-40%

SSP RC Max Verstappen 2016 Racing Motorsport Greek F1 Sticker Rookie Blank Back

$ 262.95

  • Collection: 2016 Motorsport Racing (Bonus Redemption)
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: Greece
  • Features: Exclusive, Limited Edition, Redemption
  • Finish: Regular
  • Language: Greek
  • League: Formula 1
  • Manufacturer: Unbranded
  • Material: Paper
  • Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
  • Player/Athlete: Max Verstappen
  • Season: 2016
  • Sport: Racing-Formula 1
  • Sticker Condition: Near Mint or Better
  • Sticker Length: 3.25 in
  • Sticker Number: NNO
  • Sticker State: Non-stuck
  • Sticker Subject: Player Portrait
  • Sticker Width: 2.5 inches
  • Team: Red Bull
  • Year Manufactured: 2016

Description

SSP RC Max Verstappen 2016 Racing Motorsport Greek F1 Sticker Rookie Blank Back This is one of the rarest Max Verstappen rookies in existence...and also one of the most mysterious. This sticker from 2016 was part of a special bonus offer from Greek magazine Racing Motorsport. The magazine's various issues contained stickers and cards that could be cut out from within the magazine itself. Bur for this special sticker, you had to send away for it by mail with a special redemption offer from the magazine. It is VERY thin (20 point or less), much thinner than typical card stock, and it feels/looks like paper stock. This rookie sticker predates the 2016 Top Trumps "true rookie" card. There is only one earlier production that features Max Verstappen as an F1 driver that I know of, and that is the 2015 Golden Shop Top Speed Sticker (also a Greek sticker), of which there are only two known graded copies: a PSA 5 that sold for $3721 auction and a PSA 6 that sold for $4500 a short time before. Full disclosure: As this was part of a special redemption from another country almost a decade ago, I cannot promise that reputable grading companies like PSA or BGS or SGC will know enough about it to issue a grade for it; the same may be true for eBay's Authenticity program. I am sharing all I know about the card, which admittedly is not a whole lot. I also want to share the following based on my own lengthy due diligence: 1) The Red Bull suit that Max is wearing is for sure the one he wore in 2016. It took me a while to verify this, as some changes to the suit over the years were quite subtle, and finding other dated images in order to definitively photo-match this one to 2016 was a challenge. But it's 100% the real deal. 2) I purchased two of these cards from a reputable source in Greece. I have engaged in extensive discussion with him about this card (and others in his collection), and the limited information I have comes from a multi-decade collector and expert on rare Greek collectibles. I have been buying and selling cards full-time for five years, and I vet people and cards for a living (from both sides of transactions). I would not have acquired a second card if I had any concerns whatsoever about its provenance. 3) I compared my two copies side by side under magnification and determined that my two stickers were not "printed out" by an individual, were not hand-cut, were not reproductions of an original, and had not been altered to look a certain way in order to "pass muster" as something from a decade ago.