Nothing off here. I’ve just been collecting these since getting back into the hobby this year. I don’t have any affiliation with the printer and had never heard of them until I saw the cards on Ebay several months ago. Thanks for researching me though. Lol. I never claimed they were licensed or made for the masses. I believe I said there were only a few hundred made of each card in a series. They were never created for sale but as giveaway samples only. He also gave them to charity auctions to raffle. That’s why you never saw them for sale in the past. The printer never sold these himself. They only started coming up for sale after the owner sold the business several years ago and only then by a third party seller not the printer. That seller bought the remaining cards and has been selling them the last few years. The quality of the printing is far superior than the handmade sporting life cards. Many of the series are just as good as the big guys. A few photos may be slightly fuzzy. They are all clearly marked and dated so as to not be confused with being an older card. I contacted the eBay seller who sells them to gather research and also the owners of the press. The owner also has a blog sharing his own history of the cards and why he started making them. There is also a great deal of info on the Monarch Corona website about these cards as well. The printer name was Miller Press but later he started another printing company called Monarch Corona. I am just a fan of the cards who has done the legwork and research to make myself more knowledgeable about them. No hidden agendas here.

The printer never created these to fool people. The guy simply saw an opportunity to use the wasted paper on press to print some cool cards that had never been made and some players who didn't have a card or many cards. He loved the hobby and wanted to pass them out as samples of his printing work. I’ll post a link to his blog so you can read all about them. I would say they are custom but not handmade. As far as the term handmade that would apply to the Sporting Life cards on Ebay as they are actually made by hand. Two pieces of printed paper mounted to a substrate and cut out by hand. The art appears weathered and the corners rounded by hand. They are intended to look old. I've dissected one out of curiosity. These Monarch cards on the other hand were printed just like the mass printed cards on a large four or six color press and machine trimmed. Just printed in very small quantities. Most are 200 or so and 500 is the largest run of any of them. Not comparative to the hand made cards mentioned.