2006 Upper Deck Front Printing Plates For Card #730
How the seller was able to obtain all four plates is something of a mystery.*
However, before making my bid, I contacted Upper Deck and had them confirm that these were in fact genuine. Their Fraud Investigation Department confirmed that these are indeed the real deals. Still, I wonder how the seller got all four of 'em. <wink> ;-)

*UPDATE (10/22/06): I've noticed that there seem to be certain individual sellers (longtime dealers) that have MANY of these plates for sale. I theorize that UD sold them directly to select dealers for resale to the hobby.

1998 Donruss Preferred Precious Metals Platinum,
One of 50 Issued
This is literally made from 1 gram of 100% pure platinum.

Collector's Note: There are two other "cards" that are similar to this one. The first was the inaugural year of Donruss Preferred in 1997 - of which 100 Platinums were issued. And strangely enough the other "card" to have been produced in a similar fashion (a pressed sheet of precious metal which was then printed with color inks) was a 23K Gold phonecard issued by Ameritech in 1994. Also note that all three of these precious metal cards were printed in Japan by a division of The Mitisubishi Corporation.

1997 New Pinnacle Printing Plate For Card #197, Aura Subset
One of two issues that made history in 1997 by issuing a single "1 of 1" example for collectors. Still, I somewhat discount this issue since it's not truly a card. That dubious "honor" goes to Fleer Showcase's "Masterpieces".

Collectors Note: Each and every version of the 1997 printing plates were signed on the back by then-Pinnacle Brands CEO Jerry Meyer. There was even a wacky cash contest that ran during the year which involved collecting all four plates from any particular card/player. It's way too complicated to write out all the details here, suffice to say - not many collectors collected the Pinnacle "Plate Bounty".