2012 Upper Deck All-Time Greats Sports Edition

In two months (July 10^th) Upper Deck will be unleashing the high-end 2012 Upper Deck All-Time Greats Sports Edition set. Each box will contain 4 cards and will run $300-400 each. The box break will include 3 base cards and one autograph card.

To keep the value for the on-card autographs the set will contain only 20 superstars and the autographs will all be limited, the highest number I have seen is #/15.

The checklist:

Michael Jordan
Tiger Woods
Bobby Orr
Dan Marino
Jerry Rice
Annika Sorenstam
Landon Donovan
Larry Bird
LeBron James
Barry Sanders
Richard Petty
Kelly Slater
Joe Sakic
Wayne Gretzky
Bo Jackson
Mario Lemieux
Pete Rose
Hulk Hogan
Mike Tyson
Troy Aikman

There are also Legacy Book Cards which pairs a living legend with a deceased superstar cut signature. Along with the 20 listed athletes the cut signatures checklist:

Joe Frazier

Ben Hogan
Red Grange
Maurice Richard
Walter Payton

A final autograph set is the All-Time Forces Hologram cards which will pair up two of the 20 superstars and include dual signatures.

Sadly I see this as a product where the autograph may not cover the cost of the original product, sure there are some great athletes connected to the set but you have to wonder how surfer Kelly Slater, golfer Annika Sorenstam or NASCAR driver Richard Petty will go over with most collectors. Those sports have a very specific collector who will probably not buy in to this set. Even pulling Hulk Hogan auto could probably sour the box break of a baseball, football or basketball collector (i.e. the main collectors to buy this release). On the positive side you have to admit that some of these autographs are pretty sweet and would be a prize in your collection and the die-cuts came out nicely.