What is the origin of Frank Thomas NNOF?

[lowpopper]

Has anyone ever figured out where these cards actually went to? Did they go to packs, complete sets, dealer exclusives, promotional items, retail team sets?

I only ask this because I just bought a collection from a man who was a regional manager for Friendly's in the late 80's/early 90's. I have heard "East Coast distribution" in the same breath as the Thomas No Name many times, but never and concrete examples. There are plenty of claims/stories on the internet about the origin but they will remain theories until they are proven.

Friendlies operates exclusively on the east coast, fitting into the lore.

So in this large, mostly oddball collection. I found a box of about 50 unmarked sealed packs. I opened 3 packs so far, as seen in the scan. The cards are absolutely MINT. Each pack contains 3 of the same player and a Friendly's promo contest flyer with an August expiration date.

A "collect X number of coupons" based promotion usually goes for a few months and the cards had to be made prior to the packaging. This leads me to believe the cards were produced early in the year.

Did I find what could be "IT" or am I getting excited for nothing here? Someone with some some verifiable knowledge please chime in.

[HasselhoffsCheeseburger]

I'm certainly not saying you won't find the unicorn in there but I would think that if something as specific as Friendly's packs were a reliable source we would have heard about it by now. Just rip them and find out.

Arthur

[ALR-bishop]

Greg-- if you have not seen it, there is a very long thread on the Thomas card, how it occurred, other cards impacted by the defect, and theories on distribution, on the PSA CU board. If you have not seen it I can try to post a link to it.

[HasselhoffsCheeseburger]

Here it is.

https://forums.collectors.com/discus...o-my-theory/p1

[ALR-bishop]

Thank you, Sir Arthur

[WillBBC]

It's a long read but it's one of the most enjoyable card related threads I've ever followed closely. Definitely worth the time!

[Davidlisa]

There are many theories as to how these cards were made including the information on the PSA website. That one makes a lot of sense but it is only a very good theory. I know these come from wax packs at least, I don't know about anything else. I don't remember the year but I saw a NNOF pulled out of a pack at at the National, I think it was in Cleveland. Since this is the same year as the George Bush cards, I wonder if there is more to the story, anyway, great card.

[HalfNipponese]

I found 9 of these cards in a shoe box this weekend. Is it worth the money to get these graded. PSA said it would be about $75 per card. Is that normal for these? Thanks for the advise.

I pulled these card from rack packs back in 1990. My friend got the NNOF Thomas and I got these. I remember the day vividly as I was pissed that my packs had a bunch of "printing errors" on them. They went into the shoe box 30 years ago and were just uncovered this Sunday making room in a closet.

[HalfNipponese]

I struck gold again. Just found the Fred McGriff card. I’m up to a nice even 10.