Unofficial/unlicensed trading cards – Collect or Not Collect?

Some very rare football cards recently appeared on Ebay, which generated considerable interest among card collectors. The cards advertised were “homemade cards” under the name of Adidas Dragon Productions 1999, and featured single cards of Leigh Matthews Bob Skilton, Doug Wade, Wayne Richardson Ted Whitten and Kevin Heath.   The six cards sold for prices varying between $55 and $127.  Clearly, these unofficial cards were most likely made and printed using a home computer (not convinced they were actually made in Taiwan).  My research indicated that two different sets of cards were produced by Dragon Productions in late 1999.  The complete listing of cards in each of the two sets are as follows:

1999 Dragon Productions – Adidas Dragon Productions Rarity 10 (Unrecorded)

This series of 29 homemade cards, produced in 1999, show reproductions of posters featuring VFL players that appeared in the Football Life magazines from the period June 1969 to September 1975.  The card issue is very limited and was probably issued in breach of copyright, which may explain the scarcity and resulting rarity rating of 10.  The cards were printed on a home computer, cut, and sold at card fairs. There were approximately 20 sets produced. They are not an official card issue.

It should be noted that Barry Davis appears on two cards; being number 5 (July 1969 Football Life Magazine reference on rear of card) and number 29 (September 1972 Football Life Magazine reference on rear of card).  Kevin Murray also appeared on two cards; being number 6 (August 1969 Football Life Magazine reference on rear of card) and number 9 (October1972 Football Life Magazine reference on rear of card).  

1999 Dragon Productions – VFL Player Caricature Dragon Productions Rarity 7 (Unrecorded)

This series of 16 homemade cards, produced in 1999, show reproductions of the John Rogers caricatures that appeared in the Footy Life magazines from the period June 1969 to September 1975.  William Ellis Green (known as WEG) and John Rogers (a Victoria Police identikit artist) were two of the most prolific and well-known newspaper political and sporting cartoon artists in Melbourne during the period from 1950 to 2010.  The card issue is very limited and was probably issued in breach of copyright, which may explain the scarcity and resulting rarity rating of 7.  The cards were printed on a home computer, cut, and sold at card fairs. There were approximately 20 sets produced. They are not an official card issue.

Clearly these cards were not an official “licensed” product.  That being said, there were an abundance of trading cards printed going back to the start of the twentieth century, by companies and small businesses to promote their products.  Many of those card issues are now highly sought after by eager collectors.  Even today, there are lots of AFL football cards being printed and produced which are not official products endorsed or licensed by the AFL. Whether these products potentially breach copyright or not, it does not appear to deter card or memorabilia collectors from acquiring such items in furtherance of their passion.  I would be interested in the views of others about the efficacy of collecting cards like the ones produced by “Dragon Productions”.