Autographed 1981-1989 Hall of Fame Metallic Plaque Cards - 67 of the 69 Possibly Signed Cards with Mantle, Williams, and DiMaggio!

Sold For:

$4,500

Year:

1985

Auction:

2015 Fall

Lot #:

894

Category:

Autographed Baseballs/Flats/Photos

Between 1981 and 1989, the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum issued a limited-edition set of metallic baseball cards (produced on blank-backed gold anodized aluminum) that featured exact reproductions of each player's respective Hall of Fame plaque. Sold in the Hall of Fame's gift shop, the set was limited to only 1,000 plaques of each player and ultimately numbered 204 different players before production was discontinued in 1989 for economic reasons. Offered here is a complete set of 204 cards featuring signed examples for sixty-seven of the sixty-nine cards that could have possibly been signed. This is the most complete autographed set we have ever offered and is missing only Joe Cronin and Willie Mays for completion. (The Willie Mays card in this collection is signed, but JSA has determined the signature to be a secretarial verision.) All of the signatures have been flawlessly executed in either blue or black Sharpie on the front of the plaque and grade "10." The sixty-seven autographed plaques represented in this collection are those of Aaron, Aparicio, Appling, Banks, Barlick, Bell, Bench, Berra, Boudreau, Brock, Chandler, Conlan, Coveleski, Dandridge, Dickey, DiMaggio, Doerr, Drysdale, Feller, Ferrell, Ford, Gehringer, Gibson, Gomez, Greenberg, Grimes, Herman, Hoyt, Hubbell, Hunter, Irvin, T. Jackson, J. Johnson, Kaline, Kell, Kelly, Killebrew, Kiner, Koufax, Lemon, Leonard, Lopez, Lyons, Mantle, Marichal, Mathews, McCovey, Mize, Musial, Reese, Roberts, B. Robinson, F. Robinson, Roush, Ruffing, Schoendienst, Sewell, Slaughter, Snider, Spahn, Stargell, Terry, Wilhelm, B. Williams, T. Williams, Wynn, and Yaz. The metallic cards (2.5 x 3.5 inches) are in overall Nr/Mt-Mt condition and are accompanied by the original album as issued. This unique Hall of Fame set is not on collectors' radar at this point in time but signed examples could be considered a "sleeper" with tremendous upside potential. The cards alone were very expensive, which is understandable given their obvious great production expense, and few collectors in the 1980s could justify spending the substantial money required to collect the set when issued. As a point of reference, the set, unsigned, lists in the 2005 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards for $650. Total: 204 cards (sixty-seven signed). LOA from James Spence/JSA.  Reserve $500. Estimate $2,000+.