Little advice on a Frank Thomas NNOF

[brob28]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

I do not usaually collect graded cards but I got this one a bunch of years ago for $ 400. I hope Bill is right about current prices

I think you're fine with that purchase Al. I just recently saw some 3's and 4's go for more than that on ebay.

[Iron_man]

Thanks everyone for the input and wow a PSA 8 for 400 well done!!! Makes me wonder if this card is in a bubble or just really growing in popularity. Seems like the prices have risen over the last couple of years. So is buying now buying at the top of the market or does it have room to grow? Hmmm makes this a tougher decision to make.

[Beatles Guy]

I think it's peaked because of Thomas making The Hall. Just my opinion though.

[brob28]

I've been watching these for about the past 6 years and have not noticed any price run-up due to his HOF induction. I think this is because he does have a non- error rookie card as well as Bowman and Fleer options. I believe most collectors will simply buy the regular versions as opposed to spending into 4 figures for the NNOF version. I also think his induction was a certainty so HOF collectors had ample time to pick one up. These cards are not easy to come by as Topps fixed this error early in production.

[ALR-bishop]

I think the thread on CU makes it pretty clear that the defect involved on thenThomas card affected multiple cards. Somewhere in that thread there is a complete list of the cards and even a diagram of the object that apparently blocked the ink off those cards, and it was fairly large.

There is a discussion in another thread here, actually several over time, of what is or is not a variation. One leg of that would be whether something like this was "an intentional change", or a recurring print defect on some print runs, lile the Herrer and Bakep.

Did this error occur on the first print runs of the affected sheet, get noticed, and then was "corrected". Or did it it occur in later runs and then corrected. Does it even matter ? Likely not in this case since the hobby treats it as a variation. And for me, under my personal definition of a variation, it does fit, since it surely looks like someone intentionally intervened in the print process to correct it.

Another example of this type of variant would be the 82 blackless cards. They are listed as a set and not as variations in The SCD Standard Catalog. But they are the same as the regular 82 cards except they lack the black ink. The cards can also be found with grey where the black should have been as the ink ran out. Like the Thomas, the cards were distributed in packs and are scarce. Did someone notice that the black ink ran out and "fix" the problem, or was it not noticed and the ink simply refilled in the normal process. And does it matter for purposes of classification

The Blackless cards are recognized by SCD, but not, as far a I know by PSA. Not sure about Beckett. In that sense they may be like the 62 green tints that are recognized by SCD, but not PSA, and maybe for similar reasons, since there are many cards where they are in transition with grey of faint hints of black, and overall hard to spot without close inspection

I need to stop thinking about this stuff

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

The Blackless cards are recognized by SCD, but not, as far a I know by PSA. Not sure about Beckett. In that sense they may be like the 62 green tints that are recognized by SCD, but not PSA, and maybe for similar reasons, since there are many cards where they are in transition with grey of faint hints of black, and overall hard to spot without close inspection

Al, I think PSA must have recently started recognizing both the 62 GTs and 82 blackless, as there are some examples listed on ebay with "Green Tint" and "Blackless" noted on the flip.

[brob28]

Yes PSA has started recognizing GT's they are clearly still learning and miss-identify quite a few that I have seen. Al, I think there are around 14 1990 cards that were affected by the missing black ink, but (as fate would have it) the one that has the most dramatic change is the Thomas card. Most just have a bit of the black outlines missing, none have the player name missing except Thomas (99% sure of that but memory is not what it once was). If you google Thomas NNOF there are some great threads including one where as you pointed out someone has tried to re-create the card placement on the sheet...

BTW - don't stop, this is Variation-Hound fun!