1979 Hostess Dale Murphy Panel Brown Letter Proof
 

So I have a full panel of the 1979 Murphy Hostess brown letter proof. The back is printed with brown letters and the front of the panel has the printer “asterisk” (for lack of a better word) between the individual cards.

I can’t find any “brown letter proofs” listed in the PSA or SGC population reports. Has anyone ever seen this type of Hostess panel before? The person I bought it from said he had only seen/had two of these in his life and he sold both of them. I’m curious if the brown letter proof panel would be recognized by the grading companies and labeled as such? I did send an email to SGC today.

I originally created this same post in another forum thread but was advised to move it here.

Welcome to the board. They are probably more of a test card rather than proofs. The printer, I am told was experimenting with different color inks as early as the 75 issue. I have not had any of my brown ink cards graded. Brown ink variations are probably the rarest issue of any players card, including the 75 Brett

Lets assume both SGC and PSA would both label this panel as a BROWN LETTER PROOF/TEST - who would you advise me to use for grading/authentication purposes?

I would also probably be sending an 88 TOPPS CLOTH Murphy.

For my 1976 Hostess panel PSA set I have tried before to have PSA make a distinction for the regular issued brown backs and they would not do it.

Would they grade it Auth? Or give it any grade?

They graded them with an assigned number. They just didn't make a distinction of it being a brown back.

I prefer PSA for grading, given the assumptions you outlined

Murphy Hostess Panel
 

I have a brown letter back 79 Hostess panel. It is probably the other one that this guy sold.
I have not sent it to PSA but was advised by a collector that grades many cards including Hostess boxes and panels that they will most likely not put a brown back label on it.
From my understanding, many hostess panels had brown letters from different years depending on the type of hostess product and the year but this specific Murphy panel did not.
Cool item though!
Michael

Hey Mike. You and I have communicated on TCDB within the last year. I owe you a follow-up email on that site. Life’s been busy! You and I were talking Murphy dupes for trade.