Production Estimates / Print Run Archive

[West]

Originally Posted by JUrsaner

Appreciate all the replies!

Haven't been able to focus on this for a little bit, but just added/updated a whole bunch of sets to the list. If anyone sees any sets where they can add info - don't be nervous to jump in. If anyone has sets you'd like to see added (for instance just added some of the early Upper Deck and Zenith) feel free to say that as well. Next step is hoping to add a bunch of misc. oddball sets

Kept the 1993 Finest Refractor at /241 for now, but have noticed the issue with that one as a non-numbered set for a long time. I'll revisit it later

Some detective work from Net54 member Zach Wheat regarding 1991 Topps and Desert Shield -

"The Feb 4, 1991 issue of The Pittsburgh Gazette indicates that "...the Topps cards were issued 2 Months prior..." (so Dec 1990) and that Topps had actually planned the shipment before the war (ie Desert Storm)
began. Timing dictated that Operation Desert Shield was over almost as soon as the cards arrived. In an article in the Myrtle Beach Air Star News, Topps spokesman Timm Boyle again mentions that approximately 5,400,00 cards were produced and that the entire allotment meant for the Air Force was returned to the base at Myrtle Beach unopened. This shipment accounted for approx. 1,500,000 cards. Boyle also mentioned that the production run was approx. 6,800 for each player (my math) or approx. 1/1,000th that of normal production."


If those quoted numbers are accurate, 5.4 million cards*1000 = total press run for 1991 Topps of 5.4 billion cards. 5.4 million / 792 = 6.8 million/card in 1991.

That seems plausible to me. We have found statements from Topps representatives in the early 1990s that were possibly exaggerations or outright falsehood. When they were engaged in a lawsuit concerning a George Bush card that made its way into hobby circulation, Topps claimed that all 1990 cards were printed at Duryea when we have evidence that they were subcontracted out to a plant in Rhode Island. It may seem like semantics but I wouldn't put it past them to underestimate total press run so as to make their cards look (a little) more scarce.