On July 31, 2008, Upper Deck released it’s fifth installment of the hobby’s most high-end product, UD Exquisite Collection Basketball. This year’s release hits hobby shelves with an added flare. Player-specific boxes, where the outer shell is autographed by one of many NBA superstars, will be randomly inserted into cases of 2007-08 UD Exquisite.
So after watching this week’s Doctor Wax Battle Show, where a Trilogy Hockey master set builder, named Dave, determined that a card he needed for his set (Mario Lemieux Auto Patch /5) was never packed out but rather given out as a redemption replacement, I thought it’d be a good idea to revisit why there are two Kobe Bryant 2004-05 UD Exquisite Auto Patch 1/1s on the market.
This first became an issue when Upper Deck held a Private Signing with Kobe on December 19, 2007, in Cleveland, Ohio. Among the many trading cards and memorabilia Upper Deck had Kobe sign, they also had him sign this:
The only problem was there was already one on the market, making it two Kobe Bryant 04-05 UD Exquisite Auto Patch 1/1s in existence - one with a regular Kobe autograph and one with a full Kobe autograph. Everything else is identical for the exception of the patches (both 3-colored). But how could this be?
I took this question directly to Upper Deck Basketball’s Product Managers while they were accepting collector questions via Beckett Message Board under the ID “udbasketball” and here is their response:
“Not sure why that happened — i double checked the checklist and he should only have 1. are you sure it was the exact same card — same card #, everything?”
I replied informing them it was the exact same card but with different signatures and patches, and even offered to provide scans but I never heard from them again, appropriately. If the Basketball Product Managers aren’t able to explain why there are two of these cards in existence, I truly question what exactly it is they are doing over at Upper Deck HQ.
If anyone out there can shed some light into this matter, please contact me and I will have this post updated.
Now we all know Upper Deck is notorious for their extremely long redemption process and terrible customer service, but now their quality control is coming into question as well. Things such as shorting collectors of “hits” in hobby boxes, inserting single-colored patches on extremely low-numbered cards, and placing the wrong autograph stickers on the wrong cards are just a few examples of UD’s QC issues. I was browsing eBay for Kobe autographed cards and ran across an auction for a 2007-08 UD Premier Lakers Octograph Redemption card numbered to 1. It features autographs from A.C. Green, Horace Green, James Worthy, Jerry West, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Michael Copper, and Rod Hundley. Horace Green? Was he ever a Laker, or an NBA player for that matter? And what about Michael Copper?
Wow, Upper Deck! I don’t know what is worse, the misspellings on the card or the player selection. Whoever was in charge of typing these redemption cards needs to be fired. Horace Green and Michael Copper? That is just terrible! And whoever decided to include Horace Grant and Ron Hundley needs to be given a warning. For a card of this magnitude, you need to include all possible Laker greats. There are a few that come to mind including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, hello???
Anyway, check out the auction listing here. It was a nice idea and could’ve been a sweet card but the follow-through and execution is flat out horrible.
This 2007-08 UD Black Quad Autographs 1/1, featuring signatures from Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Magic Johnson recently sold for $10,100 on eBay! The card features four on-card signatures of the games best players from past and present. Although an awesome-looking card that is limited to only 1 in the world, $10,100 is just too much for this card. I’d rather much have this card for $1,223.24 and the extra $8,500+ to use on other things.
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