Autograph Offering: (Pricing Theories) Allen & Ginter Joe Namath

Kudos goes to Mark for keeping his promise. Those in attendance at this summer's econ in Chicago voted for the Allen & Ginter Superbowl Champs cards to be autographed and it looks like this is going to happen. This is the first Allen & Ginter football card to be autographed ever. (It's beyond me why Topps has not introduced an Allen & Ginter football set yet.)

Of all of the Superbowl Champs cards, Namath is probably the least popular. Smart move on etopps part to have this as the first one introduced and the first football autograph offering for the start of the season.

Only problem is the price: $179. There have already been rumblings on the message board on this price. If Namath is at this price, it'll be interesting to see how much others will cost (like Montana) if etopps carries out their promise and offers the entire set one card at a time.

I've got a few theories why the price is so high:

• Namath only signed 38 out of 50 or 100 cards that were legible and charged by the card regardless of the quality of his signature so etopps had to eat the cost.
• Someone at Topps crunched the numbers for how etopps has done in the last year and saw that there was room for profit in the autograph department, especially since there were some low-budget auto offerings for this past baseball season.
• Eisner got word that Namath was signing and when he found out etopps was only charging $99 (which they should), Eisner said, "that's it?"
• Topps got word that Namath will be holding a press conference some time during this football season to make a prediction that dwarfs the one that made him famous: when he will die. Since this will be happening in the next six months, Topps knew that his autograph will go up in price and legitimizes the extra $80 cost per auto.
• It's a typo. It should really be $79.
• Etopps is banking on the listing freeze. No one bought any cards for more than a week. Registered members are bound to have more cash on hand to spend.
  
• There will be a surprise bonus that will go along with buying the auto. Namath will call you and tell you he doesn't want to kiss you.
• Etopps will include a swatch card of Namath's fur coat.

Have a theory? Submit it by clicking on the word comments.

***

Two more days left for taking the poll for your favorite baseball in-hand design.