89 Upper Deck error
 

I have done some searching on this but haven't found anything about this card. Has anyone seen this or have any idea what's the deal? I probably pulled this card from a pack in 1989 and put it away until I came across it recently. http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...shy4hoiax.jpeghttp://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...shw4a1i2z.jpeg

Welp. I didn't get any immediate responses so I continued my looking around and came across this blog post.

In it, the author states: "...the 1989-1991 Upper Deck cards were often erased by unethical dealers looking to cash in the error craze. I can personally recall being warned specifically about the erased McDonald card back in 1990-91. With little effort, these cards can be erased to show a blank white area on just about any section of the cards, this makes it extremely important to be able to hold a copy and tilt it under a good light source to see if the gloss has been dulled, before purchasing."

So, I took a closer look at my card and, lo and behold, it's been erased. This was more than 25 years ago, but I absolutely do not remember buying this card (or any) at a card shop. I was strictly a kid you bought packs at the corner store.

Sorta disappointing, but such is life. Happy collecting!

Maybe some unscrupulous person at the factory tampered with it? Or maybe the ink ran low?
Can you actually see the erasure marks?

I recently (last few months) bought an 1982 card with no name from someone that has a lot of legit error cards. It seemed strange since that was the only black ink missing, but they had given me plenty of deals so I took a chance so I could see it in person. After getting it in hand I could tell it had been "erased" in the bottom area. You could see the difference in color under a black light.

This person didn't seem to have another so I let it go, but then they listed another for sale a month later and they saw what I pointed out and removed the listing and threw it away. That was my first run in with this type of alteration, especially on a "no name" player.

You can. I feel kinda idiotic for not noticing them before:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...psvd67mbp7.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...pscx0eegai.jpg

Extremely common in 1989 UD commons. I have found many in bulk junk era buys I have sorted through. Usually commons (perhaps as tests for erasability?) but also some stars. Griffey has shown up a few times for sale too.

Interesting to note that the old Beckett guides used to note in the set blurb that the illustrated team checklist cards could be found "without player's names on front" yet, the names only appear on back.

The biggest question mark is the 1990 Upper Deck Ben McDonald with white circle on front. The few times they've been offered, the seller wouldn't provide tilted pics and/or wouldn't offer refund if altered, so despite being cataloged since 1990 (Gilkeson's guide), no concrete proof as to whether they were printed without a logo or just altered.

Conversely, there exists a 1990 Gary Sheffield without his name, stats or bio info on it. Produced in larger quantities as one collector has a 100 ct box of them, IIRC. These are said to show no signs of erasing. And a major Mattingly collector has a 1991 UD Mattingly without his stats printed on back with no noticeable signs of tampering.

I would bet the Sheffield's and Mattingly cards are altered. Not only is it easy to remove the black it is very easy to regloss. There is a very specific type of gloss that is used and even if you know what to look for it is near impossible to detect.

Does anybody know anything about that odd Griffey/Bob Welch card that surfaced a few years back? Normal Griffey front but the back appeared to be the front of a Bob Welch card, really strange.

Mixed up front/backs are just printing errors and exist up until today. Nothing really special about it.

It is a printing error/scrap that should have been thrown in the trash. 99% of them are back doored out of the printing plants. They do command a premium from some player collectors and error collectors. Errors in general are kind of a fad. They get hot and cold as far as prices. When I joined Net54 T206 printing errors was the hot ticket and now not so much.

I have been bombarded with messages on my blog for over a year from a guy who owns one of these Griffey/Welch cards and I have said this same thing over and over again and he just isn't interested in hearing it. Specifically that there are a wealth of different black/white, wrong back, superimposed image, print scrap 1989 UD cards out there and while the Griffey will garner real interest, it isn't a pack-issued super rarity crazy money card. "Well I can't find a copy of this ONE so you must be wrong!" is usually his response.

And on the erased/altered UDs, I had no idea that they could be re-glossed. The Sheffield sounded legit because two separate sources had info on them and they were large in quantity. You'd think there would've been large qty forgeries of Ben McDonald, 2nd year Griffey or one of the other hot out the gate 1990 UD cards.

LOL, Dylan I know exactly what you mean, I have been an junk era error collector since the junk era and have run across many people like you describe.

I recently had a guy with a obvious home made card try to convince me it was a 1/1 prototype.:eek:

There is a special type of gloss that will only stick to the parts of the card that has been altered. It makes detecting it really hard because you don't have the normal too thick of gloss around the edges of the altered part that most gloss leaves.

Pretty sure the error in the Ben Mcdonald card was that it had an orioles logo rather than a star rookie logo.

No, there is a third version that has been catalogued since 1990 (in Dick Gilkeson's error and variation guides) that is described as having a blank white circle where either the Orioles or Star Rookie logos should be. A couple have popped up on ebay over the years but neither seller would offer a guarantee they hadn't been erased/offer a refund if so.

Interesting! Thanks for the info!

I actually remember seeing a second line in Beckett for the McDonald error card. Is that the "error" or did he have a legit one?

Oops, maybe I should have read the other postings. Ignore.