Question about 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken Whiteout

[kemdawg]

I have a question about the 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken Whiteout card. Does the whiteout portion on the knob of the bat have print dots on it? Reason I ask, is I picked one up, and looked at it with my loupe and there are no print dots on it. Just wondering if I picked up a doctored version of the card. I'm posting a picture, but the quality isn't the greatest.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by kemdawg

I have a question about the 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken Whiteout card. Does the whiteout portion on the knob of the bat have print dots on it? Reason I ask, is I picked one up, and looked at it with my loupe and there are no print dots on it. Just wondering if I picked up a doctored version of the card. I'm posting a picture, but the quality isn't the greatest.

I will give you my honest opinion from someone who has collected 89 Fleer Ripkens for 30 years.

THEY(whiteouts) ARE ALL FAKE, this includes every one in a graded slab.

I personally have opened cases of 89 Fleer and never seen one. I know most of the major collectors/sellers of 89 Fleer Ripkens and have never had a single person say they pulled one from a pack, except one seller that was really making them.

They are altered by either removing the colored ink or adding white paint.

[jp1216]

Whiteouts - real or not? It's been asked a million times.

I have little doubt that there were 'whiteout' cards created by Fleer employees that entered the market. But I think these could've been individual creations by workers - post production. True? Who knows. Were workers told to create variations to drive interest? Did workers make creations to sell on the outside? People were paying $$ for factory scraps.

Before the internet, rumors spread about a 'whiteout' or 'white scratch' version. Beckett first coined it the 'White Scribble'. Many believe this to be the real 'whiteout'. Pictures weren't as easy to share back then. I'm sure that many, many people made up there own 'whiteout' versions to sell/collect.

There is a chance that Fleer did make a real 'whiteout' but it is so rare that either we haven't seen yet or we couldn't recognize them amidst all of the bogus crap out there. Tons of crap.

Here is a set of 'Whiteout' progressive proofs. These aren't the same as the legitimate 'White Scribble' version. Maybe a real version that just hasn't surfaced yet or is ultra rare? Remember - there are other confirmed versions out there that only have a few examples known. Maybe real 'whiteouts' are somewhere yet to be found.



That being said - it's safe to say that at least 99% of 'graded' whiteout cards are either homemade creations by fraudsters or post production creations by Fleer. Likely the first. Buyer beware. The number of newly graded examples is alarming. Too easy to turn a 50 cent card into $200.

Also note that until a few years ago, PSA didn't differentiate between 'whiteouts' and 'white scribbles' on their flips. That makes their POP reports way off.

Happy Hunting.

[kemdawg]

This is incredibly interesting. I had no idea there was even controversy around the card. It makes sense though.

So, it seems that whether or not these are real, there would not be print dots on the white portion. Is that correct? I would have thought that would be an easy tell-tale sign, but it sounds like that's not the case.

[jp1216]

I agree. You'd think that a card that goes through the regular print process would have the normal print dot patterns. No dots would be a sign of a post production creation, right? Not saying they didn't come from Fleer - but created after they came off the printer.

BTW - this thread is located in the BST section. Maybe it should be moved.

[kemdawg]

Originally Posted by jp1216

BTW - this thread is located in the BST section. Maybe it should be moved.

Oh, you're right. Am I able to move it?