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You are here: Home / Around the Hobby / Notes: Rare Pujols Rookie Auto at Auction; Grading Cost Update; Inside Historic Baseball Exhibit; Collector Sues Patriots Museum

Notes: Rare Pujols Rookie Auto at Auction; Grading Cost Update; Inside Historic Baseball Exhibit; Collector Sues Patriots Museum

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One of Albert Pujols’ most valuable rookie cards is on the market.

Auction of Champions is offering one of the five 2001 Upper Deck Chirography Gold Autograph rookie cards in its MVP Auction.  This one’s graded PSA 10–one of just two at that level.  It could bring a six-figure price when the auction closes next Friday. 

 

Bidding opened at $10,000. There is an undisclosed reserve.

The last copy of the card to be offered at auction, a BGS 9.5, sold through Goldin in May for $39,600, well before the recent spike in interest for Pujols cards as he approached 700 home runs.  There are no public records of a PSA 10 sale.

There are 111 PSA 10 copies of the regular Chirography Pujols auto. One of those sold for $3,735 in September. 

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SGC announced some lower prices and faster turnaround times on Thursday.

The company’s new rates for 5-10 day services are $24 for 1-9 cards; $22 for 10-19 cards; $20 for 20-49 cards and $18 for 50 or more.

PSA announced a special for members of its Collectors Club:  $22 for 25 cards or more that are valued at less than $200 with a turnaround time of 120 days.

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He fell in love with baseball growing up in California, but Stephen Wong also fell in love with the history and research of the game.

In time, he began collecting some of the hobby’s most coveted pieces of memorabilia and sharing them with the public through museum exhibitions and multiple books he’s authored.

Items from his collection are the centerpiece of a spectacular new exhibit at the National Postal Museum in Washington, DC. 

You’ve got plenty of time to see the exhibit. It’ll be up until early 2025.
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A man who got Tom Brady to sign an American flag that flew over the stadium loaned it to the Patriots museum for display last year.  

Daniel Vitale got his flag signed in blue Sharpie through TriStar in 2005.  After he turned the flag over to the museum, Vitale says Brady’s autograph became badly faded.

Now, he’s is suing the museum, saying his one-of-a-kind piece has been ruined.  

Collectors typically avoid using blue markers on certain items because the ink has been known to fade, preferring black instead, but Vitale claims the museum didn’t take the proper steps to safeguard his flag and keep the autograph from losing its luster.

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About Rich Mueller

Rich is the editor and founder of Sports Collectors Daily. A broadcaster and writer for over 40 years and a collector for even longer than that, he's usually typing something somewhere. Type him back at [email protected].