CamaroDMD
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Of all the types of cards I enjoy collecting, I think autographed cards are my favorite. This is especially true of older autographed sets. As a kid growing up in the 1990s, I was able to enjoy firsthand the beginning of the pack issued autographed card era. This was a time when autos were a very rare thing, and finding one was a major deal. Even though print runs were huge for autos by today’s standard…due to the massive oversaturation of the card market, autos were a tough pull. In the mid 1990s, 1 auto per box was a very good rate and often they were much harder to find.
I thought I would post my collection of one of my favorite autographed card sets. I’m basically lumping the three years of this series into one posting as the cards were very similar. That issue was Pro Line Portraits.
Pro Line Portraits was produced for three years, 1991-1993. It was a highly unique set by the day’s standards and even by today’s standards. Pro Line (not super successfully) tried to find a niche market by producing football cards depicting football players on the front in non-football poses or in warm-up gear. The back of the cards contained a quote from the player rather than statistics. They even added a few more “gimmick” cards by having some non-football people in the set (Muhammad Ali, Milton Berle, Santa Claus, ect.) and had a football wives insert set. They also included several retired players.
A major football card landmark came from this series, 1991 Pro Line Portraits was the first set to have a large autographed insert set. The vast majority of the set came with autographed parallel versions of the cards. The 1991 autographed parallel set contains over 300 cards. The 1992 and 1993 sets are quite a bit smaller.
One interesting fact about this set is almost all of the cards are signed on the back. I have read some people think that Pro Line failed to give good instructions to the players and didn’t provide a clear place to sign…which resulted in the signatures on the back. Personally, I don’t believe this. This set is nearly 100% consistent with signatures on the back, had Pro Line not given any instruction one would think you see a lot of cards signed on the front…but that is not the case. My guess is Pro Line wanted players to sign the back to not obscure the photo on the front…and because in many cases the photo on the front is quite dark.
Some of the autos in this series (Muhammad Ali being a big one) and often faked…so only certified examples should be picked up. But, the majority are OK. There are a couple ways to determine a real pack issue from a fake…but again, cards have been altered to mimic this. Pack issued autos have the number on the back removed and contain an embossed seal in the corner.
I would love to assemble complete auto sets from these three issues, but there are so large and contain several very challenging SPs. I think for now, I will pick up examples that I find because I like them and who knows…maybe someday the set will get finished. For now, I will post what I have.
The numbers I list for the cards are the alphabetical numbers assigned by Beckett.
1991 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #2 Troy Aikman
Some soures claim these (or some) are autopens…but Beckett makes no mention of it and they do for other issues. So, until better info is available I will assume they are authentic.
1991 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #4 Morten Andersen
1991 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #185 Ken O’Brien
1991 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #192 Jack Pardee (deceased, 2013)
1991 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #277 Steve Walsh
1992 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #51 William Fuller
1992 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #86 Eddie LeBaron
1992 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #151 Dave & Doug Widell
1992 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #158 Kellen Winslow (HOF -1995)
1992 Pro Line Portraits Wives Autograph #9 Karen Lott
I thought I would post my collection of one of my favorite autographed card sets. I’m basically lumping the three years of this series into one posting as the cards were very similar. That issue was Pro Line Portraits.
Pro Line Portraits was produced for three years, 1991-1993. It was a highly unique set by the day’s standards and even by today’s standards. Pro Line (not super successfully) tried to find a niche market by producing football cards depicting football players on the front in non-football poses or in warm-up gear. The back of the cards contained a quote from the player rather than statistics. They even added a few more “gimmick” cards by having some non-football people in the set (Muhammad Ali, Milton Berle, Santa Claus, ect.) and had a football wives insert set. They also included several retired players.
A major football card landmark came from this series, 1991 Pro Line Portraits was the first set to have a large autographed insert set. The vast majority of the set came with autographed parallel versions of the cards. The 1991 autographed parallel set contains over 300 cards. The 1992 and 1993 sets are quite a bit smaller.
One interesting fact about this set is almost all of the cards are signed on the back. I have read some people think that Pro Line failed to give good instructions to the players and didn’t provide a clear place to sign…which resulted in the signatures on the back. Personally, I don’t believe this. This set is nearly 100% consistent with signatures on the back, had Pro Line not given any instruction one would think you see a lot of cards signed on the front…but that is not the case. My guess is Pro Line wanted players to sign the back to not obscure the photo on the front…and because in many cases the photo on the front is quite dark.
Some of the autos in this series (Muhammad Ali being a big one) and often faked…so only certified examples should be picked up. But, the majority are OK. There are a couple ways to determine a real pack issue from a fake…but again, cards have been altered to mimic this. Pack issued autos have the number on the back removed and contain an embossed seal in the corner.
I would love to assemble complete auto sets from these three issues, but there are so large and contain several very challenging SPs. I think for now, I will pick up examples that I find because I like them and who knows…maybe someday the set will get finished. For now, I will post what I have.
The numbers I list for the cards are the alphabetical numbers assigned by Beckett.
1991 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #2 Troy Aikman
Some soures claim these (or some) are autopens…but Beckett makes no mention of it and they do for other issues. So, until better info is available I will assume they are authentic.
1991 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #4 Morten Andersen
1991 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #185 Ken O’Brien
1991 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #192 Jack Pardee (deceased, 2013)
1991 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #277 Steve Walsh
1992 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #51 William Fuller
1992 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #86 Eddie LeBaron
1992 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #151 Dave & Doug Widell
1992 Pro Line Portraits Autograph #158 Kellen Winslow (HOF -1995)
1992 Pro Line Portraits Wives Autograph #9 Karen Lott
