UD Sweeps the Barber Shop for Latest Insert

Ysponder

Jun 12 2008 4:54PM
http://www.beckett.com/estore/news/?A=9621

For the last 20 years, collectors have been saying that they've seen it all.

They may have seen a lot, but Upper Deck's about to throw something new their way.

The just-released 2008 SP Legendary Cuts baseball release features an industry first: Hair Cuts Signature cards. These unique 1/1 inserts combine an extremely rare cut signature from a deceased personality along with a strand of their actual hair.

"It's our goal to one-up ourselves with every new release," said Tim Muret, Upper Deck's vice president of sports cards and memorabilia. "When one of our vendors approached us recently with these items and we heard the stories behind them, it was an easy decision for us to move forward with creating these one-of-a-kind collectibles."

A total of 10 Hair Cuts Signature inserts are randomly inserted into SP Legendary Cuts. The lineup includes such notable names as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Geronimo, Andrew Jackson, Alexander Hamilton and Babe Ruth. Upper Deck also plans to insert additional hair cards into its 2008 Piece of History Baseball product later this month.


It should be noted that Topps created national waves last year by producing the industry's first hair card for 2007 Allen & Ginter, a card that included strand of George Washington's locks.

SP Legendary Cuts Baseball is a 100-card base level set that includes upwards of four memorabilia cards per box, on average. Autograph inserts include Classic Signatures (#'d to 25), Generations Signatures (#'d to 75) and Future Legends (#'d to 99). But it will no doubt be the Hair Cut Signature cards that will create the most buzz.

Because authenticity is paramount to Upper Deck's delivery with every product, it was imperative for the company to partner with a vendor who could provide a strong paper trail of where the hair artifacts came from and who had a stellar reputation surrounding authenticity. Upper Deck found that partner in John Reznikoff of University Archives in Westport, Conn.

Reznikoff, who's called the "Indiana Jones of Paper" for his company's outstanding history of procuring extremely rare collectible items, is thorough to say the least. Whether it was documentation from the barber of a president or from a long history of handoffs in a specific family, Reznikoff was able to provide Upper Deck with the authenticity it needed. University Archives even does microscopic analysis on every hair strand to further verify its authenticity.

"A hundred years ago, if someone famous came to town, you didn't ask for an autograph, you asked for a snippet of their hair. This is something steeped in Victorian tradition," said Reznikoff. "Most major institutions like the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution have locks of hair from famous personalities. It's very exciting for me to see the amazing cards that Upper Deck has now developed."

The George Washington card is particularly unique. Apparently, the father of our country often signed documents by using just his first initial followed by his last name. But the signature cut that Upper Deck obtained reveals his complete signature. The document, it appears, was a personal IOU written by Washington to an associate. It's been deemed authentic by further writing analysis and verification through PSA/DNA Authentication Services.

There are four cards per pack and 12 packs per box inside Upper Deck's 2008 SP Legendary Baseball release.