In the old days, autographed football cards were regular football cards that were signed by athlete.  The football players would sign the cards at trade shows or after the NFL games.  In most cases the value of the cards would rise because of the athlete signed the football card.  The value would really rise if the signature was on a prized rookie card.  Unfortunately, there were many unethical people that would sign the cards and sell them as official autographed football cards.

 

While many people still collect signatures from football players on football cards the card companies have helped change the authentication issues.  Upper deck was the first to introduce the DNA certified signature process.  The auto rookie cards today are more valuable than ever.  Most of the companies have a limited amount of signatures that are available on football card.  All of the major companies including Upper Deck, Fleer and Topps now have auto football cards.  The Topps Premiere Auto cards and the Playoff Contender auto cards are some of the most highly sought after cards on the market.  Whether a collector has an old card that is autographed and authenticated or a new out of the box auto card they are highly prized items in the card collecting industry.