MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: Signed 1989 Perez-Steele Celebration Set
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Posted by jaygross
Comments: 1
Long time SCN member Kaneen recently posted on our message board that he completed the Perez-Steele "Celebration" Set.
Background on the set
The boxed presentation set was released in 1989 to "celebrate" the 50th anniversary of the Baseball Hall of Fame. 3 of the included players passed away during the set's production (Bill Terry, Judy Johnson, Lefty Gomez), so only 41 of the 44 numbered HOF cards were possible to be signed. Those 41 possible signed cards are all pictured in the posts below, as well as the check list card signed by the artist, Dick Perez.
The design of these postcards was inspired by the 1887 W.S. Kimball & Co. Champions (N184) set. Measuring 3-1/2" by 5-1/2", the postcards present profile paintings of the inductees on the top two-thirds of the card fronts with smaller action paintings below them.
"By that time, we had already produced the Hall of Fame art postcards and we had started the Great Moments [postcards]," explained Perez. "And, of course, with the Hall of Fame art postcards, the majority of the inductees had died. With Great Moments, we had started creating postcards of a little over half of the past Hall of Famers and a few of the current Hall of Famers; and what we found out was that collectors were really interested in getting these signed. So we started shifting our emphasis to living Hall of Famers. With the Celebration set, we decided to create a set totally devoted to living Hall of Famers."
I would assume this set has certainly appreciated recently in value. I found that a few older auctions for the signed set:
Robert Edwards Auctions in 2016 sold for $1,440
Heritage Auctions (40 cards, without the Campanella) in 2019 sold for $1,320
Here are the pictures
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