Sticker Autos vs. Hard Signed

[tarheelsnipe]

Upper Deck called out Panini and Topps in a recent post on their website. I'd like to hear other collectors' thoughts. Is Upper Deck right about the production of sticker autos in mid-high end products? Why do some collectors not care, and others (like me) are completely against sticker autos?

Here is what UD had to say about football products in 2008:

In 2008, five of Upper Deck’s 12 football releases contained all hard-signed autograph cards with seven of those at least containing some hard-signed autograph cards.... During the same calendar year Donruss/Panini has zero of their 11 football releases with completely hard-signed autograph cards, but two products (Threads and National Treasures) at least had some hard-signed autograph cards. For 2008 none of Topps’ football products contained ANY hard-signed autograph cards. That’s right, Topps produced every football release with label autographs and even put them on manufactured Letterman cards.

Here was my immediate reply on their facebook page (I'm the good-looking guy raising the American flag on the USS Constitution):

Absolutely it matters. It makes my stomach cringe to think about a Hall of Famer sitting at a table full of stickers to be signed that will be used across multiple card releases. I want the athlete to touch the cards I pull.

My thoughts:

I don't want a card with a sticker. The autos often run off the sticker, or the athlete has to shrink the signature to make it fit. That degrades the quality of the autograph. I like bold, full signatures. Also, how long will the sticker stay on the card? Nobody knows. We know they can be relatively easily removed. Plenty of Topps sticker videos on Youtube prove that. The autos also rub off relatively easily. I like the sharpie to soak into the cardboard. I understand it's an economical way to add autos of top players to products, but inserting them into high-end is just insulting. My $.02.

[jtahner21]

I do not mind sticker too much its still an Auto, but would rather have a hard Auto in a heartbeat

[Italy61587]

i don't mind sticker autos in lower end stuff but i expect hard signed stuff for mid to higher end stuff

like what's been said already, having to put a signature on a sticker takes a lot away from the signature itself (for instance size)

would you rather have the auto on card like this:


or would you rather have it squished like this:

(i'm talking about the auto not the #ing)

it's simple

[montej1695]

Italy I would have answered this completely different before i saw those two cards (Both awesome btw)


On-Card ALL THE WAY!!!

Thats amazing that Topps didnt have one single football set in 08' produced entirely with on-card autos... thats a really bad job.

For purley aesthetic reasons i would say sticker autos are terrible...

[bjtheman1]

On-Card Auto's All-Day long!
Sticker auto's annoy me, sometimes they are put on upside down at times(have one in my bucket)
I love on card autos, they just look better like stated above about how much more room can be used to sign

[MatthewLee]

IDK, from what I've seen it depends on the card/set.

If it's like the Finest sets where they took a plain old refractor and slapped a sticker auto on there, that's pretty garbage.
2003-04 & 2005-06 are the worst for me.

Bowman Sterling pulled it off pretty well.
Turkey Red, ehhh...

I'll take an on card any day and just pick and choose from the sticker stuff.

[GriffeyJr.FAN3]

this arguement has been beaten to death, i dont know if there has been a poll for it yet though

[garnett_21]

I personally prefer on-card by far, although I do own some sticker autos, and they are fine too...although, one of my PC autos is a sticker auto, and there is obvious dirt along the edge of the sticker...kinda irritating. Basically, I don't care which I own, but I'd rather own an on-card if I had the choice.

BTW - I can add a poll to this thread if you want, Kevin.

[gatorboymike]

On-card > on-patch > sticker.

Upper Deck: "You ain't all that!"
Topps & Panini: "Aw no you di'int!"

[tarheelsnipe]

Upper Deck: "You ain't all that!"
Topps & Panini: "Aw no you di'int!"

That's funny, I was thinking the same thing when I read UD's post. I was going to use the "you just got served" line from the Southpark episode.

Hey Nathan, I think a poll is a good idea. I think everyone would agree that sticker autos in high-end is a no-no. Something along the lines of:

What types of autos do you prefer in mid-end products?

Hard-signed only

Combination

Stickers