|
Ever seen the 1989 Ripken FF Mystery card?
1 Attachment(s)
Here is one, fresh from the mailbox after a trip to PSA.
Real? Fake? Who knows?!?!?!? Either way, all around a fun card to own. |
Nice card Sean! Our friend Jerry just bought a raw one a few days ago.
|
Cool card. What's the distinguishing feature of the error card?
|
|
Other than the bad word on the knob of Billy's bat; the "Mystery Card" has a different photo crop, plus a few other key details.
Rather than have me explain it, check out: http://www.billripken.com/ Jon has a cool site that explains all the variations. The reason I love this card is because I was in grammar school when this set came out. All of my friends were selling their souls to find this card (including me). I still remember vividly when our buddy Doug showed up one day with the real deal original FF in his hand. We all drooled over it for the whole day. He wouldn't sell to any of us, or even say where he got it. He was the king of cards for probably the entire season. Now, years later, I have put together almost all of the known variations. How do you like them apples, Doug? I betcha don't have one of these! Heehee. :) |
Great pickup Sean! These 'Mystery' cards pop up about once a year. I look for the upper right Orioles logo and the trademark symbol (R) next to it. The bigger (R) catches the eye.
LINK Thanks to Ben N. for trading me another PSA graded example last year. |
Quote:
I have spent a lot of time researching this card. There are approximately 14 know copies of this variation. There are 5 graded by PSA with two 9's, two 8's and this latest 7. There is also one in a GEM Elite slab. |
I have always been in the party of those that think they are fakes printed at the height of the craze. However, PSA grading them makes it a interesting piece of collecting history, I like it!
|
The first one I ever sent to PSA, I specifically made a point to make sure they understood that this was the "Mystery Card."
They still liked it! |
Quote:
|
I will certainly admit to not holding one.
This is a card I would like to have at one point as I do enjoy errors, oddballs and test issues. This definitely falls under that category to me. The cropping with the photo and the MLB logo on the back cause me concern. Mind you, I have gained my knowledge only from scans and net research. So not holding in hand I can say nothing of paper stock or the cut. |
1989
I have not studied all the variants of this card in depth, but have gathered a few of them for my set. Given the notoriety the card received and the fierce competition for sales in those days I agree with Justin we will likely never know how many of the different cards that have surfaced over time were after the fact creations by Fleer or even others . To me they are all still fascinating and collectible as a hobby phenomena, no matter what their origin. Thanks to OP for pointing this one out
|
Quote:
I still look for rare Bill Ripken cards but not as much as before. I made a list of all known copies of this version. It shows who owns them, how many, and where they bought them. Wanted to keep my list updated if you owned one. Without digging through folders I believe there are 14-15 known copies. I know of 5 Net54 members that account for 7 of the known copies. They have all originated within about a 200 mile area of the north eastern US and I have never seen 2 from the same seller. This is a very rare and cool card and if anybody has any info they would like to share please do. If anybody has any questions I would do my best to help. |
1989 Fleer Bill Ripken Mystery card
bnorth,
I just recently became aware of the "Mystery Card" version of this card and read the detailed information on it at Jon's billripken.com site. I also recently purchased two on ebay and they are legitimate. They are being sold on ebay by a dealer named FoundTreasureIsland. I asked him how he got the cards and he said a big Bill Ripken collector friend of his had purchased them from an antique shop near where the old Fleer factory used to be and that he is the curator to sell them. He said he has been dealing with Bill Ripken error FF cards for about ten years. His rating on ebay is very high and he also has a lot of sales. I don't know how many of these cards he has but I looked at ebay's recent "Sold/Completed" items category and he has sold about 60 in the last 3 months (I also saw three from other dealers that were advertised as Mystery cards but actually were not which seems odd because the original error sells for more than what the Mystery card is selling for. I do wonder who the buyer of the "find" was and how many are actually in collector's hands. All in all just a fascinating story about a historical card that a lot of general collectors don't seem to really know about. ajs |
Quote:
|
Reply on 1989 Mystery card thread
I am aware of what the card is and isn't from reading a lot of the threads here and also reading Jon's site. I understand your position on the card and why. I doubt anyone will ever know exactly how it was produced and by who. I am aware that the find was about 1500 total cards. I am curious to know if there is general knowledge as to who the buyer of the find is and how many are known to be in circulation (which I realize is really hard to know). I don't ever intend to get it graded. I think it is a very interesting card with an fascinating story and I wanted to get a couple for my collection after I learned about it. I appreciate your response.
AJS |
I'd like to get one, but not at the 800 they're asking for a PSA9.
Really interesting card for a lot of reasons. |
Quote:
|
2 Attachment(s)
I disagree with some of the opinions on the website linked above. To me the lower photos show all the classic signs of being photographic reproductions. Fine lines not reproducing correctly is almost always a dead giveaway.
Attachment 659480 Bottom picture look at the lines that make up the oval with RBI in it and the number 15 Attachment 659481 Too many inconsistencies to even start pointing them out. Almost every fine line is jacked. |
Quote:
|
Counterfeit - no question. But who made it and why? Rarely does a 'fake' card have better qualities than the original. At the time these were first 'known' - over 25 years ago - the original FF was a $10 card.
For nearly 20 years later - only a couple dozen were known to exist. Then 1500+ were found at once - at an Antique store in Philly (think Fleer). |
Quote:
Now to why we never seen them over the years. Most junk wax cards got thrown away or completely forgotten about. Then who knows how many got sold. My guess is the "person" made them got scared after a few people noticed the difference the counterfeiter said F this and quit selling them. As to the big find I know the fine gentleman who found them and have done many deals with him. I have never asked for details. |
A fellow collector bought one of these on eBay in/around 2022. Asked the seller if he had more. Seller (antique store guy / not a card guy) said 'actually I have all of these' - and sent a photo of two mostly full 800ct boxes.
Now to fact that the current owner of said lot is selling 4-5 of these - like clock work - on eBay every week at $50 a pop. Literally 4 or 5ish a week, every week for over a year now. Legit purchases and buyers. Printing $$! When he acquired the whole lot - I figured he'd sell a few dozen or so at $50. It just continues to command that price years later. Crazy! https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_dkr...&LH_Complete=1 |
Quote:
I was with you on thinking they would become a few dollar card like the "Test Issue" fakes after the big find. I know I unloaded my hoard(around 12) as soon as I found out about the find thinking they would become worthless. |
Quote:
But, if that's what it was the screening of the gray on the back would match exactly. And it doesn't. It's more coarse and on a different angle. And it's not recreeened from an original card, if it was the screening would be messed up in many ways because the original pattern and the new pattern wouldn't match. So what the heck was that new halftone screened from? There are loads of odd things like that. I do also think it's fake, at one time I suspected a special run for HSN or something like that. But whoever did it put in a lot of effort that's not typical of fakes. |
Thanks for your input Steve! Agree 1000%.
|
1 Attachment(s)
I wonder if the difference in the gray (note the E D) matches the gray on any of the cards fleer printed to hide the obscenity ?
Anyway there’s a show in Columbia Missouri in two days I’m probably gonna go to |
2 Attachment(s)
Not a mystery card of the F&$k Face card, but a different one with an indentation band mark going through Ripkens face only on the front got this in 1989
|
Have you heard of FoundTreasureIsland (ebay)?
ajs |
1 Attachment(s)
Quote:
Here is my latest Ripken pick up I probably highly overpaid for. Has a nice little yellow circle print spot in the orange band on his sleeve. |
1989 fleer bill ripken mystery error card
I kind of thought that they were. Cool card with the circular yellow ink misprint spot. FoundTreasureIsland sells one they the call the "orange waffle" that has a similar misprint spot as yours but larger (it is on the left side of the card under his right arm). Pretty cool also. Seems like there are too many different ones to buy one of each.
ajs |
2 Attachment(s)
I wasn't aware of these counterfeit copies back when I purchased mine likely 5 or more years ago now, but looking at it right now (the scans) I assume I got lucky and purchased a real one?
|
Looks ok to me Dale.
|
Went to a fairly healthy show in Columbia yesterday , I asked around about this found treasure Island fellow - Surprisingly nobody knew what I was talking about
|
Quote:
I think it does too based on those pics/info above. |
Just higher quality fakes that are getting through the "experts" at PSA
|
| All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:15 PM. |