I have a dozen obscure searches saved on my eBay app. If one of them sends me a push notification, it means something rare just got listed. I’ve had one search saved for years without ever getting pinged. I was convinced the item didn’t exist, and it was just an urban legend. Then a seller listed not one, but SEVEN of the elusive Mark Voger sketch cards. (For some background context of what these are: read this blog post).
The Defective Comics sketch cards by Active Marketing are arguably the oldest and first sketch cards. In fact, when you check the signed dates and printed indicia, it appears Groo was 1995, Bone was 1994, and both Simpsons and Defective Comics are dated 1993.
I hadn’t seen a single Defective Comics sketch card ever listed on eBay (and I’ve been active since 1998), but of course I can’t see everything. In fact, the first four Defective Comics sketch cards sold BIN for $50 each in January 2023 and got snatched up before I could claim one.
Then in February 2023, the seller decided to list three more Defective Comics sketch cards at auction (instead of BIN). — I was watching and bidding, but they eventually moved out of my budget.
I don’t think there’s any conspiracy that the seller has the whole quantity of 500 in their possession because the seller is also selling sealed boxes of the product. I also noticed that the numbering of the sketch cards isn’t sequential (the listed cards are #16, #136, #364, etc.) — I simply think that these sketch cards have been in storage for decades, and are only now surfacing after 29 years.
That’s one more trading card Urban Legend solved. Now I need to reconfigure my eBay saved searches and be even faster on the trigger in case another batch gets listed. Good luck, y’all.
I’ve been blog-MIA for a number of quasi-legitimate reasons, but I have to come out of retirement because I went down a rabbit hole of crazy eBay sales that need to be archived. So without further ado … the good, the bad, and the WTH of 2022 so far …
(#1.) I think this Stan Lee Sketchagraph is a legit sale price. Notice how the card under it (Bart Simpson drawn on LOTR stock then “authenticated” by Beckett) says Best Offer Accepted? — There’s no Best Offer on Stan The Man. I think someone bought it at the full asking price of $5000. — That’s a strong sale. What’s the past high water benchmark? I’m curious if we’re entering unseen territory on a Fleer Silver Age ’99.
(#2.) I’m sharing the front of this sketch card first. It’s some nice black-&-white linework, but the description gives me no hints about the artist. If it’s Joe Blow, this might only be worth $50.
Son of a gun! Sal Buscema, who had a ten-year run as artist of The Incredible Hulk?! — The seller didn’t feel the need to share that? Even when there is a big honking sticker on the back with all of the relevant details? The previous owner purchased this card for $360 in 2016? — I wish the stock market doubled my money in six years!
(#3.) Speaking of burying the lead … the seller doesn’t want to advertise this is an ADAM HUGHES sketchagraph?! — Could you imagine the realized prices if these bombshells were listed correctly? — Artist name? Nah. — Character name? Nah. — Signed by the Actor? Nah … this is a “‘star wars galaxy sketch card” … please bid or just move along.
(#4.) Hooray, it was listed correctly. Forget that Darth Vader brought the “devils number” in bids, I’m just glad that Angel S Aviles is getting the respect his art deserves.
(#5.) Another deserved sales price, but it’s worthy of a little education. — Topps recycled card stock from 2001. They were about to loose the Marvel license to Upper Deck, and squeezed out an Incredible Hulk set in 2003. They didn’t have time to print new card stock, so they used the leftovers from 2001 Marvel Legends. This card is NOT Marvel Legends as the title suggest. Only Gus Vazquez drew for Marvel Legends … this is the 2003 Incredible Hulk set, and Marie Severin is the rarest artist in the set (at 1:4575 packs). — Someone got a gem.
(#6.) This is the least rarest card in the MCC98 set. — I understand that these Fleer Sketchagraphs are hard to come by, and Spider-Man is a fan-favorite character. But no one should be paying this for a Mariano Nicieza. — I don’t know what else to say except “please buy mine for $235 each.”
(#7.) It only gets weirder from here … sure, ask a professional baseball third baseman to draw a bat-&-ball. Yup, someone was willing to pay $305 for this. Note: you can buy his signed baseball card on eBay for $40-70, so they were definitely paying a premium just for the artwork.
(#8.) Ah, a little bit of controversy … Ethan Van Sciver has been a mainline comic book artist for two decades, but recently decided to do a lot of smack-talk on social media … the result is that he made a bunch of fans, and an equal number of enemies. His fans are willing to financially bankroll him, which is obvious by this sale (which was available directly from him).
(#9.) The controversy thickens … but, I don’t know what else to say about this. Bill Crabb is an excellent artist. Donald Trump was a TV personality. But I don’t think Donald Trump was ever on Deep Space 9. There must have been an accidental mix-up. I hope the buyer doesn’t get mad when he realizes this isn’t a card of actor Avery Brooks.
(#10.) Number 10 is a banger. You could have a NAR sketch for $2,125 … or for just DOUBLE the money, you could have a Gary Vaynerchuk doodle. Now, I’m not hating … I like Gary Vaynerchuk. And I know this has some kind of NFT tie-in or promotion, but even Micky Mantle and Pablo Picasso couldn’t get FIVE GRAND for a blue squiggle. Good for you, Gary Vee … you cracked the code and became the new P. T. Barnum.
Okay … I need a palate cleanser …
(Bonus #11.) Spongebob is now selling for $900 each. I passed these up for $40 each when they came out. Ugh, I need a time machine. (These were inserted 1:151 Retail packs) …
(Bonus #12.) Disney Treasures. Mickey Mouse as Tiny Tim, are you kidding me? I’ve never seen any Upper Deck Disney sketch cards under $300 or so. These are the White Whales of my sketch card collection, but I can’t justify one at $1,400 each. — For now it will stay out of reach.
That’s all, folks. I’m going back into blog-hibernation, but you can always find me on Twitter @sketchcards. Thanks y’all. — Chris M.
Hey, I know it’s been a good long while without a post. The truth is that I’ve been spending all my free time consulting with a major trading card company, and updating my Google photo-drive. But I’m still on eBay pretty regularly, and every once in a while find cards that make me stop and take notice. — There’s an old hobby saying that if you’ve been around the block a couple times, and then see something that you’ve never seen before, there’s a good chance you may never see it again. So, I took a couple pictures (or screenshots) and archived them here.
From what I can tell, this is a Topps Star Wars Card Trader promo sketch card from 2021 NYCC, drawn by Darrin Pepe. The eBay seller was Darrin Pepe, himself, so I’m not sure if “22/25” means 25 Artist Proofs, or a total print run of 25. None others have shown up on eBay so far. Did anyone else go to New York Comic Con, on October 7-10, 2021 and see these?
I was 95% sure I knew what this was when I saw it. Upper Deck released a set called 2015 All-Time Greats Master Collection. Limited to only 200 boxes that cost $15,000-$17,000 each … you got one signed sketch card per box that drew from two dozen different subjects (each box also came with a dozen other high end cards at that price point). I have no idea if this was the only Emmitt Smith auto-sketch, but I know the description could have been better.I’m sure we will see dozens of these soon, but this one was found on Facebook (and none have posted on eBay). Space Jam: A New Legacy is a PG movie that released in theaters and for streaming on Friday, July 16 2021, more than 25 years after the original classic featuring Michael Jordan. Now three months after the release, Upper Deck is working on a trading card set? Don’t get me wrong, I would love an officially licensed Bugs Bunny sketch. It just feels like the window of interest is closing quick. I’ve seen these from time-to-time, but with the World Series starting next week, I have MLB on the brain. In 2016, Topps Wacky Packages had sketch cards that would poke fun of MLB licenses and team mascots? This seems wild to me. The “instructions” and “off-limits content” must have been a mile long.
I have no idea what Marvel Allure is, but it’s coming. Is this a high end set? Is this ePacks only? — The cat’s out of the bag, and all collectors can do is wait and see.
Last pic for today … I saw this at DragonCon (from an exhibiting artist) … there must me an “Into the Spider-Verse” set in the works. Does this mean we get Spider-Ham, and Spider-Man Noir? I have no idea if this is tied to the sequel movie to be released released on April 8, 2022 … but I love the idea of new characters on Marvel sketch cards.
That’s all for today. You can always find me on Twitter @sketchcards … Good luck, collectors.
… I can’t post as regularly as I would like right now, but when I find rare sketch card nuggets like these, I can’t help but archive them. So here’s three random sketch card stories worth putting in your back pocket …
(#1.) Colleen Doran is a treasure. Notable credits include: The Sandman, Wonder Woman, Legion of Superheroes, Teen Titans, and her space opera series, A Distant Soil. She has also drawn sketch card for Lord of the Rings Masterpieces & Indiana Jones Heritage. But what about her Indiana Jones & the Crystal Skull cards? All her cards got lost in the mail more than a decade ago. Then they were recently found …
I have reached out to her on Twitter multiple times to ask what will happen to them (with no response). Here’s the crazy part … she has since deleted these tweets. Were the cards returned to Topps, or was she somehow threatened with a lawsuit? Were they sold privately? This might be the only saved image of these recently found cards, now lost again. This sounds like an actual plot of an Indiana Jones movie.
(#2.) A crazy-rare set of sports sketch cards came to market, and I was following along for the ride. A box of 2014 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Football Cards was not cheap (SRP was something like $500). Each box would yield (5) Autograph Cards Hard-Signed and (1) 2015 Rookie Base Card, and might also include a Quad Sketch Card Puzzle. By my math (thanks to Cardboard Connection) there was only 51 total Sketch Card quad-sets produced?
Okay, let me try to understand … there’s no single sketch cards, they ALL come in quad-puzzles, and one of the pieces was actually signed by the athlete represented on the cards? There are 17 different athletes, each drawn 3 times? — Well, I found a set for auction. Granted, this is probably the least-valuable subject and the cheapest these cards will ever sell for, but it helps me budget for the next time a set goes to auction.
(#3.) This final random story is something I need to do more research on … Dave Sim is a Canadian cartoonist and publisher, best known for his comic book Cerebus. In late 2020 Dave Sim launched a KickStarter to reprint Cerebus issue #1. Many of the reward tiers came with trading cards. Then I came across this on eBay:
… I lost out on the auction, but I have to assume this was part of the KickStarter based on the date inscribed. Were sketch cards one of the possible KickStarter rewards? How many were ever drawn? So I went digging on the internet and didn’t find a lot more information, but I did find one more sample:
… so these Cerebus sketch card are #9 in a series, but individually numbered up top. I think the first 8 in the set were standard promos available through the KickStarter project. Good luck if you’re a Cerebus fan. These looks like an incredibly rare find.
And there you go. Some cool sketch card nuggets I found in the last month digging around the internet. My goal is to archive as much information as I can find, and eventually collect one sample of every sketch card ever. Be safe & happy collecting, y’all. —
SAGE cards have been around since 1999, but that doesn’t mean there’s an easy-to-find history of the company. They have no website. They have no Facebook. Their only online presence is a Twitter account.
Technically, the company name is “SA•GE Collectibles” That’s because it was founded by two men: Robert Sadlak and Tom Geideman. Tom was a previous Upper Deck employee, and Robert was Director of Operations for ScoreBoard, Inc.
While they have released college-draft themed football sets for more than a decade, they started innovating last year during the pandemic. Debuting in 2020, SAGE included one-of-one Art Gallery Sketch cards from artist Gary Kezele. It looks like a total of 32 original art cards were commissioned and packed-out for the 2020 Sage Hit Premier Draft Low series, and 35 original art cards were commissioned and packed-out for 2020 Sage Hit Premier Draft High series. By my count there was only one official tweet about these cards:
SAGE reprinted some of these cards as one-per-box inserts, but they didn’t reprint all of them. 2020 Sage Hit Premier Draft Low series had 18 reprint cards (chosen from the 32 original art sketch cards). 2020 Sage Hit Premier Draft High series had 17 reprint cards (from the 35 original art sketch cards). So if you pull a sketch card, your odds are basically 50/50 that’s it has been reprinted vs never seen by collectors.
Then in 2021, SAGE decided to team-up with artist Gary Kezele again. It looks like 2021 Sage Hit Premier Draft Low series has 13 art gallery reproduction inserts, but no word on total original art count yet. Information seems to be only available as collectors assemble it. Below is a look at a 2021 original sketch card next to a reproduced insert. Note that the front is nearly identical, and the cards can only by differentiated by their backs.
With only 67 total original art sketch cards inserted across both 2020 releases, I would argue that SAGE sketch cards are some of the rarest (least-produced) sketch cards in any modern trading card set. Good luck to those chasing them!
Hey y’all. — I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t posted a lot on here since December, but that’s because I’ve been experimenting with Photo Galleries on Google Photos (instead of WordPress). I think I like it more, and now I have a new goal …
I hope to scan the back of every sketch card that I own, then start hunting down sample copies of every sketch card that exists. Then with a little luck (and time), I can eventually start the virtual “Sketchcard Museum” that archives the history and a few samples of every official sketch card ever made.
I’m trying something new today. I have a ton of signed trading cards acquired at comic book conventions. I thought I would make this my ongoing gallery page. I have a lot to add later … but wanted to start somewhere. I think the easiest way is to do this in blocks of six cards. That way I can come back and add descriptions as needed. Away we go …
There’s a different kind of sketch card out there. It was never inserted in packs, and it’s not even card shaped. I’m talking about cardboard drink coasters with original art.
The original “Drink and Draw Social Club” was formed in 2005 by Dave Johnson, Dan Panosian and Jeff Johnson. These three invited other artists to join them Drinkin’ and Drawin’ (often to hilarious results). They even printed up their own drink coasters and compiled the best of their drawings in a book (printed in 2007).
Well, if you are familiar with Comic Book Conventions you probably know that there are often copious amounts of artists and alcohol available. Thus the Drink and Draw Social Club became popular at hotel bars at some major conventions after hours.
A few inspired people soon devised a plan to make the Drink and Draw Social Club into a fundraiser. — The first annual HeroesCon Drink and Draw charity event was back in 2011. Funds raised would benefit Parkinson’s research in honor of Richard Thompson (the cartoonist behind the award winning Cul de Sac comic strip). Artists at HeroesCon were invited to show up to a designated bar on the first night of the convention, and draw on some custom printed drink coasters that would be sold to benefit the Michael J. Fox foundation.
The way the HeroesCon event operates is a whole lot like the floor of the the New York Stock Exchange in a 1980’s movie. As soon as artists are done drawing, they hand off their finished coasters to the event organizers who then display them on a table. All the interested attendees are then free to make an offer. If the organizers like your offer, the item is sold. The better the art, the higher the offer needs to be. Often, friends of the artist will make immediate and crazy offers to guarantee their win, so some art may sell within seconds of being turned in (it’s all for charity after all).
Of course an art auction is not an original idea. People have done this in various ways for decades. Another organization that uses a similar model is The Hero Initiative, who is dedicated to finding a financial safety net for comic creators who may need emergency medical aid or financial support. Recently, The Hero Initiative has also moved to the drink coaster format. Below are some of their charity coasters have sold on eBay in the last 60 days.
2020 was unfortunately the year of the COVID pandemic. Most conventions were cancelled and charity organizers had to become even more creative with their fund raising. The good news is that it looks like a lot of coasters have been sent through the mail, and are about to get art on them for future use by Team CuldeSac. (BTW … check out that new design!)
Want to donate? You can Email the HeroesCon organizers at teamculdesac@gmail.com or message them on Facebook. — This is one of my favorite ways to collect original art. Be safe y’all, and feel free to tweet me @sketchcards. Thanks!
This is it … the last day to win Ingrid Hardy’s excellent The Art of Sketch Cards book. Follow & RT any blog post with the hashtag #SketchCardContest.
I just want to say THANK YOU! Over the past 25 days, this little blog had over 1000 views, and 500 visitors. It was the best month for Sketchcard.Wordpress.com since August 2018.
And what did this blog babble-on about? Here’s a clickable checklist of the last 24 days. I bet you missed one, so take a load off & catch up.
Day 01 – Dynamic Forces MCC98 proof cards? Day 02 – Top Selling PSC’s Day 03 – Sketch Card Sets that were Abandoned Day 04 – Famous Artists that drew Sketch Cards Day 05 – Understanding Lady Death sketch card sets Day 06 – The First sketch card set ever (newly discovered) Day 07 – Sketch Card prelim renderings Day 08 – Free sketch cards via NPN Day 09 – Best Sketch Card books & websites Day 10 – Box Break: Mystery Power Box Day 11 – Topps Transcendent (expensive sketch cards!) Day 12 – Holiday Themed sets Day 13 – Lowest Print Runs ever Day 14 – Guest Author! Day 15 – Topps Artist on Demand Day 16 – Matt Stewart interview! Day 17 – Top Sales of 2020 Day 18 – Special Convention Sketch Cards Day 19 – TTM sketch cards (including Todd McFarlane) Day 20 – Sketch Artist business cards Day 21 – Secret Fleer / Skybox paperwork Day 22 – The best eBay auction EVER Day 23 – Rejected Sketch Cards Day 24 – Star Wars sketch card drinking game
… So, thanks for loving sketch cards, the artists, the collectors, and everything the hobby throws at us in-between. Merry Christmas, all. I hope we can bump into each other at a Comic or Card Convention once the pandemic is over!
Final day of the Contest! (Details at the bottom). Day 24 Topic: A Star Wars Sketch Card Trivia Game …
In the immortal words of Billy the Puppet, “Let’s play a game.” Seriously … get yourself a piece of paper and a pencil. And before you scroll down let’s take a quiz together. As 2020 comes to a close, let’s look at Star Wars trading card releases. Ready? —
(#1.) How many Star Wars trading card sets did Topps release in 2020?
(#2.) Including shaped sketchcards, panoramic sketchcards, and other variations, how many total different sketch cards did Topps release in 2020?
(#3.) Did Topps release more or less star war sets in 2019 compared to 2020?
(#4.) If Topps stayed on its current pace of Star Wars trading card releases, how many sets would we have between 2021 and the 50th anniversary of A New Hope?
Thank God this isn’t a drinking game. I would be dead on the ground. I’m not even sure if my answer key is correct, and I did hours of research. Maybe this is a trick-quiz with impossible answers? Anyways … here’s my best guesses … I didn’t even take into consideration pre-solicited sets like 2021’s The Mandalorian Season 2, or oversize releases like 2020’s Star Wars Authentics 8 x 10 Series 2. Okay, let’s give this a shot (starting w/ most recent) …
These are the solicited release dates (not necessarily the actual release dates). If I did my math & research correct, that’s NINE Star Wars trading card sets released by Topps in 2020. — Now let’s count sketch card variations … Holocron should have 1, Masterwork had at least 3, Mandalorian had 1 (or 2 if you count Redemptions, lol), Stellar had 1 (oversize), Perspectives had none, Rise of Skywalker 2 had at least two, Journey of the Child had none, Women of Star Wars had 2, B&W had 4? — That’s a total of 14.
According to my math, 2020 exceeded the 2019 set count. I think 2019 only had 6 different sets … and 2018 had 7 different sets …
The last question in the quiz was “If Topps stayed on its current pace of Star Wars trading card releases, how many sets would we have between 2021 and the 50th anniversary of A New Hope?” Well, A New Hope was released 1977, so the 50th anniversary would be 2027 … that’s seven more years of releases, thus at nine sets a year, Topps could release 63 more card sets before the 50th anniversary. — I hope y’all got deep pockets, and avoid the On-Demand and “online only” sets (like TFA Widevision) because that only make this list even more confusing.
Whew! Good think I’m not a Star Wars master collector or completist. Reminder: Collect what you like, and keep the hobby fun. Now onto the contest:
Original Art that fits in your pocket 