Autographed Gateway Cachets

Silk Cachets from Gateway Stamp Company
Even though we are a "stamp company," we have seldom dealt in stamps, even though that was our original plan. Instead, you are being introduced to one of the world's most unique and best kept secrets in autograph collecting. Gateway has combined the very best in art, color photographs, history and personal autographs, resulting in fantastic full-color silk cachet envelopes, providing joyous memories and value to thousands of customers.

Gateway's vast list of clients began with Cardinals Hall of Famer Lou Brock. Gateway created a set of envelopes postmarked in the city where he tied and broke Ty Cobb's all-time stolen base record, which was to be only a one-time idea. Gateway asked Lou to sign only 100 envelopes, but he countered our proposal with the offer to sign 2,500. When advertised in THE SPORTING NEWS, Gateway's full-color silk cachet envelopes postmarked August 29, 1977, in San Diego, CA, and personally AUTOGRAPHED by Lou Brock, became an immediate smash. Discovered quite by accident, the response to our first issue taught us that sports and autograph collectors around the United States were receptive to a new form of art, history and collectibility - the full-color silk cachet envelope.

WHAT ARE FULL-COLOR SILK CACHETS?
The dictionary defines "cachet" as a message or design on an envelope marking a postal event. In our case, "full-color silk" refers to the very delicate material into which the very finest in original art and photography are printed, bringing to life the whole purpose of the envelope. Once printed, each silk is applied BY HAND very carefully and lovingly. In essence, every cachet becomes a hand crafted work of art. Our artists are among the world's best portrayers of human likeness, combined with endless background imagination.

Most Gateway silks are actual game photographs. Being in the right place at the right time, Gateway has captured hundreds of record-breaking events and memorable moments, including no-hitters, historic swings of the bat, such as Pete Rose's all-time hit record, Reggie Jackson's 500th home run, and Kirk Gibson's climactic 1988 World Series homer. Full-color action photos preserve and deliver the real sense of history, along with the fluid writing skill of Gateway's editors.

WHY POSTMARKS?
The key to EVERY Gateway project is the postmark. As avid stamp collectors, we can tell anyone THE BEST WAY TO MARK A DATE IN HISTORY IS WITH A POSTMARK. In order to capture any date in history, our stamped envelopes MUST be in Postal Service hands by MIDNIGHT of the date involved, or we forever lose access to the all-important postmark. Required to reach a city's post office before midnight, some, especially no-hitters, we missed. Sometimes short notice has restricted our ability to acquire sufficient numbers of postmarks to satisfy every customer, resulting in true scarcities and some exciting auctions. Not only are postmarks the most official means of dating a Gateway envelope, the rules governing the granting of postmarks GUARANTEE that NO Gateway issue can EVER be reproduced, reprinted, or re-issued in any way.

WHAT ABOUT PRICES AND VALUES?
We introduce every new product at moderate introductory prices to enable our dedicated customers to afford not just ONE but EVERY Gateway envelope, thus creating a long and fabulous collection of personally autographed records of the last twenty years' most important sporting events. We love to see our $24.95 products eventually rise in value to hundreds of dollars IN THE HANDS OF OUR CUSTOMERS. Once an original issue of 500 - 1,500 sells out, we have NO CONTROL over the secondary market.

The Topps 1968 "Baseball Action Stickers" set consists of 16 numbered 3-part vertical sticker panel strips containing individually removable, die-cut stickers; loaded with stars like Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Clemente, Seaver (2nd year), Yastrzemski ... While there are (16) different three-panel stickers in the set, only 12 contain totally different panels. Stickers #13 thru #16 mix and matched previously used panels making 36 different panels, not 48.

Each strip (15 3/4" tall and 3 1/4" wide) was made up of three 3 1/4 x 5 1/4 inch panels, perforated at the joints for separation. Each three-panel strip featured a large image of a star player in the center panel, with smaller pictures of three players on the top and bottom panels. Facsimile autographs accompanied the large sticker and some, but not all of the smaller stickers. The manila-colored, peel-able back is blank-backed. The full strip was folded along the 2 perforations and inserted into it's pack.

Sold in 1-sticker packs in 1968 with 12 packs per box; at ten cents a pack, sets could be put together for just $1.60. Today, if you could find them, a mid four figures or more would be needed to build a set. Today a complete 3-panel sticker with Mantle in the center commands up to $2,000 alone.

Complete strips with the 3-panels still attached are so scarce and fragile AND EXPENSIVE that collectors usually collect individual panels and the grading companies including PSA grade the individual panels. The single panels themselves are quite scarce and in the 23 years PSA has been around they have graded just over 200 of them TOTAL. That's less than 9 per year !!! The pop report is on the average of only 4 to 5 of each individual panel !!! To put that into perspective, PSA has graded 1,132 1952 Topps Mickey Mantles !!! Collectors who understand the concept of supply and demand know how cool these are and if you pass them by, it might be awhile before they pass by again.

Proofs without the perforations have shown up over the years, usually from the Topps vault sale. Note - this proof sheet is missing the facsimile autographs.