1987 Fleer Glossy Brown backs

[Pat R]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Topps used two different stocks in its 1977 basketball set, the normal bright white and the occasional dark.

I found a similar anomaly in 1992 Topps football:



I think they just put the occasional wrong sheet of card stock into the press.

Adam, is topps printed in green/blue on the back of the darker one?

[Troy Kirk]

I had a few minutes, so I went through a box of about 1000 Fleer 1987 regular cards. I didn't find any brown ones until the last card, #660. I found another #660 and it is also brown. I don't think any of my other cards are brown. Not sure what this all means, but thought I would contribute.

[HasselhoffsCheeseburger]

Troy, thank you. That's the first brown back that isn't located on the same sheet as all the other cards. So we know it wasn't just isolated to that one sheet.

That question has been knawing at me since this thread started so I appreciate you taking the time to check your cards and post the scan, Troy.

Arthur

[insidethewrapper]

I notice that the 1st and last cards of sets at times turn brown in the boxes. Not sure what that means, didn't do well in chemistry. But I notice that a lot of my cardboard in the warehouse has faded , probably due to extreme summer and winter temperatures.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by insidethewrapper

I notice that the 1st and last cards of sets at times turn brown in the boxes. Not sure what that means, didn't do well in chemistry. But I notice that a lot of my cardboard in the warehouse has faded , probably due to extreme summer and winter temperatures.

That may be it, if the box is a really acidic one, that can transfer to the paper or cardstock next to it. It happens a pot with old envelopes that have newspaper clippings inside.

[HasselhoffsCheeseburger]

Originally Posted by insidethewrapper

I notice that the 1st and last cards of sets at times turn brown in the boxes. Not sure what that means, didn't do well in chemistry. But I notice that a lot of my cardboard in the warehouse has faded , probably due to extreme summer and winter temperatures.

This seems like the frontrunner theory so far. I'm going to see what I can do to either reinforce this or disprove it. Thanks, Mike.

Arthur

[Troy Kirk]

Here are scans of my second brown #660 along with a second #659 card. Scans shown are 150 dpi and 600 dpi.





From looking closer at my 1987 Fleer cards, it looks like they tend to brown a little from storage on the edges. (My cards are stored in 3200 count boxes). Both the white cards and the brown #660 cards have a bit darker edges.

I don't think my #660 cards are the result of edge browning, I think they were printed brown. One of them was stored at the back of a box, but the other was stored in the middle. I think the back of Al's #1 card was probably not facing the back of his box, either.

The brown stripe on the left edge of my second #659 card is interesting. My first thought on seeing it was that it was printed next to my brown #660. That brown stripe is much more pronounced than any other minor edge browning on other cards in the boxes.

My cards were originally bought by me in 1987 and ripped open from wax packs from three unopened boxes and have been in storage ever since.

[steve B]

That's acid damage from the box breaking down.

And now I know I really need to work on a storage system so I can get my cards out of boxes...