Are these custom cards?

[England]

Guys,
I found these cards when I was going through my collection which I havent looked at in about 15 years. What cards are these? Custom printed cards? I got them in Florida when I was in grade 5 I think, which was a long time ago!

Let me know your thoughts

Fronts
http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/a...C/scan0007.jpg

Backs
http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/a...C/scan0008.jpg

Thanks
Brad

[EtherealSOC]

Hi England,

I can't believe no one jumped in to answer your question yet! I've seem some of these cards before - I have the Jordan card (in blue back and white back) and I have a Justice card that looks just like your Frank Thomas card. The thing with these cards is they are unlicensed by the MLB or the MLBPA, so the companies/individuals who made these cards did so without permission.

You would think that might make these cards rare or valuable, but the problem with that is since they are unlicensed there is nothing to stop the company/individual who printed them in the first place from firing up the printers and running off another 10000 cards at any time. If you think about it Topps can't just go back and print off a bunch of 1970 Topps sets - so the supply side of supply/demand is constant - but these unlicensed cards can be reprinted at any time.

As for the origin of these cards - and countless other variations - it's not really possible to know. Since they had no right to print and distribute these cards, it's not likely the persons responsible are going to publicly state it amd risk legal action (although all these years later the chances of litigation are slim). They are typically referred to by collectors as 'Broders', named after a particular type of card, though the name is now synonymous with any kind of unlicensed card.

As a completest collector myself, I collect everything and include these as a part of my collection despite the fact that the majority of serious collectors do not. I have about 15 unlicensed promo cards in my Justice collection, and if I see one that I don't have I will buy it. I won't pay more that a dollar or two though, because these cards don't have any real value and from what I've seen, they're not particularly rare.

When I look at those four cards, however, I know there are some player collectors who probably think these cards are great, and since unlicensed cards are never catalogued and added to wantlist, collectors like me typically only learn that a card like this exists when it is listed for auction.

Thanks for sharing the scans and taking me back!

-E-

[jrlebert]

i actually have the jordan and maybe the frank thomas somewhere... wow. yeah, the guy above pretty much said it all, but its a trip to see those again.

[pootshwan]

If your willing to part with the Thomas I would be interested.

Steve