1996 Futera - Brian Lara 375 Achievement Autograph Card

Interesting. Not saying its not legit but I've honestly never heard of any of these being signed before. The pen colour and the interesting embossed stamp pushes me towards it not being an official Futera released signature card if I'm honest. I have the Futera File book and I'm pretty sure there is no mention of a signature version of this card.
 
Further to my comments above, back in those days Futera used a gold stamp like the attached for signature cards. Never seen one like on that Lara card before.

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Futera stopped using the gold stamp in the season previous to this though i think, none of the decider sigs (Steve Waugh or Ricky Ponting), elite sig (Marsh/Lillee) or Mark Waugh world cup sig had the gold stamp

but in saying that none of the 1996 sigs above had the embossed stamp either so I'm really not sure.

The pen colour certainly is peculiar for the time
 
Futera stopped using the gold stamp in the season previous to this though i think, none of the decider sigs (Steve Waugh or Ricky Ponting), elite sig (Marsh/Lillee) or Mark Waugh world cup sig had the gold stamp

but in saying that none of the 1996 sigs above had the embossed stamp either so I'm really not sure.

The pen colour certainly is peculiar for the time
Agreed, the style of stamp and pen colour are unusual!
 
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Hi,
I'm sure this card was released as part of the Decider Series with a limited number of 375.
The Futera Bible says only around 13 'sample' versions were produced but I feel there may have been a few more than that.
(@curriejak may have more information on this.)
This card wasn't produced as an official signature card by Futera so, if there are any signed ones around then they have been signed by Brian Lara in person.
A very nice card but certainly not worth $645!!!
Cheers
Al
 
Hi,
I'm sure this card was released as part of the Decider Series with a limited number of 375.
The Futera Bible says only around 13 'sample' versions were produced but I feel there may have been a few more than that.
(@curriejak may have more information on this.)
This card wasn't produced as an official signature card by Futera so, if there are any signed ones around then they have been signed by Brian Lara in person.
A very nice card but certainly not worth $645!!!
Cheers
Al

Thanks Al - yeah, didn't think a signature version was ever produced.
 
Interesting. Not saying its not legit but I've honestly never heard of any of these being signed before. The pen colour and the interesting embossed stamp pushes me towards it not being an official Futera released signature card if I'm honest. I have the Futera File book and I'm pretty sure there is no mention of a signature version of this card.
No - it won't be an official Futera signature card - I've been collecting this set for 20 years (still don't have it all :) and I've never seen it mentioned.

I messaged the seller yesterday and he hasn't responded yet to my query of whether he has any more info on the origin of the card, how he knows that there were 10 of them etc etc.....

Some enterprising soul may have acquired 10 of the numbered ones, bought an Authentic Autograph embosser, got them signed by Lara and ..... there you go.

I guess it could be possible that a Futera employee, when the end was nigh, snuck 10 numbered Lara's out the back door and then got them embossed and signed etc apparently some weird and wonderful things happened near the end of Futera.

The Lara 375 card had the three types- - unnumbered, numbered and SAMPLE. They weren't included in the Decider packs.

The official Futera book doesn't include a lot of of the variations contained in The Decider set including that there were definitely more than 13 of the SAMPLE Lara cards in circulation. No one knows for sure how many made it out the back door - I had 6 at one stage years ago.

Cheers
John
 
No - it won't be an official Futera signature card - I've been collecting this set for 20 years (still don't have it all :) and I've never seen it mentioned.

I messaged the seller yesterday and he hasn't responded yet to my query of whether he has any more info on the origin of the card, how he knows that there were 10 of them etc etc.....

Some enterprising soul may have acquired 10 of the numbered ones, bought an Authentic Autograph embosser, got them signed by Lara and ..... there you go.

I guess it could be possible that a Futera employee, when the end was nigh, snuck 10 numbered Lara's out the back door and then got them embossed and signed etc apparently some weird and wonderful things happened near the end of Futera.

The Lara 375 card had the three types- - unnumbered, numbered and SAMPLE. They weren't included in the Decider packs.

The official Futera book doesn't include a lot of of the variations contained in The Decider set including that there were definitely more than 13 of the SAMPLE Lara cards in circulation. No one knows for sure how many made it out the back door - I had 6 at one stage years ago.

Cheers
John

Great, thanks for the clarification John. I messaged the seller asking for more information before my post as well, and haven't had a response.
 
Very interesting, the seller looks like a very good seller, may have had this card unloaded onto them, cant wait to hear their response, like stated who nos what went on at futera, here and in the UK, if it was signed by B lara, still got to be worth having to collector, but not at that price, that's the good/bad thing about collecting, there is always something new,
 

New message from: daluka_collectables Top Rated Seller (27,301TurquoiseShooting Star )

Hi
Many thanks for both your messages.
My apologies for the slight delay, we unfortunately have some illness in the family, which at this time has been very worrying (and time consuming).

Anyway, i assure you it was being sold in good faith. I obtained a binder full of Futera cards from auction. This the only card that i could not trace, so was guided by the previous owners notes. After looking at various sites, i found his notes were spot on for the other cards, so went with it for this one. I hoped that someone out there had more knowledge than I and would confirm the rarity.

I havent relisted it as I now see I need more info. The signature looks genuine to me, but as I say I only have the previous collectors notes to go on in terms of being one of ten.

Are there any recommended trade card reference book publications that are used in Oz?



kind regards
Stephen​

 
No - it won't be an official Futera signature card - I've been collecting this set for 20 years (still don't have it all :) and I've never seen it mentioned.

I messaged the seller yesterday and he hasn't responded yet to my query of whether he has any more info on the origin of the card, how he knows that there were 10 of them etc etc.....

Some enterprising soul may have acquired 10 of the numbered ones, bought an Authentic Autograph embosser, got them signed by Lara and ..... there you go.

I guess it could be possible that a Futera employee, when the end was nigh, snuck 10 numbered Lara's out the back door and then got them embossed and signed etc apparently some weird and wonderful things happened near the end of Futera.

The Lara 375 card had the three types- - unnumbered, numbered and SAMPLE. They weren't included in the Decider packs.

The official Futera book doesn't include a lot of of the variations contained in The Decider set including that there were definitely more than 13 of the SAMPLE Lara cards in circulation. No one knows for sure how many made it out the back door - I had 6 at one stage years ago.

Cheers
John
posted his reply, cheers Mark,
 
Hi, I see this card is on eBay again. I have been collecting for over 35 years and have many Futera cards including genuine autograph cards.

I agree the actual card appears to genuine and the Lara signature matches others that can be found online however I would avoid buying this card for the following reasons:
A series of signature cards would start with the lowest numbers. Seller advises there are 10 but this card is 0032.
This card is BL2 which was a non signature card. If there were Futera Certified cards it is likely they would have a different card number.

All the Futera Certified Autographs have a more sophisticated seal that does not appear on the rear of the card. The seal on this card appears to be homemade and not factory generated. Embossing tools can be bought for around $30.

It would be extremely rare for a seal to be placed through the card number (0032) effectively damaging it.

Given these factors particularly the embossing damage the card would receive a low grading. It might be worth $25- $50 to someone that wanted to collect it for the curiosity value but I would not add to my set🙁
 
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