There's been a very interesting thread on the PSA message boards recently so I thought I'd mention it here and get some more opinions. A collector purchased a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle that was colored/altered a long time ago and has asked for advice from the board members on what they would do with it. Here's a link to the thread: Thread.

The options appear to be: 1) Keep it as is (the collector is trying to complete a low-grade 1952 Topps set), 2) Have it restored. If it were restored, the card would then be sold and hopefully finance another low-grade Mantle along with a bunch of other singles to help complete the set.

As far as grading is concerned, PSA would grade it as "Authentic". Whether it was restored at this point or not does not influence that. The card is authentic, but has obviously been altered so it would never get a numberical grade. There is a very strong market for altered cards, especially one of this value since most collectors could never even consider owning a nice 1952 Mantle unless it were restored. Here's a couple of examples of recent altered versions of this card: Example 1, Example 2.

The board suggested several restoration experts, but the catch is you won't find one that will guarantee their work. This is completely fair since they never know completely what they are getting into and you shop according to their reputation. But looking at the closing prices of the restored cards above ($6,500 and $7,500 if you didn't click on the links above), it's worth the trouble.

My take on it: The only decision I would be making is which restoration expert to send it to. Since I talked to the owner of this card over the weekend and know what he paid for it, I'm willing to bet the cost of the card and cost of restoration aren't going to come close to the potential price once it's done. There's also no ethical issue involved here either since the only thing a collector could do with a card like this to make sure nobody ever tried to deceive anyone with it in the future would be to burn it immediately. And I don't think that's going to happen.

Did you notice the Julius Erving jersey that sold in Grey Flannel last week? Wow. It finished at $188,321, which is the highest price I've seen a basketball jersey sell for. It was directly linked to the 1976 NBA All-Star Game and Slam Dunk Contest and included the entire uniform. It also arrived with a letter of authenticity from the ballboy, as well as video and photo matching.

In the same auction, a late 1960s Oscar Robertson Cincinnati Royals game-used and autographed road jersey sold for $66,734, a 1984-85 Michael Jordan rookie Bulls home jersey (with a team LOA included) sold for $55,152 and a 1973-74 Pete Maravich Atlanta Hawks game-used home jersey with a team LOA hit $36,716.

Where do these rank in the pecking order for all-time basketball jerseys? The highest price I have seen before this was in a Sept. 2006 Grey Flannel sale with a circa 1973-74 Erving Nets home jersey selling for $141,927, followed by a 1947-48 George Mikan Lakers home jersey selling for $110,400 in Sept. 2007, also in Grey Flannel.

Beyond that, most of the next ranking jerseys come from the Sotheby's with SCP Auctions sale I attended in NYC last June. That sale included a 1969-70 Willis Reed Knicks home jersey from that historic Final Game of the Championship where he wasn't supposed to play, but did. It sold for $90,000. Also in that sale, a 1957-58 Wilt Chamberlain Kansas Jayhawks home jersey from Chamberlain's estate finished at $72,000, with a 1967 Robertson Royals home uniform ($66,000), Mikan 1947-48 Lakers road jersey ($60,000) and a 1967-68 Bill Russell Celtics home jersey ($60,000) also in that sale. It should also be noted that a 1984 Jordan Bulls road uniform sold for $70,500 in Robert Edward Auctions' 2007 sale.

I'm not much of a racing fan, but I'm a really like to collect cool, signed baseballs. Oddly enough, those two worlds collide in Press Pass Premium Racing, which hit at the end of April.

Press Pass is offering redemptions for team-signed OML baseballs from NASCAR's top drivers and team. The list is highlighed by Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and Roush-Fenway Racing.

“I would venture to say that there aren’t too many NASCAR fans, or baseball fans for that matter, that have a baseball signed by Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson,” said Tom Farrell, Director of Marketing for Press Pass.

Premium also includes a baseball-themed subset, called Opening Day, featuring top drivers in baseball poses, with bats and gloves. The same can be said for the packaging of the product.

“When we had our annual photo shoot in Daytona this year, we handed the drivers a glove or a bat, and their eyes lit up.  It was a natural fit, and I think they enjoyed being ball players for a few minutes” Farrell said.

It's not often that you see one sport's products involve another sport, but this opens the door for that long-awaiting basketball-tennis release or maybe a football-figure skating subset. Joking aside, I thought it was pretty cool and done very well. I'm also interested to see what collectors are willing to pay for the signed baseballs. My guess is racing fans are going to love this.

I'm a huge basketball fan and I'm very into the playoffs at this time of year. I'm also cheering for the Lakers since my favorite player is Lamar Odom and if you know me at all, you already knew that tidbit of information. I simply shake my head in disbelief every time I read a new headline that "despite back injury, Kobe will play in Game 5." C'mon, did anyone on the planet actually think he'd miss Game 5? The series is tied 2-2. I'm not a huge Kobe fan either way, but the one thing you know about him is he could have a compound fracture with his femur sticking out and he'd still try to suit up tonight. Hopefully, he's good enough to help them win and Odom and Pau Gasol come up with big games because I really don't like the Jazz.

Is it possible to impress us more than David West and Chris Paul have in the Hornets/Spurs series? The playoff-tested, defending champs were supposed to knock the young Hornets out, but they continue to blow out the Spurs in the second half when they are in their own building. Paul is incredible every game, but West was an animal last night and just couldn't miss. I still expect it to go to Game 7 and I still expect the Spurs to win, but I'll be cheering for the Hornets.

The East is wide open too. We knew the Pistons would beat the Magic, but I didn't think it would be that easy once Chauncey Billups got hurt. Rodney Stuckey is going to be really good.

I'm also excited for Game 5 in the Celtics/Cavs series. The Celtics are tough to figure out since they play one way at home and completely different on the road and they are being coached differently with different rotations than they used in the regular season. Kevin Garnett has to step up because we know LeBron will. I'm cheering for the Celtics although I'm really enjoying watching Ray Allen look like a mediocre role player.

Every year, Upper Deck, Donruss and Topps give collectors some very cool freebies at the Hawaii Trade Conference, which was held in Phoenix this year. I wrote about what was given away in a recent blog and promised I'd update some of the values after more items hit the market.

While Topps didn't give anything away during its Meet the Industry segment, the Allen & Ginter cards given away at the Topps retailer party are arguably the hottest items from the conference. Remember, this set features Hall of Famers and the cards are sequentially numbered to just 30. A Walter Johnson sold for $132.50, while a Ty Cobb sold for $70, with Thurman Munson, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Honus Wagner, Jackie Robinson, Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Tris Speaker, Mel Ott and George Sisler and Rogers Hornsby and Roy Campanella all selling in the $40-$50 range. The only semi-duds from the set appear to be Pee Wee Reese and Johnny Mize and they are selling for $30. Not bad for something that was given out as a three-card pack just for showing up.

Donruss' Black Boxes are always one of the most sought-after items at the conference and this year is no different. The boxes have seven cards, all of which are 1-of-1 printing plates, with two autographs per box. Even several weeks after the conference, only roughly 20 of these appear in the closed auctions on eBay, which tells us how tough they are to get sealed. The bust was strong enough that most people opened their boxes to see what autographs were inside so this will be a scarce sealed box in the future. Boxes started out right around the $200 level and have settled slightly to around $175. I would expect these prices could rise a little in the near future since there will be very few available (only six currently listed in the active items). There haven't been a lot of the signed printing plates listed individually, but a Tony Romo sold for $218 a week ago.

Upper Deck gave away a ton of sealed boxes at its Retailer Reception, but that's impossible to track since they are identical to other wax boxes. The Meet the Industry boxes included three cards, including a multi–signed card in the middle. The highest signed card I've seen was a Carl Yastrzemski/Bobby Orr single, which sold for $169. There are ton of very cool combinations with these and many are selling in the $80-$100 range, including Peyton Manning/Danny Granger, Ken Griffey Jr./Chad Johnson and Kevin Durant/Felix Hernandez. I've also seen a Patrick Kane/Joakim Noah and a Al Horford/Mark Teixeira/Kovalchuk triple autograph, which both sold in the $60 range.

Unless you were asleep or out of the country all weekend, you noticed the NFL Draft was this past weekend. It's so well-covered at this point that we are generally pretty familiar with the top players going into the draft, but there are still a ton of sleepers out there. And with guys like Tom Brady drafted in the sixth round, nobody really knows for sure whether Matt Ryan will be the best quarterback or Alex Brink (17th round, 223rd overall).

Quarterbacks: The cream of the crop is definitely Matt Ryan and he should get a chance to start right away for Atlanta. Baltimore obviously liked Joe Flacco a lot to move up to get him, but it's tough to figure out how his skills translate from Delaware to the NFL. Long term, I like Brian Brohm a lot and think he wound up in a perfect system for his skills. I'm also a Colt Brennan fan, but he may not even make Washington's team. Andre Woodson is another guy worth mentioning since he has all the skills and if he can clean up those couple of poor decisions he seems to have every game, and his delivery, he could be a great sleeper.

Running Backs: This was a great class for RBs. Darren McFadden steals the headlines, but he's got a lot of competition in Oakland. Two guys that will be very popular in the collecting world (behind McFadden, of course) are Jonathan Stewart and Rashard Mendenhall. Both should split carries as rookies and become very solid running backs. There are a ton of sleepers too, led by Matt Forte, who could start over Cedric Benson in Chicago, and Kevin Smith, who will probably be the opening day starter in Detroit. I also really like Ray Rice, Jamaal Charles and even Mike Hart, although all are behind some big name backs (Willis McGahee, Larry Johnson and Joseph Addai, respectively).

Wide Receivers: This was a bizarre year for wide receivers with none selected in the first round and a  whopping 10 in Round 2. What that means is that really nobody is going to be huge in the hobby until they start performing on the field. My favorite picks to make an impact early in their pro careers are: Devin Thomas (Washington, should get a chance to start right away); Limas Sweed (Pittsburgh, big play ability and should be the third guy in Pitt's receiving core); Early Doucet (Arizona, should be the slot receiver for Arizona and will always have a good matchup with Fitzgerald and Boldin on the outside); Jordy Nelson (Green Bay, because Ted Thompson's last two receiver choices were Greg Jennings and James Jones); Mario Manningham (NY Giants, should have a chip on his shoulder after falling to the third round and has major big play ability); Marcus Monk (Chicago, huge guy, who played in Arkansas' passing-challenged offense...think Colston).

I'm sure I'll be proven completely wrong in a few years, but at least I'm trying. It's not like Todd McShay and Mel Kiper aren't wrong all the time either and nobody really has a clue about this draft for a couple of years anyway. By then, you'll have forgotten you read this blog.

How far has Vince Carter fallen in this hobby? If you still own a bunch of his rookies, I hope you are sitting down. Carter was on top of the basketball world during his first two seasons in the league. He won Rookie of the Year and then dominated the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk competition during the All-Star Game in Oakland. He had the most impressive array of dunks anyone had ever seen (maybe until Dwight Howard this year) and everyone loved him and wanted his rookies.

His 1998-99 SP Authentic rookie was selling for $3,500 on eBay in a PSA 10 case, while most of his others were also at ridiculously high levels. I even remember someone grading his second-year Bowman's Best card in a PSA 10 and selling it for around $200. Not since Shaq in 1992-93 had I ever witnessed hobby domination like this.

Back to the present time, Carter is resting after ankle surgery and isn't even one of the top 20 players in the league. My opinion is he might not even be top 50. His numbers aren't really down that much, but he's no longer the dynamic athlete he used to be and his acrobatic dunking show that led ESPN every night turned into a bunch of fallaway jumpers and selfish play. Carter is now one of those guys with a huge contract that nobody even really wants on their team.

His cards? All I need to do is show one closed eBay auction for that same 1998-99 SP Authentic rookie in a PSA 10 case to tell the story. It sold for $92.88. That paints a pretty clear picture. I think you would have been better off investing in Enron stock.

If you don't know much about the Hawaii Trade Conference, it's one of the most important events of the year. Last year was the first year we've hosted it on the mainland (Ft. Lauderdale) and this year's event took place last week in Phoenix. It's literally a who's who of the sports industry and the only place you'll ever find leading figures from MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL, along with all the card manufacturers, distributors and retailers in the industry all in the same place at the same time.

Some of the major news coming out of the week included:

Topps signed a exclusive card licensing deal with CMG for the rights to produce trading cards of 16 baseball legends, including Lou Gehrig, Christy Mathewson, Jimmie Foxx, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Cy Young, Thurman Munson, Honus Wagner and more. The first cards will be unveiled in Topps Triple Threads Baseball with an array of triple game-used memorabilia cards. The deal officially begins in June and runs through 2010.

Upper Deck is making some very cool and consumer friendly changes to its redemption program and is also reducing the number of super premium brands this year. The redemption program involves tiering the redemptions and allowing collectors the flexibility to exchange their redemptions for a different player in that same tier that is currently in stock, thus reducing the amount of outstanding redemptions. Collectors can also cash in their redemption cards for "points" and save up for other redemptions from UD's inventory. It's also worth noting that Upper Deck will soon introduce inserts featuring strands of hair from historical figures, like Geronimo, Marilyn Monroe and Ronald Reagan.

Donruss unveiled its impressive football card lineup for 2008, along with details of its upcoming Celebrity Cuts and Americana II (releases this summer) products and admitted, "We have celebrities contacting us wanting to be in the set." I also thought the Donruss retailer roundtable was really impressive. It's an open discussion where retailers don't hold much back and Donruss seemed to welcome the difficult questions.

The exclusive cards given out at this conference are always a very hot item in weeks/months after the show. I'll update this scene a little later in the week since most of the stuff is either just hitting or not even on ebay yet. There was some very cool stuff given out this year, including the coveted Donruss black box (with seven 1/1 printing plates, including two autographs), Upper Deck's black box (with three cards, including one autograph) and Topps' Allen & Ginter cards numbered to just 30 sets and more.

Have you seen that video with Kobe jumping over the Aston Martin, while promoting a new shoe? I assume it's not real, but it looks pretty crazy. He's with teammate Ronnie Turiaf and telling kids to not try this, but then he signals something and gets ready to jump. You can kinda see a shadow on the side of the car so I think he just jumps next to the car, but it's amusing anyway. Here's it is: Kobe video link.

I'm gone for the next week attending the Hawaii Trade Conference in Phoenix and then on a short family vacation. I'm going to try to do blogs from the conference, but I don't think the hotel has wireless internet and that makes it very difficult. It's in the high 30s here in Wisconsin right now and it's supposed to be 96 and sunny on Sunday in Phoenix. I'll either really enjoy it or die of heat stroke.

It's a hotly debated subject with NBA fans: Was the 2003 draft better than 1996? The two years are widely considered the best drafts every, but which year had the edge? Here's my analysis:

First, we'll check out the 1996 NBA Draft. Superstars: Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant. Players who have made major impacts: Marcus Camby, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Stephon Marbury, Antoine Walker, Peja Stojakovic, Jermaine O'Neal, Derek Fisher. Players who at least did something: Lorenzen Wright, Kerry Kittles, Samaki Walker, Erick Dampier, Tony Delk, Walter McCarty, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Othella Harrington, Jeff McInnis and Shandon Anderson.

Now, the 2003 NBA Draft: Superstars: LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade. Players who have had major impacts: Chris Bosh, Kirk Hinrich, TJ Ford, David West, Leandro Barbosa, Josh Howard, Mo Williams. Players who at least did something: Chris Kaman, Darko Milicic, Michael Pietrus, Nick Collison, Luke Ridnour, Boris Diaw, Brian Cook, Kendrick Perkins, Jason Kapono, Luke Walton, Steve Blake, James Jones, Kyle Korver, Zaza Pachulia, Keith Bogans, Willie Green.

It's tough to compare since players from the 2003 class could still move up a class, but they could also move down. A few years ago, Marbury might have been considered a superstar and Steve Nash definitely wasn't a superstar five years after he was drafted. Some may argue that Bosh is a superstar, but if I didn't put Jermaine O'Neal on that list, I can't put Bosh.

The superstar quality of the 1996 class is better than 2003. And including Hinrich, Ford, Barbosa and Mo Williams on the major impact list is questionable, but I'm trying to project to five years down the road. Right now, none of them should probably be included, but it's hard to argue with any of the players from 1996 (Abdur-Rahim would be the only one, but his stats were very impressive until the past few years).

The "at least did something" list from 1996 doesn't look good since most of the guys are washed up or out of the league now, but I'm not sure I see any budding stars in the 2003 list either. My vote clearly goes to 1996, especially when you look at the following two paragraphs.

Looking at the list of first rounders, the 1996 draft was loaded with quality selections. You have to go all the way down to No. 11 to find the first bust and that was partly because he died (Todd Fuller) and then it's down to No. 21 with Dontae Jones. There are arguably only seven total busts in the first round. The second round is weak with only three players who made any type of impact, and no I'm not counting Moochie Norris.

The 2003 draft is very different. It already looks like No. 8 Mike Sweetney is a bust and the same with No. 15 (Reece Gaines), No. 16 (Troy Bell), No. 20 (Dahntay Jones), No. 22 (Zoran Planicic) and No. 26 (Ndudi Ebi). It's scary to think this many have already fell on their face and I didn't even count Marcus Banks, who has a little life now in Miami. In fact, after TJ Ford at No. 8, there's only one decent player (David West) until you get to No. 28 (Barbosa). The second round has a couple bright spots with Mo Williams (unless you actually watch him play), Luke Walton, Kyle Korver and Willie Green, but it's not considered strong.