getting embossed around

in 2001 i came to realize that i would not be able to complete my steve garvey collection. that year, fleer introduced their rack pack autographs in 2001 fleer platinum. garvey was included, with a run of 15 autographed cards. at first, i understand these to be buybacks that were autographed (garvey's was noted to be his 1987 card), but i see now that tcdb says they were replicas. it didn't matter much, because i never saw one of his cards hit the market, nor have i seen one since. i don't recall ever seeing a rack pack of 2001 fleer platinum, either. completist status denied.

of course, a year or two later the hobby exploded with parallels and short prints and limited print run hits galore so i am not too broken up about not finding one of those platinum autograph cards. in fact, the release that really had me shaking my head was 2003 topps all-time fan favorites. topps included buybacks in this release, "embossed" in some way to differentiate them from the original cards. garvey had a bunch of his dodger flagship cards bought back in quantities ranging from 1 to 99, but again, i never saw one. until last month.

that's his 1979 topps card with the embossing. there are 99 of these in the wild, but they are not numbered, and without any foil additive, i wonder how many have been mistaken for just another 1979 topps double printed garvey card. here's the back:

i took a photo so you could see what the mark looks like

that is a 2003 topps fan favorites vintage card alright. what a great get for this player collector!

bless the ebay seller who listed this and thanks to the other garvey collectors who didn't wage war with me on the auction. maybe one day that platinum auto will show up.