At the turn of the 21st century, when Upper Deck ruled the modern hobby with all “Big Four” pro sports leagues licenses, the card company pioneered the release of a nostalgia product across multiple sports called 1999 Century Legends that combined hardball, roundball and gridiron legends with contemporary superstars. The short-printed Epic Signatures subset (32 players) featured the most coveted chase cards, especially within basketball. All-time greats such as Bill Russell, Cousy, The Logo, Kareem and Dr. J autographed cards, hand-numbered to 100, packed out as special case hits in limited hobby boxes. This was followed by 1999-2000 Retro Inkredible (48 players) with a similar caliber of signed cards, either hand-numbered or unnumbered as super short prints. (This auction features other lots with cards from each of these premium sets.)
Ultimate Collection, first released in 2000-01, was UD’s flagship high-end product [before Exquisite] and it continued the trend of mixing vintage and modern players. The 2008-09 Ultimate Collection Basketball release, looking to expand upon its impressive list of all-time greats, added Kobe Bryant and LeBron James to its Century Legends Epic Signatures Update subset. Today, these GOATS are easily the two most sought-after autographed cards in the 36-player checklist. For whatever reason (perhaps to avoid high-value redemptions) UD did not hand/serial-number them, creating a mystique among collectors about the quantity in circulation. A highly credible source with direct knowledge of these cards’ speculated distribution opined that the true number for each is likely 25 or fewer. Beckett’s pop report has a grand total of twelve LeBrons – only four graded higher than this Mint 9 (surely fewer with a 10 auto) – and just ten Kobes. In the PSA pop, there’s literally one Kobe and two LeBrons in any grade. (SGC has not encapsulated any.)
This LeBron card’s nearly immaculate condition has perfect centering (10 subgrade) and a perfect 10 on-card autograph in bold blue marker that pops beautifully. Incredibly rare and heavily coveted, both short printed LeBron and Kobe (Lot 15) cards from this unique nostalgia set are available in this same auction.