The 2006 Topps Baseball set had everything collectors had come to expect from the yearly release. Issued in two series, the 659-card set included a base set, inserts, serial-numbered variants and relics.
And, of course, subsets featuring cut signatures from signers of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution.
Seriously.
One of the rare 1/1 cut signatures from Declaration signer Richard Henry Lee is up for bid at RR Auctions, with an estimate of $500. It will be the first authenticated card from the cut auto set to sell publicly since 2023, when the Ben Franklin card, graded PSA 9, sold for nearly $40,000.
Within the 2006 Topps Baseball set was a 56-card run featuring each signer of the Declaration of Independence. The hobby odds for these cards were 1:8.
Then there were the Cut Signature 1/1s. Each card featured a cut signature from a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Though only 50 of the 56 were included. Why? There was no Button Gwinnett, a relatively obscure politician who died just a year after signed the Declaration in a duel. Gwinnett ranks as the most expensive autograph of any Declaration signer. Only around 50 of his signatures are known to exist, with one selling for $722,500 in 2010.
The 56th cut auto 1/1 was instead given to King George III. Thomas Lynch was left out for similar reasons, as his signature is possibly as rare as Gwinnetts, with one clearing $210,000 at auction. Others not included were the other rarest signers: Arthur Middleton, George Taylor and Thomas Nelson Jr.
The Constitution set boasted 1/1 cut autos from signers including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, too.
PSA has only graded 18 autos from the Declaration set, including Franklin, John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. Missing from the PSA census are Washington and John Adams, among others.
In addition to the top sale of $40,000 for the Franklin auto, top sales include $11,250 for the Jefferson and $3,480 for the Hancock.
A Blowout forum thread started in 2011 by a user called Onlycuautos (and active for a decade after) includes images of all the 1/1s that had been graded or otherwise surfaced publicly. In 2014, 19 had been uncovered.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.