Rafer Johnson (1934-2020) 1991 Impel Autographed US Olympics Decathlon Gold Card

Description

From the Limited Edition 1991 Impel U.S. Olympic Cards
Decathlon Gold
Set of 5 Cards (the Precursor Set to Impel's 1991 U.S. Olympic Cards
Hall of Fame
Set of 90 Cards) comes the Very Rare . . .
RAFER JOHNSON
(1934-2020)
Decathlon Gold Autograph Card #3
Embossed with:
STAMP OF AUTHENTICITY
U S A [and the five Olympic Rings]
US OLYMPICARDS
In 1991, Impel issued a five card set, entitled: "U.S. Olympic Cards Decathlon Gold," to honor the five living winners of the Olympic Decathlon champions (Bob Mathias, Milt Campbell, Rafer Johnson, Bill Toomey and Bruce Jenner). The Decathlon Gold set was an advance set to promote Impel's widely circulated "U.S. Olympic Cards Hall of Fame" set of 90 basic cards issued later in the year (1991). The Decathlon Gold's five player cards had different pictures and other differing features from those of the Olympians' cards in the later issued Hall of Fame set.
A special feature of the Decathlon Gold set was that Impel had placed a very few autograph cards within its test Decathlon Gold set packs. To tell these autograph set cards from regular cards of the set that someone might be able to get a Decathlon champ to sign, Impel embossed its certificate of authenticity on the card as a fancy seal that read: "STAMP OF AUTHORITY / U.S.A. [with the five Olympic Rings logo below] / US OLYMPICARDS." The scarceness of these certified cards, and the popularity of collecting autographs, led many to use the basic unautographed cards to get them autographed on their own. Those though are not the actual autographed cards issued by Impel. It is extremely difficult to find the autographed cards issued with the Impel's embossing, though it appears Bruce Jenner's is the most common.
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