Desert Shield

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by 4reals

I've looked into it quite extensively myself. As a Dodgers collector I have particular interest in the Valenzuela #80 card. I will say this...DO NOT trust the PSA pop report. Based on it there are many err/corr variations within the DS set and all I've seen are cards with mislabeled slabs. Aside from the Fernando card, the McGwire correct variation (.618) has been notoriously subject to this.

Joe,

Are you suggesting you have not seen "any" or "many" error cards with the corresponding corrections? I believe you are stating you have only seen either the error or corrected card, but not both. If that is the case, I tend to agree with you. I have gone through approx. 2,000 Desert Shield cards and have not been able to confirm any of the noted error cards AND the corrected cards. I am not saying they don't exist - just that if they exist, they must be rare.

The only card I have been able to find with an error /corrected version is card #685 (Doug Drabek) - which actually is more of a printing variation than an error. The card (see below) has a "black" border and a "gray" border. Further the card has a different shade of gray banner behind the "Pirates" name on the front of the card. The differences are significant when you compare the card side-by-side.

Additionally, I was able to acquire 11 uncut full sheets of Desert Shield cards showing sheets A-F, with 2 copies of most sheets. Sheet F has the checklists - which believe it or not - has checklists without foil stamped logo's. The checklists were in the middle of the sheet, bottom row. Two of the checklists (#131 & #656) are consistent with the other cards I have checked and show only the Bradley & Polacios variations. I was surprised to find actual unstamped checklists on the actual sheets. I always thought checklists were just normal 1991 Topps cards replete with error & corrected information. If anyone is interested I will post pics of the sheets.

I will also post a list of the known variations identified in the 1991 set (excluding printer's mistakes) that I have checked in the next post, which were compiled from several sources.