Book It, Buzz: Landing more Olympian ink for a bargain price

For years now, autographed books coming direct from the publishers -- or direct from the authors themselves -- have been an affordable way to collect ink from notable names in all realms of pop culture.

It's not a perfect system with stamped autos, fakes and autopens sometimes in the mix -- a problem for publishers to catch as they are not authenticators -- but thanks to dedicated collectors on the Blowout Cards Forum and elsewhere, those problems often get caught and fixed ... or at least become well-known enough to avoid if it's an issue that goes uncorrected.

Getting ink in-person is always best -- book tours still happen, of course -- but landing autographed editions from publishers, online sellers or celebs themselves via their websites or other appearances are common.

Our latest subject and autograph in this ongoing series? Winter Olympic Games veteran Lindsey Vonn.

THE RUNDOWN ... 
The Book: Rise: My Story (autographed edition via publisher)
The Author: Lindsey Vonn
The Specs: Dey Street Books -- released on Jan. 11, 2022 (336 pages)
The Price: $14.49 on sale ($28.99 cover price)
The Spot: Books-A-Million for this one (no longer available)

Why it’s Buzz-worthy: With the Olympics here, I figured another Olympian would be of note -- but this time it's a Winter Olympian who people should know after her 82 World Cup victories, 20 World Cup titles, seven World Championships and a trio of Olympic medals in the skiing realm. She's had a lot of cardboard -- and in some past releases her own insert sets -- with plenty of autographs in play, but perhaps not at the biggest volumes, which can keep her pricier than others even with more overall cardboard to hunt. I'd never bothered to chase one as Olympic ink has fallen off my collecting radar a bit over the years -- I used to do them heavily TTM long ago -- but this was found at a price that worked.

Why this item: Ultimately, this addition was all about price for me. The cheapest autographed card at one place where I grab stuff was $90 and others ranged from $100-plus up to $300. Over on eBay, cards with asking prices are typically around $80 and up, while pages from this exact book cut and put into PSA slabs started at $99. (Go figure.) Slabbed certified autos can have asking prices up to $1,000 while she's also a name where stuff that's signed but not certified might not be real. Actual sales on her stuff looks like ink typically is $60 and up and signed copies of this same book have old for around that mark, too. (This pick-up was early this year as part of a big sale from the chain.)

Chase ink on cards: Vonn's got appearances in a number of Olympic and multi-sports releases over the years with more than 50 different auto cards out there and a few hundred card appearances overall. She's got ink in 2013 and 2018 Topps Allen & Ginter, 2017 Topps Transcendent Collection MLB, 2014 and 2016 Goodwin Champions and then the 2014 and 2018 Topps Winter Olympic releases for starters.

The Bottom Line: Her autographed cards can be pricey, so this is an option people can find. Simple as that.

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Follow Buzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz or send email to BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com. 

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