote:

Originally posted by Graham:

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy C:
One sold recently on ebay for about $ 600.

I know of a dealer in the UK that's still got his for sale with a £1000 price tag

Probably go up to £1200 now as there is one less available

So the 80's releases were sold as full sets. No packs.

It is pretty crazy to think that either Tom Savini or George Romero are considered to be the first non sports autograph card!

Plus the dead set also had John Russo and Russel Streiner autograph cards.

I just picked up the whole Savini set (with autograph) for $37

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

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Mullins:
So nothing prior to 1988, then.

FWIW, this is what I know of for early (1991 and before) NS autos:

1988 - Imagine "Night of the Living Dead" green border
1988 - Imagine "Grande Illusions" Tom Savini
1990 - Imagine "Scream Queens"
1990 - Imagine "Night of the Living Dead" red border
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"

Bill,

I broke out my trusty Gum Guide 2 and looked up everything produced in the 80's.

Night of the Living Dead is the first set listed with an auto.

Although it is listed as a 20 year anniversary (1988) the guide lists the set as being printed in 1987.

I dug out my old issues of the Wrapper to see what was first.

Night of the Living Dead was first advertised in the Apr-May 1988 issue of the Wrapper, and included 3 autographs.

Grande Illusion was first advertised in the Aug-Oct issue. The ad said it would have a release date of 9/10/1988 (the NOTLD ad did not mention a release date). It was advertised with just the Savini autograph.

So it looks like NOTLD was the first NS set to include factory autographs.

quote:

Originally posted by mykdude:
I just picked up the whole Savini set (with autograph) for $37

31 years ago, it was $25.

The 91 Pro Line also had Martin Mull

quote:

Originally posted by mykdude:
The 91 Pro Line also had Martin Mull

Yes it did. And depending on how far your definition of "nonsports" stretches, it also had signed cards from Paul Tagliabue, Chris Berman, and the wives of 15 players.

Maybe we should have a separate thread about the 1991 Pro Line Portraits set. I had considered it a sports set until reading sports card collectors complain about it because it veered away from being a standard sports set. The photos on the fronts are of football players but in mostly NFL-brand street clothes (not uniforms) and the backs have text about the player but no stats. You could say it's more of a pro athlete-as-a-celebrity set.

And yeah, the chase cards are autographs and they're specially-printed unnumbered cards - not just autographed base cards. Sports collectors actually like those except for the fact that they're signed on the back. They tend to consider the base set as junk but some are still working on completing the autograph set. The other chase cards show players' wives and Payne Stewart, a golfer, which also sets it apart from a traditional sports series. I haven't seen a listing for Martin Mull, Tagliabue, nor Berman. I know Pro Line did a couple of other sets in the years that followed but stopped the whole idea in the mid-90's.

There were also promos for the set including 250 complete sets with the "National 1991" that were given out to guests at an event associated with the National that year. I've seen cards marked "SAMPLE" in tiny letters on the back too.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Mullins:

quote:

Originally posted by mykdude:
The 91 Pro Line also had Martin Mull

Yes it did. And depending on how far your definition of "nonsports" stretches, it also had signed cards from Paul Tagliabue, Chris Berman, and the wives of 15 players.

I think the reason why the 1991 Pro Line Portraits set was done like that was to make it look more personal and set it apart from all the other football sets with players in uniform and on the field. As mentioned it also included more than a dozen player's wives. It was most definitely a sports card set.

The sports card autographs that are more interesting to non-sport card collectors would be the 2004 Donruss Fans of the Game series. These signed sticker autograph cards were put into Donruss packs in all their different 2004 sports products. They have a similar design, but were not found in one set or one sport license. There are many names in the list that not only never signed on sports cards, but also for some people, never signed any type of cards again.

A partial list that I remember are John O'Hurley, Gene Shalit, Regis Philbin, Charley Sheen, Emilio Estavez, Meat Loaf, Stan Lee, Corbin Bernsen, Peter Gammons, Janet Evans, Val Kilmer, Larry King, Chris O'Donnell and Bob Segat. There were more. That group of inserts could use a special thread.

Fans of the Game

These are the Non-sport autograph cards from 2004 (at least, to my way of thinking --YMMV)

Jules Asner 2004 Donruss Leather & Lumber Baseball Fans of the Game FG-1
Chris Berman 2004 Playoff Absolute Football Memorabilia Fans of the Game FG3
Corbin Bernsen 2004 Playoff Honors Baseball Fans of the Game 252
John Clayton 2004 Playoff Absolute Football Memorabilia Fans of the Game FG5
Linda Cohn 2004 Leaf Rookies & Stars Football Fans of the Game FG6
Jamie-Lynn DiScala 2004 Donruss Throwback Threads Baseball Fans of the Game FG-4
Rich Eisen 2004 Playoff Absolute Football Memorabilia Fans of the Game FG4
Shannon Elizabeth 2004 Donruss Throwback Threads Baseball Fans of the Game FG-2
Emilio Estevez 2004 Donruss Throwback Threads Baseball Fans of the Game FG-1
Erik Estrada 2004 Playoff Absolute Football Memorabilia Fans of the Game FG1
Damien Fahey 2004 Leaf Rookies & Stars Football Fans of the Game FG3
Peter Gammons 2004 Playoff Honors Baseball Fans of the Game 253
James Gandolfini 2004 Donruss Elite Baseball Fans of the Game 201
Jeff Garlin 2004 Playoff Honors Baseball Fans of the Game 254
Tony Hawk 2004 Leaf Rookies & Stars Football Fans of the Game FG1
Dennis Haysbert 2004 Donruss Leather & Lumber Baseball Fans of the Game FG-2
Val Kilmer 2004 Donruss World Series Baseball Fans of the Game 1
Larry King 2004 Playoff Honors Baseball Fans of the Game 255
Mel Kiper Jr. 2004 Playoff Honors Football Fans of the Game 236
Denis Leary 2004 Donruss Studio Baseball Fans of the Game 217
Stan Lee 2004 Donruss World Series Baseball Fans of the Game 2
Jackie Mason 2004 Leaf Rookies & Stars Football Fans of the Game FG4
Adam Mesh 2004 Donruss Studio Baseball Fans of the Game 220
Joe Montegna 2004 Donruss Throwback Threads Baseball Fans of the Game FG-3
Chris Mortensen 2004 Playoff Honors Football Fans of the Game 237
Chris O'Donnell 2004 Donruss Leather & Lumber Baseball Fans of the Game FG-3
John O'Hurley 2004 Playoff Honors Football Fans of the Game 238
Regis Philbin 2004 Donruss Studio Baseball Fans of the Game 216
Ray Romano 2004 Playoff Honors Football Fans of the Game 234
Darius Rucker 2004 Playoff Honors Football Fans of the Game 235
Bob Saget 2004 Leaf Rookies & Stars Football Fans of the Game FG5
Steve Schirripa 2004 Donruss Studio Baseball Fans of the Game 219
Gene Shalit 2004 Donruss World Series Baseball Fans of the Game 4
Charlie Sheen 2004 Playoff Honors Baseball Fans of the Game 251
Jonathan Silverman 2004 Donruss Throwback Threads Baseball Fans of the Game FG-5
John Travolta 2004 Donruss Leather & Lumber Baseball Fans of the Game FG-5
Leeann Tweeden 2004 Donruss World Series Baseball Fans of the Game 5

And here's 2005

Sean Astin 2005 Leaf Baseball Fans of the Game FG-1
Dean Cain 2005 Donruss Baseball Fans of the Game FG-4
Tia Carrere 2005 Playoff Prestige Baseball Fans of the Game FG-2
Tony Danza 2005 Leaf Baseball Fans of the Game FG-2
Taye Diggs 2005 Leaf Baseball Fans of the Game FG-3
Susie Essman 2005 Donruss Baseball Fans of the Game FG-3
Tony Hawk 2005 Playoff Prestige Baseball Fans of the Game FG-1
Meat Loaf 2005 Donruss Baseball Fans of the Game FG-5
John C. McGinley 2005 Donruss Baseball Fans of the Game FG-2
Matthew Modine 2005 Playoff Prestige Baseball Fans of the Game FG-3
Rick Reilly 2005 Playoff Prestige Football Fans of the Game FG-1
Jesse Ventura 2005 Donruss Baseball Fans of the Game FG-1

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bill Mullins,

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
. . . the 1991 Pro Line Portraits set. I had considered it a sports set . . .

Oh yes, definitely a sports set. But it has non-sports cards in it. (and to me, these oddball NS cards are some of the most interesting.)

[and you could make a case for adding Joe Gibbs to the NS cards in the Proline sets]

quote:

I haven't seen a listing for Martin Mull, Tagliabue, nor Berman.

Oh really?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bill Mullins,

Yup! I just picked up a Martin for my Mr. Mom cast.

Just need to wait for Ann Jillian from the next Twilight Zone set and it will be done.