The Post War Cards Newsletter #23
A Unique Find The Reggie Auto, 1962 Post Cereal Ad Panels, A 1934 National Chicle Wrapper, The Trader Speaks, And A 1952 Topps Mantle Printing Plate?
This week, we’ll be covering the discovery of a new '“Find The Reggie” autograph variation, cool collectibles cut out from 1962 Post Cereal boxes, another scarce and pricey pre-war baseball card wrapper, my favorite Trader Speaks cover, and a request for hobby help regarding a Mickey Mantle brass-like plate.
⚾️🖊️ The 1990 Upper Deck Find The Reggie Autograph 714/2500
I consider the 1990 Upper Deck Reggie Jackson autograph to be the first major chase card. As I said in my blog post on the card, Upper Deck inserted 2500 copies of a signed and numbered Reggie Jackson card in the 1990 Upper Deck baseball high series. They called the promotion Find ‘The Reggie.’
There are a few fun variations; for example, Reggie signed for Harmon Killebrew on card 573/2500 and Willie Mays on card 660/2500 for the number of HRs each hit. Reggie also included the “Mr. October” inscription on many of them.
Another unique variation was recently shared on the Sports Cards Nonesene Facebook group. Reggie signed for Babe Ruth on card 714/2500! (And yes, it does have the diamond-shaped hologram on the back, indicating it was pack-pulled)
Here’s what All-Stars Sports Cards & Games wrote about it:
This is a very special card. It’s part of a 2500 card run of 1990 Upper Deck Reggie Jackson on-card autographs, the first such card that could be pulled from a pack. This particular card, however, is numbered 714/2500, significant because Babe Ruth’s longstanding career Home Run record was 714. Obviously noting this, Reggie penned a couple additional inscriptions on this one - “Mr October” and “Babe Ruth”. It could be argued that this is the first pack-pulled 1/1 autograph ever! We also believe it to be previously be unknown in the hobby! You never know what’s gonna walk in through those doors!
One has to think Reggie signed “Hank Aaron” on card 755, right?!
Also, just because I’m a fan, here is the Upper Deck commemorative sheet produced for the 1990 set featuring a signed Jackson card.
P.S. Rich Mueller beat me to publishing about this card. Hey, I publish on Thursdays! But he linked my blog post, and I’m happy to share his great piece, too!
🥣 1962 Post Cereal Ad Panels
On February 18th, GregMorrisCards auctioned off a pair of unique “cards” whose titles caught my attention since I’ve previously written about the 1962 Mantle and Maris Store Banners. They sold a pair of Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris hand-cut panels taken from 1962 Post Cereal boxes. The Mantle sold for $102.50, while the Maris went for $53.99.
Here’s what the full box-backs, which included those cutouts, looked like.
✍️ Great Hobby Writing
SABR's Baseball Cards Research Committee: Morning Puzzles for Card Collectors
Another Orioles Blog: No Brainer or No Brains? The BINDER
The Topps Archives: Silly Is As Silly Does
Pre-War Collector: B.E. Thompson: Gem of the T209 Contentnea Set
Night Owl Cards: Elusive '80s cards ... really? Really
Signature Stores: A hockey hero, just for one day
⚾️ Unopened Item Of The Week - A 1934-36 Batter-Up (R318) Baseball Catcher Design Wrapper
From Ron Oser Enterprises’ April 2000 catalog, a rarely seen 1934-36 Batter Up - One Cent “Catcher Design” Baseball Wrapper. The Catcher design wrapper pictured here was for the low series (Cards 1-80, which included Mel Ott) of National Chicle’s 192-card set, which includes 36 Hall of Famers.
Striking red & green clear wax wrapper has some light brown staining around the folds and vernal over all wear. Grades Very Good Condition. Reserve $75.
For reference, REA sold a pair of R318 wrappers for $1,410 in the spring of 2009, way before the boom in unopened collecting.
If you like seeing these ultra-rare unopened pieces, consider upgrading your subscription to get Monday’s Unopened Market Report.
📝 On The Blog
Feb 20, 2025: A Few Ways Topps Distributed Uncut Sheets Directly To Customers
Feb 21, 2025: Ted Williams’ Farewell: The Iconic 1960 Red Sox Narragansett Beer Poster That Captures a Changing Era
Feb 22, 2025: Time for Yoo-Hoo: Exploring the Rare Yogi Berra Endorsed Clock
Feb 23, 2025: Capturing Greatness: The Iconic Cover Art Used for Inside Baseball’s 1953 Jackie Robinson Issue
Feb 24, 2025: 1952 Wheaties Baseball Cards: A Unique and Attainable Oddball Set
Feb 25, 2025: 1961 Fleer Baseball Greats: Still Great And Still Affordable
Feb 26, 2025: The 1984 Topps Gremlins Rack Pack Display Box Artwork
📰 In The News
Williamsport Sun-Gazette: Montgomery man charged for trading card thefts sentenced to 6 to 24 months
Sports Collectors Daily: Feds: Former Montana USPS Worker Pleads Guilty to Stealing Sports Card Shipments
cllct: Trading card app CollX raises $10M in Series A funding
Marietta Daily Journal: Man Accused of Stealing Over $20K Worth of Trading Cards
Value Added Resource: eBay Mega-Seller Probstein To Launch Competing Live Selling Platform For Sports Cards & Memorabilia & cllct: Top eBay seller Rick Probstein launching own auction platform
The Press Democrat: This trading card shop aims to create a ‘home for history’ in a new store in Santa Rosa
Sports Collectors Daily: 84-Year-Old Colorado Man Pleads Guilty To Selling, Trading Phony High-Grade Sports Cards
14 News: Evansville local pulls rare, signed Babe Ruth baseball card
Detroit Free Press: You won't believe how Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal got this rare baseball card
Sports Collectors Digest: Mike Trout, Paul Skenes, Jayden Daniels and other big stars help kids, collectors celebrate Topps Rip Night
Sports Collectors Daily: Back on the Block: T206 Honus Wagner Set for Auction
📖 In The Hobby Library - The Trader Speaks March 1983
This newsletter is getting a bit long, so I’ll keep this brief—I wanted to share my favorite Trader Speaks cover.
Funny enough, I’m not even a Reds fan, but this one really stands out! If you’re into hobby history, I highly recommend picking up as many back issues of this publication as possible.
🆘 Hobby Help Needed - A 1952 Topps Mantle Printing Plate?
I'm looking for insight on this 1952 Topps Mantle ~3’’ x 4’’ brass-like plate.
A collector reached out to me saying that in the 80s, a gentleman gave this to him at his uncle's card shop on Long Island, saying it was special and that he should hold onto it. He thought nothing of it until cleaning gout cards from his parent's house. However, he can't find anything about it. One of my contacts said that their initial thought was a printing plate, not from Topps, as the image is grainy, but possibly for one of the smaller magazines back in the day; he said Card Prices Update came to mind when he saw it, but even that issue has a cleaner image, plus the banner text. Another hobby contact was also skeptical that it was a Topps production piece.
I started a thread on the Net54Baseball forums where one person said, “The only chance is it is a later piece used to print a magazine or something. it is a complete clear image, not a pass as it should be. A authentic plate should be a black, cyan, magenta, yellow pass. It would not be a complete clear image unless used for something else or a fantasy piece.” Another wrote, “It's not clear enough to be a printing plate unless it's for a very small publication that made their own. Plates for offset printing are also usually coated aluminum. I think it may be a roughly done piece from a plaque of some kind.”
Happy collecting!