Sometimes, a sale happens that makes your jaw drop.

Yesterday I came across this completed sale or Barry Larkin and was completely shocked at the sale price.  I remember when these 25th Anniversary USA sets were released, and they had some mixed reviews from consumers.  While there were some rare names on the checklist and some autographs that were very limited, it still didn’t pack much punch overall.

Every now and then, an auto pops up on the market and those dedicated set builders and/or players collectors MUST have it.  I’m sure this was one of those scenarios, so let’s all marvel at the price and the beauty of the card.

I can only imagine what the green ink #’d /2 will bring….

I figured this would happen when I posted the first pictures of the 2010 Bowman Chrome USA 18U Team Autographs.  Consumers would let out a collective “WTF” in regards to the sticker autographs, since we’re all historically accustomed to on-card ink for Bowman Chrome products.

Before you head over to Topps headquarters with your pitchfork, consider that their might be some reasons for the sticker autographs.  Read the points below and then go back and look at the cards.  Could they really be that bad for the market?  Have your views changed?

The Collegiate team is the easiest to get on-card for a set. They are selected early (directly after collegiate season ends) and practice together multiple times before they travel for games. Topps (or in the past, Upper Deck) can schedule a day to have a card signing and get it done. They know the rosters well in advance to that signing day, so they can make the checklist & get cards printed ahead of time, and bring them to be signed.

The 18U team is a little harder to organize an on-card signing and represent the middle ground of any on-card autograph aspirations for Topps (or in the past, Upper Deck). Half the roster is known in advance and able to sign on-card for the set. A bunch of the players graduate from the former 16U teams, and the rest are recent HS draft picks that want to play before they sign with their pro team, to hopefully boost their price ($$$). Any other players for the roster are selected after the NTIS event,which consists of over 200 prospects in total for each age group. Given those variable, it’s very hard to know who to print on the cards and/or even set up a signing day.

The 16U team is nearly impossible to coordinate for Topps (or in the past, Upper Deck), since they are selected strictly through the NTIS trials. Then, once the team is finally chosen, they travel almost immediately for multiple tune-up games, and then finally move on to international play. Getting them all in one place and knowing the roster is an impossible feat for any company.

If you look back at Upper Deck USA products, they almost never had on-card autographs before 2008 box set. The only type of on-card autographs prior to 2009 were in the 2006 box set, which only had a super limited run of base cards signed by collegiate players (10 copies or less per player).

In the 2008 & 2009 box sets, the only on-card autographs were Collegiate team and 18U team base autographs.  Any game used sets were either sticker of trapped autpographs.

While we all wait for 2010 Bowman Chrome to release this week and the new USA Chrome autographs (18U team) to hit the market, some other USA sales have been quite interesting.  It’s always been a down time for USA cards with new prospect sets coming out of the same players.  Ever since Topps took over the license and the plans were up in the air, the past Upper Deck cards have started to rise again and sell for solid prices.

Below are some of the intruiging sales from the past two weeks, with a few steals that made it through the cracks.

2009 Upper Deck USA Q & A Stephen Strasburg Auto /20

It’s quite shocking to see Strasburg stuff still sell well, even with the injury.  He has alot of Topps cards on the market now (with many more coming), yet the USA stuff has not slowed too much.  To see this card get $200+ is a great sign for Bryce Harper cards in my eyes.

2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars Manny Machado USA Patch/Auto /25

Manny Machado is on fire right now and not because of his stats.  He’s yet to take a professional at-bat, but that hasn’t stopped collectors from going after his autographs.  His 2010 Elite Extra Autos were strong out of the gate, even as a redemption, and now his USA cards have seen interest.  This card was $60 right before the draft, and now it’s seen almost 300% gain.  That’s a great trend for future sales!

2009 Upper Deck USA Yasmani Grandal Red Ink Auto /25 (w/ inscription)

Sure, it could have been the inscription that sold this card, but would that really make it more than double the last copy?  Grandal seems to be an overall concensus sleeper pick in the 1st round (if that’s even possible) and people love his switch-hitting power ability. He’ll be another Bowman Chrome Draft autograph, as well as a USA buyback auto.

2005 Upper Deck USA Drew Stubbs Jersey/Auto Green ink 2/2

I’m bringing back old school USA brand with this one.  Drew Stubbs was a favorite back when the 2005 set came out, nipping on the heals of Troy Tulowitzki, Ryan Zimmerman, and Alex Gordon.  It was widely believe that he would have trouble hitting to his full potential at the MLB level, due to his high K rate.  Well, looking back now, it seems that Stubbs has done just fine with Cincinatti in centerfield.  He’s slowly becoming a fan favorite but his MLB rookie cards aren’t selling for this much.  Interesting sale to say the least!

2010 Topps Chrome USA Jackie Bradley Jr. Auto

This card has been out for almost a month now and he is the lone player in the set seeing stable increases and sale prices.  They started out at ~$50 per and now have hit a high of $75.  They seem to average around $65 per and that’s pretty amazing, considering George Springer and Gerrit Cole project higher on draft boards than Bradley.  Either way, he’ll have more autos this year, so it will be fun to watch the market react.

2008 Upper Deck USA Eric Hosmer Jersey/Auto Red Ink /25

This was the biggest steal I’ve seen in a while for a big name prospect with very little autographs on the market.  Hosmer was a Razor guy and Topps has not been able to make any autographs of him yet.  He has some USA autos, like the one above, but there are still a limited amount available to collectors.  This all equals a player who should see some great market gains in the next year, after coming off a very strong USA Pan-Am tournament and MILB season.  The previous sale for this card was $80 a few months back.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you about Hosmer!

Want some proof that the Upper Deck Black Autographs are actually good sellers on the market?  Then check out this sale for a Derek Jeter Pride of a Nation Flag Patch Gold Ink Auto #’d /10.

Just a beautiful looking card of a New York baseball legend, and a ….*gasp*…manufactured patch piece!!!

Yes folks, that isn’t game worn and it still managed to bring in $1,000.  Wow.  Certainly bucks the notion that the manufactured patches aren’t popular in the hobby.  Give collectors some great looking designs, limited autographs, and feature highly collectible players and you have a winner.