Dear Babe: I have the 11-print set of Craig Pursley drawings that were used for 1990 Bowman inserts. I saw your column on them. When you're talking about objects that are signed, are you referring to the artist or the player?
At any rate, I was at a card show in White Plains, N.Y., and not one of the five vendors I showed the cards to had a clue of what they were. Thanks for shining a flashlight on the subject. -- M.D., Milford, Conn.
Babe: It's not surprising that dealers wouldn't be savvy about the 1990 Bowman inserts. Thanks to the Internet, shows are on the decline. More and more, you'll find dealers with new products. Those dealers rarely have much knowledge about older material -- even cards that are just 20 years old.
Pursley drew 11 images for Topps to use for insert cards in the 1990 Bowman product.
As for being signed, we're talking about the artist -- not any players -- signing a limited number.
Pursley told me that 500 of each were numbered and signed by him for a sweepstakes giveaway noted on the backs of the cards. Each set was said to have a value of $440. Another 500, signed and noted as "hobby samples," were sent to baseball card shops. There were also 500 sheets that showed all 11 on a single sheet in the size they were reproduced as cards.
"The company did a wonderful job in the reproduction of these. I was very impressed. Unfortunately, $440 seemed quite a bit generous as to the value," Pursley said.
Of the inserts cards, "Beckett Almanac of Baseball Cards and Collectibles" and the "Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards" from the editors of Sports Collectors Digest list the 11 cards in the set at $1 to $2. The almanac lists Nolan Ryan at $1 and Don Mattingly at 60 cents. The catalog has Ryan at 50 cents and Mattingly at 40 cents.
The almanac lists the set of 11 prints at $600, while the catalog has it at $250. Again, Mattingly and Ryan are the top two in value. Ryan is listed at $100 to $250, while Mattingly books at $50 to $100. Beckett notes that there are both signed and unsigned versions of the prints. The almanac says signed prints can be worth as much as two or three times the value of unsigned prints.
"I didn't know they released any that weren't signed. Interesting. All I knew about were signed, but not all were numbered" in the case of hobby samples, Pursley said.
If most prints were signed as Pursley suggests, it is doubtful they carry a premium, especially in today's marketplace.
(Send card questions to Babe Waxpak, P.O. Box 492397, Redding, CA 96049-2397 or email babewaxpak@charter.net. If possible, include card number, year and brand or a photocopy. Please do not send cards. For Babe Waxpak's blog, see www.scrippsnews.com/waxpak. Babe Waxpak is a feature of The Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif.)
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