Leaf Is Back

I actually just found out about Leaf coming back as a brand. I realize that it is just Razor going through a re-branding, but I love Leaf. In the 90s I was a fanatic about the Studio releases and I would love to see Studio or Studio Heritage hit the shelves again.

Some of my favorite Griffey cards came from early 90s Leaf releases. At a time when everyone was hunting down a 1990 Leaf Frank Thomas card I was searching for a 1990 Leaf Griffey card #245. I have to say one of my all-time favorite Griffey card is my 1993 Studio card #96. The Studio card is the epitome of Griffey, the big smile, the backwards cap. This was a time when the moniker “The Kid” fit him perfectly.

How excited am I about Leaf coming back? It is almost 3:30 AM and because my scanner wacked out after a thunderstorm I am still up canvassing the Internet to find images of my favorite Leaf Griffey cards. Thankfully there are plenty of copies for me to grab on checkoutmycards.com.

2010 Razor Cut Signature Edition

Razor Collectibles is coming pretty serious with another release in August 2010 Cut Signature Edition. Like the 2010 Razor Sports Icons, the Cut Signature Edition will include amazing cut signatures but this time the focus is on celebrities.

Scheduled Release Date: July 2010
Box Configuration: 1 card per pack, 1 pack per box
SRP: $60 per pack/box

Box Break:
1 Cut Signature per pack

About 2 weeks ago I posted a preview of the 2010 Razor Sports Icons set scheduled to be released next month. I really liked the set; it included a huge checklist including some very limited signatures. Well, I actually feel that the 2010 Cut Signature release tops the Sports Icons set. Of course there are differences with Sports Icons being sports related and Cut Signature Edition focusing on famous personalities like celebrities and politicians.

This an amazing checklist with well over 600 current, retired and deceased personalities from many walks of life including politicians, actors, sports heroes and musicians. Each card is limited with many signatures limited to only 1 with the highest numbered to #/30 and the multi-signature cards limited to #/11 or less. With only 299 cases produced, there are 12 boxes per case and that means there are only 3,588 total cards in the seriously limited set.

The checklist includes some amazing autographs like Abraham Lincoln (Above Left), Alfred Hitchcock, Charles Lindberg, Bernie Mac, Michael Landon, Snoop Dogg, Mark Twain (Above Right) and Will Smith. The multi-signature cards have some expected matches like Cheech/Chong and Jimmy Carter/Walter Mondale but Razor obviously went out of the way to create some multi-signature cards that many would not expect to ever see like George H.W. Bush/Saddam Hussein. One of the cards I find more humorous is the Dick York/Dick Sargent multi-signature card. The ultimate pulls in the set, besides Abraham Lincoln, would be the quad-signature containing all 4 members of the Sex Pistols (Rotten, Vicious, Jones & Cook) or the quad-signature containing all 4 members of Queen (Mercury, May, Taylor & Deacon).

One suggestion I would make would be to include the name of the personality on the front of the card because some of the autographs can be difficult to decipher without checking the back.

My Thoughts:
This is a set that I definitely will hunt down. At $60 a box you have the chance to pull an amazing signature, the checklist justifies the cost. Like I said with the previous post, I am normally not a fan of cut signature unless it is from a deceased personality or one unable to still sign but I will overlook that with this set because the checklist is so amazing.

2009 Razor Memory Lane

You have to wonder how the meeting went at Razor when someone suggested buying up old yearbooks and releasing them in the 2009 Razor Memory Lane Yearbook Edition. Was it a hit when first suggested or was it one of those ideas that got kicked around until nobody had another idea and people are grasping at straws?

I know that there is a market out there for collectibles like this within the right element, apparently people are paying big dollars for yearbooks that include photos of athletes, stars and musicians but this is not a product you would expect from a “sports card” company like Razor. Given that Razor is on the fringe of the collectible world and they have released some interesting and amazing products lately, most specifically the Cut Signature lines.

I know the product will probably sell well and considering that there are only 501 total boxes (1 book per box) available it will most likely sell out too. With people like Mickey Mantle and Joe Montana included on the checklist, it may do well in the sports market but most likely not with card collector specifically.