1968 Topps #45 Tom Seaver White Letter error
 

Had anyone out there run across one of the 1968 Topps cards 1967 All-Star Rookie cards that have the trophy in white? I vaguely remember seeing a few of these as a kid when they were new cards. I recently purchased this #45 Seaver version. Upon close inspection with a 10x jewelers loupe, it is clear that this card is not faded. It does look as if there was no yellow ink when the sheet was printed however. Anyone have any info on this?

Its not an error. Its either weak printing of the yellow plate or its sun faded.

While I haven’t seen the situation on this particular card I have seen it on many different issues across many different card companies - starting as early as the T206 issue. If I had to guess, I would venture that this was caused by sun fading. Other possibilities are weak application of ink or a missing run of the ink color or chemical treatment (which does not appear to be the case here)

The 'problem' with a card like this is, loupe or not, 99% of us will think it is, in fact, sun faded and stay away from it. Just human nature, because countless people have shown what they claim to be missing ink cards, but then people prove that they were just faded by the sun. It's sort of a no-win situation, unfortunately.