Preview: 2020 Futera Unique World Football (Live Images)

Futera is a card manufacturer that more collectors in the United States should become familiar with.  Last year they teamed-up with Onyx Authenticated to bring collectors 2019 Onyx/Futera Unique Baseball Prospects & Legends.  A collaboration such as this is almost unheard of in today’s hobby.  For many U.S.-based collectors this was their first introduction to the type of cards Futera creates.  I tried a pack and pulled a Julio Pablo Martinez 24ct Gold-Plated Metal Framed Phenoms Auto #’ed/9.  Unless he turns into the next Mike Trout, this card will remain in my personal collection just because of how well it was made.

I can’t talk about Futera without bringing up their Code for Collectors and Memorabilia Color Grading Services.  Code for Collectors allows you to see all of the details that went into making your specific card – photo of the card, date signed, materials used in making the card, etc…  Color Grading Services will tell you how many cards from certain sets have 1-color, 2-color, 3-color, etc… relics in them.  U.S. collectors would love to have services such as these.  They certainly help with identifying altered cards.

European football (soccer) is what Futera is really known for today.  2020 Futera Unique World Football is their next product set to release.  (4) packs come in a box, with a hit in every pack.  Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Virgil Van Dijk, Antoine Griezmann, Sadio Mane, Pele, and Diego Maradona are just some of the key players you’ll find.

Sales Sheet

Checklist

Until now the only images we’ve seen have been the mock-ups made for the sales sheet.  Sports Card Info was recently given a glimpse inside this product, and received actual photos of the cards to share.  No mock-ups here.  These are the real deal.  Enjoy!

Flashback Product of the Week: 2005 eBay Live! Pop Culture Classic Listings

From what I hear, the eBay Live! annual conference was a pretty big deal.  I personally never attended any of them though.  But reading up on them, it sounds like sellers were treated like kings at one time.  eBay would listen to sellers, and offer fun classes to attend.  eBay is still the main place to buy/sell stuff, but I think that sense of community has really been lost.  Yeah, the message boards are still there, but it just doesn’t seem like it use to be.  eBay tends to care more about the buyers now.

Over the years, eBay has slapped their logo on tons of merchandise.  They use to have a store, but that closed up years ago.  Some of their merchandise has become quite collectible.  During the eBay Live! conference they gave out huge amounts of stuff.  That includes their own trading cards.

There was a card set made for almost every single eBay Live! event.  Each one has it’s own uniqueness about it, but the set made in 2005 seems to stand out the most to me.  Both from a design standpoint and subject matter.  eBay was celebrating it’s 10th anniversary in 2005.  They decided to create a set that commemorated the most notable items put up for sale up until that point.  The set consists of (13) cards.  Card fronts feature an animated drawing of a specific item on foil card stock.  On the reverse side, you’ll find a write-up about that item.  The checklist includes the following cards:

• Real Arkansas Civil War Dirt
• Size 12 Wedding Dress/Gown
• Early Blown Glass Cathedral Pickle Bottle
• 2005 Jay Leno Harley Davidson
• The Meaning of Life
• Gulfstream II Business Jet
• Kidney For Sale
• Oldest Known Pair of Levis Jeans
• Ghost Cane
• Ten Years of Community and Commerce
• Pierre Omidyar’s Broken Laser Pointer
• Shoeless Joe’s Bat
• Virgin Mary in Grilled Cheese

Shoeless Joe’s Bat refers to the famous “Black Betsy”.  It sold on August 7, 2001 for $577,610.  That was Joe Jackson’s main bat he used throughout his career.

These cards aren’t that difficult to find.  Ironically there usually is a good supply on eBay.  Its funny to think that eBay made cards.  But they did.

Golf Metal Is LIVE & Comes With A Great Promotion

Golf Metal is live!!!  This is the first all golf product released in the last 7 years.  Boxes contain (2) base cards and (3) autographs.  When taking a look at some of the auctions, you can clearly see collectors have been missing a product like this.

• Jack Nicklaus Blue Prismatic Auto #’ed/5
• Jack Nicklaus National Pride Prismatic Auto #’ed/25
• Paula Creamer Award Winners Green Prismatic Auto #’ed/25
• Michelle Wie National Pride Prismatic Auto #’ed/25
• Sergio Garcia Prismatic Auto #’ed 1/1
• Arnold Palmer Green National Pride Auto #’ed/10

The list of big pulls just goes on and on!!!

Leaf also has an interesting promotional program to go along with their release of Golf Metal.  Any collector that sends in the bar code off the bottom of their box of Golf Metal will receive a 3-card pack in return.  The pack will have (3) Leaf Limited base cards, and you can look for randomly inserted redemption cards. These can be redeemed for full-size pieces of golf memorabilia.  Leaf has items such as golf clubs owned by Michael Jordan and tournament used clubs by Jack Nicklaus.  Click on the flyer below for all the details on the program.

Leaf’s Legends of Sport Is Live

This week Leaf released its newest product Legends of Sport.  Inside each box you will find three cards, each one autographed.  Every card in the set is autographed and limited to 50 copies or less.  Legends of Sport is one of Leaf’s higher-end products and is currently selling for $155.00 per box.

I think the cards look good, but I do have a few suggestions.  To start off, I love the thick card stock Leaf used.  Thick cards are always better than flimsy ones that could easily be damaged.  Just like other Leaf products, the cards come in their own top loaders.  I like cards that come with their own supplies.

Leaf did a good job making use of the color white in the design of these cards.  I do think that they could have done a little more with the design when it came to the “Moments of Greatness” cards.  I was also surprised to see Leaf use sticker autographs.  They usually are the poster child for on-card signatures.

Charlie Sheen signed a bunch of cards for this product.  I’m digging the painted look which features Sheen as Rick Vaughn from the movie Major League.

This Ichiro/Pete Rose dual autograph is just amazing.  Two of the biggest hit kings baseball has ever seen.

That is one used Bench/Piazza printing plate.  It looks like something I drew in 1st grade.

Guys like Jose Canseco and Rafael Palmeiro have autographs in here too.