It's nifty...but what's it worth?

Vince15Fan · 07-03-2006, 09:33 PM

2000 UD Muhammad Ali Ultimate Collection Autograph #A4 (05/50)

Most people don't even know that these cards exist. Back in 2000, Upper Deck released a Muhammad Ali Master Collection. The collections were limited in production to 250 sets, and each collection containted the following:

30 Master Collection Base Cards (/250)
Training-worn Glove Card (/50)
Fight-worn Robe Card (/50)
Fight-worn Trunks Card (/50)
Certified Autograph (/50)
Mystery Card

There were five different versions of each GU or Autographed card. Each version features a different image and is numbered /50. So, even though each different version was numbered /50, there are actually two hundred and fifty autographs available (five versions; fifty of each version). Ditto for the robe cards, glove cards, and so forth.

Then there are the mystery packs, which contained one of the following:

Autographed Training-worn Glove Card (/70)
Autographed Fight-worn Robe Card (/50)
Autographed Fight-worn Robe/Trunks Card (/100)
30 Ultimate Ali Parallel Cards (all 1/1)

So, including the 250 base autographs and the 220 additional mystery pack autographed memorabilia cards, there are a total of 470 Muhammad Ali Upper Deck autographed cards in existance. Aside from the ProSet autographs from a while back, these are also the only certified Ali autographed cards that I know of.

Photographs of the set below, and a scan of my card (the only one I've ever seen sold separately) in my signature. Personally, I think the base autographs are far more attractive than the auto/memorabilia cards (which are identical to the base memorabilia cards shown below, but feature a signature over the text underneath the swatch. They just look very cluttered, with the signature crammed in a small space over a bunch of background noise).

Here's a link to a mystery card 1/1 that sold back in April with a BIN:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=8790853 460

The set has long since sold out on UD's website, and is very rarely made available on eBay or through auction houses like Leland's. Singles are offered even less often. As such, it's very difficult for me to estimate a potential sale price for the card...hence this thread. So, any thoughts? Guesses?

-JP

**Grid** · 07-03-2006, 10:04 PM

Something like this item is a case of how much would it take to get you to let it go? Plus the part of how much is someone willing to offer for it.

Vince15Fan · 07-05-2006, 09:12 PM

I'm looking for estimates on the latter half of the equation (ie: if I threw it on eBay, what do you think it'd go for). I'm not interested in selling it just yet, but I'm curious.

-JP

jazz1232dc · 07-06-2006, 10:49 AM

When you got the Ali in a long time ago I've periodically checked Ebay to see what other Ali auto's were available, since I was very jealous of you

. I have yet to see one like yours on Ebay. Several Pro Set auto's and quite a few PSA/DNA auto's have popped up but I haven't seen another UD auto at all.

The Pro Set auto has flucuated in price so much that it's hard to put a set value on it. I've seen them go as low as $125 and I just checked completed sales and this one went for over $330...

http://cgi.ebay.com/MUHAMMAD-ALI-RAR...QQcmdZViewItem

So if it were my card, well I wouldn't even think of selling it, but if I did I wouldn't take less than $600 for it. Your card isn't just another sports card autograph. I look at it as a piece of history.

If your serious about selling it I'd wait for another .10 cent listing day and stick it on Ebay with a $1,000 BIN and accept offers. You never know, someone may hit the BIN.

dd316 · 07-06-2006, 11:17 AM

What was the set's original cost?

fdgowin · 07-06-2006, 11:40 AM

Here's one for sale - $5950

http://item.express.ebay.com/Sports-...mdZExpressItem

fdgowin

Vince15Fan · 07-06-2006, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazz1232dc

When you got the Ali in a long time ago I've periodically checked Ebay to see what other Ali auto's were available, since I was very jealous of you

. I have yet to see one like yours on Ebay. Several Pro Set auto's and quite a few PSA/DNA auto's have popped up but I haven't seen another UD auto at all.

The Pro Set auto has flucuated in price so much that it's hard to put a set value on it. I've seen them go as low as $125 and I just checked completed sales and this one went for over $330...

http://cgi.ebay.com/MUHAMMAD-ALI-RAR...QQcmdZViewItem

So if it were my card, well I wouldn't even think of selling it, but if I did I wouldn't take less than $600 for it. Your card isn't just another sports card autograph. I look at it as a piece of history.

If your serious about selling it I'd wait for another .10 cent listing day and stick it on Ebay with a $1,000 BIN and accept offers. You never know, someone may hit the BIN.

Yeah, I'm definitely not looking to sell it. The only way I'd ever consider moving it is if Ali autographs started popping up in product after product after product. At that point I'd probably move it as quickly as possible, and maybe pick up a cheaper version later down the road.

As an example...my best pull ever was back in 2001. Upper Deck had released their first golf product, the autographs were inserted something like 1:3000, and there were fifteen players or so in the set. I bought a box for $18 and pulled the Tiger Woods autograph. It was selling for $700 or so back at the time since it was his only certified autograph inserted in packs. That card was the centerpiece of my collection for the longest time...but then UD started to release more and more golf products with more and more Tiger autographs. The price and prestige began to drop, and I ended up trading it for the Michael Jordan piece in my signature as well as a Kareem auto and a few other cards.

These days, you can pick up a Tiger autograph for under $150, and owning one doesn't hold the prestige that it did back in 2001. Don't get me wrong, it's still an awesome card to own...but it's not what it was. So, the only way I'd consider moving it is in the event that UD started to release Ali autographs in product after product and it looked like they were going to saturate the market (something that I doubt will ever happen given Ali's health, and the fact that they haven't done so in the past five years or so)...or if I were in desperate need for money.

-JP