Getting mail from fellow bloggers is always fun. However, me opening said mail after a long day isn't always the ideal time to do so. Case in point:
This one card PWE temporarily threw me for a bit of a loop, causing a piece of internal dialogue that went a little something like this...
Ooh, 1998 Signature Series!
Travis lee... I remember him!
That's a poopy (sidenote: poopy isn't the word that I thought of) lookin' autograph.
Is that an autopen?
I don't remember anybody ever saying anything about an autopenned signature in this set?
*Turns card over*
Oh!
It's a sample.
Obviously that's why the signature looks so terrible.
Duh!
I didn't know that Signature Series had samples?
*Goes and checks COMC. Finds out that the 1998 Signature Series did indeed have samples, or rather a sample, as Travis Lee was the only one*
This brief bit of confusion could've easily been avoided had I just read the note that Jim had included -- oh, and I don't think that I've mentioned it yet, but Jim (gcrl), of cards as i see them, sent this wonderful card to me -- anyways, I could've read the note first, but you know how that goes!
I've thought many time in the past about starting a collection of samples, probably the only reason that I haven't done so already, is that there are also pre-production, and prototype cards, out there -- and honestly, I don't what the difference is? Are they all different? Or is it just a bunch of different names for the same thing? Well, maybe this isn't the only thing that's holding me back from starting such a collection, but it is up there amongst the reasons.
Jim, thank you again for thinking of me when you came across this one! Even if I don't ever start a sample collection, this is still one really cool card.
Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.
I'd be confused too. I didn't know there was such a thing as physical sample auto cards. And does anyone still make any? Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of anybody still making such things, but that doesn't mean that someone isn't though :)
DeleteI suppose I've never consciously decided to collect samples (and their ilk), but whenever I see one in a dime box, I buy it. So maybe I DO collect them, then...
ReplyDeleteYou've obviously been more fortunate in your dime box digging than I, because I've only come across maybe 3-4 in all my years of looking.
DeleteI love promo cards. Lol. Yeah... I'm one of those guys who lumps samples, pre-production, prototype, and promos into one group. I started collecting them back in the 90's when I had access to tons of them.
ReplyDeleteThey certainly were more plentiful back then, and working at a card shop probably didn't hurt either :)
DeleteThey are indeed all the same thing, just with different names. I am I think two away from having every Fleer NBA promotional sample ever.
ReplyDeleteGood to know! That'll be quite the coup when you get around to completing that Fleer sample collection.
DeleteI really thought that was an actual signature at first, so I would have been just as confused. Sometimes you just have one of those days, when you're all out of sorts and out of the right headspace to receive cards. It happened to me recently after I got a couple eBay purchases. It was a bad day at work so I tore open the package and just left the cards there without much of a glance. (I'm going to give them their proper due in my next post.)
ReplyDeleteI seem to be having more and more of those "days", they're not fun! At least you opened those packages, I've bought 2 or 3 things off of eBay this year, got the packages, put them down somewhere, and then forgot about them -- it was almost three weeks before I opened the last one.
DeleteOh man I would have rather had the real thing lol
ReplyDeleteAnd for me, this is one instance where I much rather would've had the sample than the actual autograph.
Deletei have a couple odd sample cards in my unsorted recent accumulation of 1000 plus cards for trading and pick pocketing. Once I come across them again, you get 'em. I don't recall the players associated so we'll both be surprised.
ReplyDeleteWell, if you're not interested in keeping them, I certainly wouldn't mind giving them a new home, thank you!
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