Check out this card on Season 18, Episode 25 of "Pawn Stars" .... just type in Google "Pawn Stars Action Packed Basketball". And this is the Number 1 card and was part of that find! This is for the collector who wants the best ...and the first!
See below for how rare this card is! In another listing I have a full set of the auto redemption cards with a #6 (his jersey #) out of 500 that I bought directly from a Action Packed executive back in the 1990's, but the Russell card in this listing he never told me about. The rarity in this set is the #10 Elvin Hayes as Hayes only signed 6 in total before refusing to do more according to the executive. One of those six are in his set. Contact us if interested in the complete set.
Celtic fan? NBA fan? Even a University of San Francisco fan? Or just a savvy investor!! Well, this is it! A 1995 Action Packed Basketball Hall of Fame Autographs card, the 1st signed by Bill Russell (#40G for Gold)! This exact card is hand numbered as the #1 out of 100 (even the numbering was done in Bill's own hand) is a true one of a kind.
This is the most valuable card in an redemption or insert edition series. It is the first card made (which is this card here). Then the most valuable has the player's jersey number (which in this case would be #6). Some collectors even want the last card made in the edition which is the #100 in this series! This is an incredible card to own not only because it is the actual #1 of 100 but because of the way it was discovered. Please read the entire description including 3 paragraphs down about this exact card of Bill Russell and why it is a treasure of a card!
In May 2020, in Las Vegas, NV, a storage locker full of memorabilia and in this locker were two boxes of cards. Upon opening the locker was found over 450 cards from the 1995 Action Packed Basketball set. All cards were hand signed and by 23 different players & coaches including Bill Russell, Bill Walton, Bill Bradley, Bob Cousy, Dean Smith, Hal Greer, Connie Hawkins, Dolph Schayes, Nate Thurmond, Jerry Lucas, & many others!
Action Packed was headquartered in North Carolina and I am not sure how these particular cards ended up in Vegas. I suspect one of the Action Packed executives retained the cards when the company folded in 1995 as it certainly appears that none of the cards in Vegas were redeemed or sent out!
These boxes were not from a collector and were the actual redemption boxes from Action Packed!! When redemptions were pulled in the packs way back in 1995, Action Packed later sent collectors the real signed cards when the collectors mailed the redemptions in for the real final signed cards that were mentioned on the redemptions. This found treasure is the redemption fulfillment cards from the trading card packs and for whatever reason they were either unredeemed by collectors or the redemptions expired in the packs or they had extra cards signed by the players and coaches or just a combination of all of these reasons.
After doing research, we found that the Bill Russell card is the set's most expensive card out of the 40 cards in the checklist. At the time, Russell was one of the toughest if not the toughest autograph to acquire of all current and former NBA players in 1995. THIS CARD TURNS OUT THAT IT IS ALSO THE VERY FIRST AUTOGRAPH TRADING CARD OF BILL RUSSELL EVER IN HIS CAREER, ANY SET, ANY TRADING CARD COMPANY...EVER!!!
THIS PARTICULAR CARD LIMITED EDITION OUT OF 100 IS THE GOLD VERSION OF CARD WHICH IS WHY IT'S CARD #40G (not 40 as in the 500 series) AND WAS NEVER RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC....ANYWHERE!! The 100 Gold redemptions were never listed in Beckett (or other price guides), and they only have the Bill Russell autograph card out of 500 listed because Action Packed closed its doors!
The 1995 Action Packed Basketball set is a treasure in its own right as this was the only season (1994-95) these autographed Hall of Fame set cards were made (They also did a 1993 NBA set but did not have autographed redemption/insert cards). They are a very early pioneer set of trading cards that included actual hand signed autographs on the cards! The hobby manufacturers did not do many hand signed trading cards back before this set from other trading card manufactures and from the other sports. To this day, collectors still collect these cards because the style and way the cards were designed as well as being an early on card auto set. They are a thicker card and have a lot of different grooves/bumps and dimension (thus a 3D effect) on the cards as many parts on the card are raised above the base of the card.
In regard to the base cards in the set, all of them have facsimile signatures on the cards of the person depicted on the card.... but not so on the hand signed autograph cards. The actual true hand signed authentic cards from the set do not have any facsimile signatures on the cards so that the only autographs appearing on the card are the authentic hand signed ones directly from Action Packed which is what we have here pictured in this listing (no facsimile signature on this card).
AUTOGRAPH AUTHENTICITY: To guarantee the signature is authentic (and keep this card in Mint condition), this item has been certified authentic by one of the most reputable and recognized authenticators in the business today, Beckett Authentication Services. This item has been encapsulated by Beckett to protect it from negative environmental factors and to give it a permanent case that also has the information about authenticity of this exact card guaranteeing this is the real thing. You can verify this certificate and the item's authenticity by heading to their online database, entering this item's authentication number as shown on the metal portion of the Beckett capsule which is available 24/7/365!