Deceased player autos in current products.....

[Boom Boom]

There used to be a saying after a player passed away that "he's not signing anymore", meaning that players autos were going to be harder to get from that point forward and moving ahead hobby wise you didn't see that players auto in current products anymore. Examples such as Maurice Richard and Boom Boom Geoffrion come to mind as well as many others. Even new Beliveau auto products (who was here during the sticker auto era) have tapered off to the most part since his passing.

But with Gordie Howe its different. Sticker autos from Gordie keep coming out in current products in meaningful numbers. I know Gordie was a prolific signer when he was alive, but Im wondering just how many stickers he signed before he passed away in 2016 that over three years later we keep seeing them coming out in current products? Are we going to see an end to Gordie Howe sticker autos at some point in the relatively near future? Perhaps the manufacturers who are on here can give some feedback on this?

 

[creasecollector]

I'm sure eventually we'll see a decline, sure. I just hope they know to hang onto a lot of them so they can use them when necassary instead of in every single product. You need to make them last.

 

[WatchMyBreaks]

Just like all things in sports cards, nothing is scarce. Game used cards were once scarce and became overproduced, autographs were once something everyone wanted to pull and now you can find autos of the greatest players of all time and today for cheap. Great condition vintage pieces were impossible to find and now everything is being trimmed and cut or “restored” like some like to say on here, so the value is being driven down.

There isn’t anything attached to this hobby going forward that is going to be scare. Crosby and McDavid will sign for Upper Deck for the next 40-50 years, including piles of stickers. Upper Deck and whomever they eventually compete with in the future will continue to use photo shoot jerseys for a product that costs $750 a pack. And why stop there, game used collectors aren’t spared either because unlike a 30-40 years ago, teams and players wear a ton of jerseys every season. For special events they could wear even more.

I’m sure Howe signed a ton of stickers and the only way to put an end to the practice would be collectors letting manufacturers know how awful stickers are in the first place.

 

[odjickfan]

Just like all things in sports cards, nothing is scarce. Game used cards were once scarce and became overproduced, autographs were once something everyone wanted to pull and now you can find autos of the greatest players of all time and today for cheap. Great condition vintage pieces were impossible to find and now everything is being trimmed and cut or “restored” like some like to say on here, so the value is being driven down.

There isn’t anything attached to this hobby going forward that is going to be scare. Crosby and McDavid will sign for Upper Deck for the next 40-50 years, including piles of stickers. Upper Deck and whomever they eventually compete with in the future will continue to use photo shoot jerseys for a product that costs $750 a pack. And why stop there, game used collectors aren’t spared either because unlike a 30-40 years ago, teams and players wear a ton of jerseys every season. For special events they could wear even more.

I’m sure Howe signed a ton of stickers and the only way to put an end to the practice would be collectors letting manufacturers know how awful stickers are in the first place.

I think the market will react to that overload of stickers. Early licenced hardsigned autos of Howe will start selling at a solid premium over these Leaf stickers. At least, it gives a cheaper option for people looking for an Howe auto.

 

[paulxing]

The guy also didn't make a lot of money from playing hockey so I'm sure he was loving the income he was getting from only signing stickers.