Buyer Beware: Topps Sketch Cards on eBay

[Jastermereel]

Just a heads-up, these cards are not 'exactly' what you might think you are buying.

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/luisdiazart

Yes they are on Topps cards, yes they are done by one of the Topps artists, but these cards never came from packs (obviously since he has so many similar). As I understand it, Topps gave their artists some blank cards to do with as they wanted.... this is an example. Don't get me wrong, they are good looking sketch cards. I just don't want anyone buying them thinking they came from packs.

 

[BunchOBull]

The artists get so little for each piece they do that Topps either gives them extra blanks or returns the un-inserted copies to the respective artists.

It's basically the only way for them to make any money off of the deal. Kind of stinks, but it is an officially Topps licensed product.

 

[Tomlinson21RB]

Too bad he didn't send them all back to topps. He does some nice work.

This is my favorite Hanley sketch and it's also by him. It did come from packs.

 

[Jastermereel]

Isn't that basically what I said? :lol:

Regardless of their low pay for the sketches, the fact remains these were never seeded into packs. That does make a (significant) difference to some people.

 

[Jastermereel]

Too bad he didn't send them all back to topps. He does some nice work.

This is my favorite Hanley sketch and it's also by him. It did come from packs.

That's sharp. Yes his sketches are better than most from the product.

 

[BunchOBull]

Isn't that basically what I said? :lol:

Regardless of their low pay for the sketches, the fact remains these were never seeded into packs. That does make a (significant) different to some people.

I was only stating that the Topps artist I know only received ~$2.00 per sketch. He sent them all in to Topps...then Topps returned a bunch of them that they didn't intend to insert. It's a little more than just extra blanks laying around oftentimes.

 

[Tomlinson21RB]

Isn't that basically what I said? :lol:

Regardless of their low pay for the sketches, the fact remains these were never seeded into packs. That does make a (significant) different to some people.

I was only stating that the Topps artist I know only received ~$2.00 per sketch. He sent them all in to Topps...then Topps returned a bunch of them that they didn't intend to insert. It's a little more than just extra blanks laying around oftentimes.

Wow, if Topps returned these instead of putting them in packs they are morons. The Pedroia ones are amazing.

 

[whontime]

As sketches are pretty new to sports releases I might throw some thoughts in here. Artists are paid very, very little for their sketch work from the companies. It is common practice to only pay the artists anywhere from $1-2 per sketch. This amounts to a lot of work for very little money. As a bonus and a way for the artists to make some cash the companies return "artist proof" cards to the artists to sketch as they see fit and sell in the open market. It is true that these are not seeded into packs, however they are the exact card stock and card in general that the set is comprised of. This is always done in the non-sport world and many artists either determine what they will sketch on their own and then resell them, OR they take commission work from fans/collectors and sketch what they ask for. It is generally understood that these are NOT part of the set and are not intended to "fool" collectors. However, these are totally acceptable in the eyes of the manufacturers as they send them directly to the artists. Artist proof cards are very popular in the non-sports world of collecting and many people love the chance to get a "personalized" sketch of their choosing. I do agree though that auctions or sales of the proofs should state them as such so as not to confuse collectors.

 

[whontime]

Isn't that basically what I said? :lol:

Regardless of their low pay for the sketches, the fact remains these were never seeded into packs. That does make a (significant) different to some people.

I was only stating that the Topps artist I know only received ~$2.00 per sketch. He sent them all in to Topps...then Topps returned a bunch of them that they didn't intend to insert. It's a little more than just extra blanks laying around oftentimes.

Wow, if Topps returned these instead of putting them in packs they are morons. The Pedroia ones are amazing.

They are returned a certain amount of "blanks" that they can use to sketch whatever they choose on, or take commissions on.
Josh

EDIT: At least this is how it works in non-sport releases. They don't return completed work, they send the artists blanks.

 

[mazarazz]

Thanks Ralph Nader.

 

[Tomlinson21RB]

Isn't that basically what I said? :lol:

Regardless of their low pay for the sketches, the fact remains these were never seeded into packs. That does make a (significant) different to some people.

I was only stating that the Topps artist I know only received ~$2.00 per sketch. He sent them all in to Topps...then Topps returned a bunch of them that they didn't intend to insert. It's a little more than just extra blanks laying around oftentimes.

Wow, if Topps returned these instead of putting them in packs they are morons. The Pedroia ones are amazing.

They are returned a certain amount of "blanks" that they can use to sketch whatever they choose on, or take commissions on.
Josh

EDIT: At least this is how it works in non-sport releases. They don't return completed work, they send the artists blanks.

Ok, that makes more sense. It would be nice if Topps stamped Artist's Proof or something on the back before sending them out.

 

[BunchOBull]

Again, it depends on the situation. In some cases, blanks are given to the artist, in others, there are returns. 2008 seemed to be the year of extra blanks because a lot of commissioned pieces came out of it. Previously, that wasn't always the case.

edited to add a quoted email correspondence...

"The rate per sketch depends on the company. Topps is one of the poorest in actual payment, but the compensation from selling their "returns" are what help out some starving artists.

There were a handful of us that were given different contracts - to do extra cards and special cards."

-----

I've been contemplating trying to land a gig doing sketches for Topps, but I haven't taken a serious approach as of yet.

 

[sportscardtheory]

They look great... that's all that matters.

 

[Tomlinson21RB]

They look great... that's all that matters.

Not to a lot of player collectors.

 

[Jastermereel]

I think most of you are missing the point. I understand the artists are not well paid for their work, this doesn't change that there should be full disclosure if they're selling a card that wasn't seeded. This is important to -some- people. If you are not one of these people then disregard the post.

That's all I'm saying. They are nice looking sketch cards.

 

[RL24]

They look great... that's all that matters.

Artist Proof > Pack Pulled


I think getting hung up on the fact that they aren't pack pulled is silly. If you send in a redemption and they send you a replacement card, the replacement is not pack pulled. How does that matter? You are either happy or angry with your replacement based on the card you received, nobody ever says "I don't like this Pujols/Jeter dual auto because it wasn't pack pulled." Am I right? I've never seen it anyway....


The artist proofs are much nicer than the pack pulled, most of which look like they took 2 minutes to scratch out and (most) have no color. Trust me, if you bought 4 pack pulled and 1 artist proof, 5 years from now when you look at them you will wish they were all artist proofs.

Of course this is just my unsolicited opinion.

 

[BunchOBull]

I think it would be a great idea for Topps to stamp the blanks intended as Artist's Proofs and any returned pieces as being such. Who knows.

 

[Rudzud]

Not gonna lie, those sketches are amazing.

 

[Jastermereel]

They look great... that's all that matters.

Artist Proof > Pack Pulled


I think getting hung up on the fact that they aren't pack pulled is silly. If you send in a redemption and they send you a replacement card, the replacement is not pack pulled. How does that matter? You are either happy or angry with your replacement based on the card you received, nobody ever says "I don't like this Pujols/Jeter dual auto because it wasn't pack pulled." Am I right? I've never seen it anyway....


The artist proofs are much nicer than the pack pulled, most of which look like they took 2 minutes to scratch out and (most) have no color. Trust me, if you bought 4 pack pulled and 1 artist proof, 5 years from now when you look at them you will wish they were all artist proofs.

Of course this is just my unsolicited opinion.

As I said before, if you don't care if a card was seeded or not, then this post is not for you.

I can't speak for anyone else, but there is a randomness and "thrill of the chase" aspect that is intriguing for some collectors. This is totally removed by having the cards sold after-the-fact since the artist will likely produce only sketch cards of the people who will sell very well (Jeter, Pujols, etc..). There likely won't be many Casey Blake sketch cards being made in the after-market (no slight to Casey).

 

[matchpenalty]

Maybe I missed it, but how can you tell if one is pack pulled or not? What markings are one to look for.