1996 Pinnacle House of Cards???

I saw the following on Ebay today and was wondering how rare these cards REALLY are (everyone expands the truth on Ebay)? Are these highly sought after by player collectors?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/280949429313?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

Here is the link to the Piazza that is currently listed. Any info would be appreciated.

There was a discussion about them in the 90's thread part 3 I think. Definitely rare; some think they are 1997's based on info from a collector's website. Others think they are labeled correctly as 1996's. I've only ever seen 2 McGwires the whole time I've been collecting.

If I remember correctly, they were acting like they were easily faked and the guy who was selling them at the time was selling fakes(though not necessarily on purpose). Not sure what the deal is here. And hell, I may have the years mixed up? But it's definitely been brought up before. I have seen the bags but with so much on my plate collecting wise, and not being confirmed, I couldn't pull the trigger and drop $50 on something I'm not sure about.

I only knew of these because I came across them in the SCD Standard Catalog of baseball cards. They are mentioned in there. I have never seen the Larkin although I believe all players from the set exist.

heres a email from a fellow collector, hope he dont mind


I can see a potential issue - it was 'the way' I worded my question. It could have, mind you only could have, been 'loaded'. IIRC, the way I worded the question was: Is this the card you used at the MLB Baseball Fanfest? I attached the scan of the playing card - the one you all saw. He said yes. BUT, and here's where the issue may be problematic, what I didn't ask him was: "How many of the Fanfests did you attend?" Because the SCD, which was my guide back then, only mentioned the one from 1997 in Cleveland. So I can see a potential issue. So again, I wrote to Kristin Carlson at Cardstacker.com, who wrote back to me this morning that she was forwarding my question to Bryan. Hopefully, I'll hear back by next week.............
follow up email
Hey Guys,





Okay, I did receive a response and my fear was actualized - I did in fact ask the wrong question all those years ago. Instead of asking which Fanfest(s) he attended, I asked what kind of cards he was supplied.


Here is the response from Bryan via Kristin Carlson at Cardstacker:


"Bryan says he did projects for Fanfest in both Philly and Cleveland. He's not sure about the cards matching the date of the build but it would have been in the late 90's."


I'm not sure if if he'll respond to another question regarding the card design - because I can't imagine, given his history, he could honestly recall. But I'm leaving open the door that the '97s we have are genuine. I still don't see how these could be considered "playing cards" - they're essentially pieces of plain paper; I could whip these out of a printer right now. Seriously.


But I don't have any evidence other than my gut instinct.


So - for now - I've changed my position that these are genuine, with deep reservations. <nod>

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Thanks for all the info. Not a huge loss only had $50 in it. I also at one point had the Ripken that looks like your Thomas and I am almost positive I got it the week after the 1996 Fanfest. Have you seen fakes of the 1996 version? I went digging through some old usenet archives on Google.

This one talks about Bryan Berg going to be at the 1996 Fanfest
http://articles.philly.com/1996-07-05/entertainment/25620781_1_fanfest-infield-baseball-diamonds/7

Old Usenet Post somebody selling 1996 Fanfest Playing cards in May 1997 before the 1997 Fanfest
http://groups.google.com/group/rec....q=1996+fanfest+playing+cards#66f74ad1b73557c2

Old Usenet post somebody selling both versions a month after the 1997 Fanfest
http://groups.google.com/group/rec....8400fda052?q=1996+fanfest+playing+cards&pli=1

You see so few listed ever, fake or real, so any I see listed I usually assume they are real, unless they have a ton.