The focus of this guide is on sports card companies and their products, specifically, the Upper Deck Exquisite Limited Logo's and Fleer's E-XL Court Authentics NBA cards which were released between 2003 and 2004.

Background:

In the age wherein card companies take card collecting to a whole new level by bringing us closer to our favorite players with limited edition autographed cards and patches of (almost any of) their clothing such as jersey's, shooting jacket's, shorts, warm-up's, hats, etc.  A viable question presents itself--Are any of the aforementioned paraphenalia really from the player depicted in the card?  In all honesty, no one can really tell, as the only thing that the consumer has going for them is the guarantee which the card company gives on the authenticity of their product.

Card companies put their credibility on the line by certifying the authenticity of their products.  At the back of an E-XL NBA 2004-05 Steve Nash Fleer Court Authentics card for instance, Fleer/Skybox Senior Vice President Lloyd J. Pawlak puts his stamp of approval on "the piece of game-worn memorabilia on the front" of the Nash card.

From how I understand this, Fleer/Skybox either purchased or acquired authentic game-worn Nash jersey's and partitioned them to machine numbered cards.  This is basically how the system works.

Always been skeptical:

Despite the aforementioned assurances by the card companies, I've always wondered why there just seems to be so many jersey cards out in the market.  The Nash card pictured above for example is numbered to 70 but I also have in my possession a similar one that is numbered to 500.  Steve Nash played 408 games for the Dallas Mavericks (excluding his play-off appearances), which would mean 408 authentic game-worn jerseys.  Deduct from that total the jersey's which were purchased by fans in their entirety or donated to charity, not that much is left to go around.

Yesterday evening, my fears were proven right when a Dwyane Wade E-XL 2004-05 Fleer Court Authentics Signature edition was sold for over $178.  As you can see below, the area where Wade's Fleer/Skybox "Authentic Game-Worn Patch" is supposed to be has most of a Dallas Mavericks logo on it.  Human error should also be discounted as this series is limited to 5 pieces.  What happened then?  Dwyane Wade all of the sudden plays for the Dallas Mavericks and not the Miami Heat?  The writing seems pretty firm on the wall.

A similar argument can also be made for arguable the most expensive card set ever, the Upper Deck Exquisite set.  Looking at the Limited Logo Machine Stamped cards (numbered to 50) of Corey Maggette and Isiah Thomas, Thomas' lettering depicted in his large jersey patch seems to be a silk screen print and not a swen-on patch like the "C" on Maggette's patch.  What does these mean then?  According to my LCS (Local Card Shop) these type of cards are "variants" of the sewn-on patches.  Variants?  I honestly don't think Isiah Thomas or Michael Jordan wore silk screen print jersey's during their careers and for the amount of hard earned money collectors fork over for this cards, don't you think collectors deserve the genuine article and not some compromise on the part of the card companies to get things done and make a quick buck.

                            A poor substitute to sewn-on patches.

                            The detail which makes this set exquisite.

Overall:

The purpose of this guide is to educate the public on the possible pitfalls they may face as they progress through their card collecting.  Remember, get educated on what's out there and not blindly settle for an item that wasn't really what you thought it was.

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