One of the first things that alerted me to the fact that not everybody had autographed their Pro Line football cards was some information I got in a catalog in 1993. It was from Paul & Judy’s Coins & Cards of Arcola, Ill.
A section of their catalog was dedicated to players who had not signed their cards and was titled “Missing in action: just too busy to be bothered.” Awesome. They warned their customers, “Don’t expect to find any of the following autographed cards in your wax packs … or anywhere else, for that matter.” And then they listed the following cards:
Fred Biletnikoff
Al Davis: Joseph C., a reader of the site, is nearly finished with the entire set of signed, embossed cards. He says he’s never seen the Al Davis.
Dennis Green
Frank Gifford (with the warning “Watch out for some that were rubber-stamped with ‘facsimile’ autograph.”)
Kathie Lee Gifford
Gifford Family
Joe Gibbs (“Race Car Card”)
James Hasty
Mark Rypien
Anthony Smith
Richard Todd
Eric Dickerson (#5 Profiles)
Jim Everett (all nine Profiles)
Jack Kemp (all nine Profiles)
Chris Miller (all nine Profiles)
Jerry Rice (#1, 2, 3, 4 Profiles)
Mark Rypien (all nine Profiles)
Deion Sanders (all nine Profiles)
Sterling Sharpe (#4 Profiles; they said, “This card was signed, but autograph ‘defective.’)
Bruce Smith (#5 Profiles; they said, “He didn’t like card.”)
Pat Swilling (#7 profiles)
Vinny Testaverde (#2, 4 Profiles; “Signed, but ‘defective.’)
The problem with this list is that it’s not accurate. At the time, it was a nice warning that not every card was gonna be out there. But Testaverde, for example, signed all his cards. I’m not sure what they meant by “defective.” Did the card not bring joy to whoever pulled it out of a pack?
But clearly, Vinny signed all nine cards.
The following is my best information on the Paul & Judy’s list:
Fred Biletnikoff: SIGNED
Al Davis: SIGNED (according to Beckett.com)
Dennis Green: SIGNED. I have seen this card for sale on eBay. I had a cow when I did, but I was outbid. It was sometime around 2000, and I can’t remember how much it sold for. It had the embossed seal. I have not seen one since.
Frank Gifford: SIGNED, although some may be by a rubber stamp. I have seen stamped, certified, autographed Frank Gifford cards, but I’m not enough of an expert to know if it was a rubber stamp. It looked good to me. But this brings up a question about rubber-stamped Pro Line autographs. They’re less desirable to some folks, but does having a rubber-stamped Pro Line not meet the criteria for having that card if you’re trying to compile the whole set? I know Jim Kelly rubber-stamped many of the 1991 cards. So does having one of those mean you really don’t have the card? We’ll discuss this at some other date.
Kathie Lee Gifford: I don’t know
Gifford Family: I don’t know
Joe Gibbs (“Race Car Card”): I don’t know
James Hasty: I don’t know
Mark Rypien: SIGNED.
Anthony Smith: I don’t know
Richard Todd: I don’t know
Eric Dickerson 5: I don’t know
Jim Everett, all nine cards: SIGNED
Jim Everett supercollector Geoff (see comment below) has found all nine of the Everett Profiles cards that are signed with the embossed seal.
Jack Kemp (all nine profiles): I am told that Kemp did sign some of these. They do exist, but in extremely low numbers.
Chris Miller (all nine profiles): I don’t know
Jerry Rice Profiles: SIGNED. I have seen all nine of these signed with the regular certified seal. I have one with the regular seal, and I have all nine autographed with the seal from the National convention.
Mark Rypien all nine Profiles: SIGNED (according to Jayson Morand)
Deion Sanders: SIGNED (see photo of #3 at top). A reader of blog offered to sell me the entire nine-card set that was embossed and signed. This was years ago (I’m updating this in 2024, shortly after the end of his first season as coach at the University of Colorado), and he was asking $60 for the full set. Ahh, hindsight.
Sterling Sharpe 4: SIGNED
Bruce Smith 5: I don’t know
Pat Swilling 7: I don’t know.
Vinny Testaverde 2, 4: SIGNED
(By “I don’t know, I mean I’ve never seen it and have no reason to doubt Paul & Judy’s information. By “SIGNED,” I mean I have visual verification that a signed, embossed card does exist, and in some cases I own them.)
Certified Pro Line Autographs 
Was the Frank Gifford card ever signed?
yes, the certified, stamped Frank Gifford card does exist. i’ll do a post about it as soon as i can. also, the stamped, certified Jack Kemp appears to exist as well. BOTH ARE VERY RARE.
I am probably the only Jim Everett supercollector on the planet and have been chasing his stuff for well over two decades. I have multiple copies of each of his ’92 Pro Line autos EXCEPT #2 (Jim in his high school uniform). I’ve never seen one (although I keep looking). I’m beginning to wonder if they were ever signed (although can’t imagine why only 1 of the 9 were not signed).
Also, I’ve found #7 and #9 with two embossed stamps. The typical stamp in lower right corner, but an additional “SB” (ScoreBoard) stamp in the lower left corner. I’m thinking leftover stock was randomly inserted into ScoreBoard product later in the decade. Note that I’ve only found the two, and only one copy of each version. I don’t know if they’ve surfaced for other players in the original ’92 ProLine set.
Anyway, just wanted to give ya some info for the Everett ‘update’ above.
Just an update…….I managed to finally find the #2/9 Everett auto. So, all 9 were, in fact, signed. The quest for the dual embossed (SB LOWER LEFT) continues. I’ve found a third, but the other 6 elude me.
I have a Mrs. Santa signed card with a Santa signed picture. I have researched this for a while and found only one other. Do you have any information on this card
Here’s a link to a post just about the Mrs. Claus card that has Santa’s autograph on the photo: https://bcn33rs.wordpress.com/2011/12/27/another-mrs-claus-variant/
I have a 1992 Pro Line Portraits Deion Sanders signed #359 (however there’s no number on mine). Every other one that I’ve seen is typically signed very small in the lower left hand corner. Mine has a large signature across the back and is numbered 14/300. I’ve only seen one other one and there isn’t any information as to if it’s a special card. Here’s a link to the auction (https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/deion-sanders-1992-falcons-pro-line-1922850661). Does anyone have any information on this?
the only thing unusual i see about your card is that it is hand numbered to 300. normally the ones that don’t have the number are legit. the lack of a number initially was one of the safeguards from pro line that the card was legit. the embossed seal was another marker of legitimacy. the athletes were asked to sign in the lower left corner. some followed the instructions; many didn’t.