1989 Fleer Randy Johnson #381 Marlboro Errors - 30 Years Later

[Athos01]

Hi Ben, as I was mostly trying to open early runs, I mostly stayed away from the later print runs (if codes were known). I know I hit many Boggs, but I did not really place them aside as he wasn't someone I was looking for. Certainly, they are far scarcer without the print dot than with, but I know I have many of them sitting somewhere in my common bins. The same applies to Kevin Romine - his card was corrected very late in the print run, so there are far fewer corrected Romine's available than the original error showing Randy Kutcher batting.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Athos01

Hi Ben, as I was mostly trying to open early runs, I mostly stayed away from the later print runs (if codes were known). I know I hit many Boggs, but I did not really place them aside as he wasn't someone I was looking for. Certainly, they are far scarcer without the print dot than with, but I know I have many of them sitting somewhere in my common bins. The same applies to Kevin Romine - his card was corrected very late in the print run, so there are far fewer corrected Romine's available than the original error showing Randy Kutcher batting.

If you ever run across them please remember me.

[Athos01]

I most definitely will Ben, now that I know you're looking for these.

[Hatorade]

Originally Posted by steve5838

In person the background of the clear sign has a patchwork of subtle colors in it. It reminds me of some of the old laptop screens or even TVs. I agree there is some light distortion but believe it was part of the original photo of RJ in front of the sign and not after-the-fact tint. Maybe it has to do with the refresh rates of the older electronic billboard signage. I remember as a kid trying to take pictures of things on a TV or laptop and the pictures would show up with these strange color streams. This reminds me of that. To my eyes there is some light pinkish red, some yellowish white, and some bluish green. In the blue version the top of the cowboy's hat is part in and part out of the layer of blue tint. I don't see this on my clear one. In the clear version the entire cowboy's hat appears to me to be un-tinted. Even looking at the br2 one I posted on mySlabs (PSA #47414199) when you zoom in there is a distinct horizontal transition line that cuts across the top of the cowboy's hat that isn't there as far as I can see on the clear one. My eyes aren't as good as they used to be so that is why I put the pics up so you can judge for yourself. I hope this helps.

I really appreciate you following up. Attention to some of the other finer details with these cards goes a long way, so I was just hoping to get the best info possible.

Originally Posted by bnorth

To me it looks to have a few areas of red tint. I can't remember who but one of the owners of one sent me some great scans and I noticed the very small amount of red spots on it also.
I do know these card are next to impossible to get a great pic/scan of, at least for me any way.
As for being rare what is the current known blue tint count?

Originally Posted by Athos01

I've always thought the "blue" version was more green in my opinion. It just seems to be a lighter shade of green without any black scribble obstruction, when compared to the version commonly labeled "green scribble". Or, turquoise as Ben says, I would agree with that too. I believe junkwaxgems.com shows pretty much all the different versions I've ever owned/seen, as does Steve's photo gallery.

I see some red in there and maybe some slight other coloring as well and Steve also confirmed some of that. The Blues are definitely a turquoise/sea green kind of color and not completely blue. I do think it's likely that the majority of the obstructing of the ad that Fleer did on these cards was done on/or relating to the cyan plate in my humble opinion.

The blue count is right around 5 I think. I’ve included a couple more images of the blue box card I mentioned earlier. They aren’t the greatest quality, but in hand the card is almost a royal blue and yet with any decent source of light you can easily read the lettering in Marlboro as no editing is done specifically to the lettering like the other versions and there is no bubble.

Originally Posted by steve5838

He reached out to the person who posted the pic (a card shop owner) and found out "...it sounds like a guy brought in a collection from the 80s and 90s, and had 14 different 89 Fleer hand collated sets...and inside one of the sets was this card."
Steve

Does someone know if the shop owner pulled any other variations in the additional sets? If the sets all came from the same case, it would be interesting to see what else was in there.

[steve5838]

Originally Posted by Hatorade

Does someone know if the shop owner pulled any other variations in the additional sets? If the sets all came from the same case, it would be interesting to see what else was in there.

I was thinking the same thing and actually tracked down and reached out to the shop owner several days ago. Other than the clear one, the hand collated sets had four other cards where you could read the Marlboro sign. One was a "g1", one was a "rb2", and the other two were the "blue box" version that you own. I purchased the two "blue box" ones from him for $200 each ($400 total). I don't know whether this is a good deal or not (I don't think the cards will grade particularly high and will likely get the "Ad Partially Obscured" label) but I'm very happy with the purchase since I've been trying to track down this version for quite awhile. In case you're interested, I've attached two pictures of each card.

Steve

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by steve5838

I was thinking the same thing and actually tracked down and reached out to the shop owner several days ago. Other than the clear one, the hand collated sets had four other cards where you could read the Marlboro sign. One was a "g1", one was a "rb2", and the other two were the "blue box" version that you own. I purchased the two "blue box" ones from him for $200 each ($400 total). I don't know whether this is a good deal or not (I don't think the cards will grade particularly high and will likely get the "Ad Partially Obscured" label) but I'm very happy with the purchase since I've been trying to track down this version for quite awhile. In case you're interested, I've attached two pictures of each card.

Steve

Nice cards. I thought I had one of those but when it showed up it was a regular box. In hand do the look like the weird red box cards that you can also clearly see the word Marlboro? Just blue instead of red.

[steve5838]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Nice cards. I thought I had one of those but when it showed up it was a regular box. In hand do the look like the weird red box cards that you can also clearly see the word Marlboro? Just blue instead of red.

Thanks, Ben. It's actually a little different. On these it's almost like the word Marlboro is stenciled out. Sort of like tint all around (including a bit on Randy's ear) but not over the letters.

[Hatorade]

Originally Posted by steve5838

I was thinking the same thing and actually tracked down and reached out to the shop owner several days ago. Other than the clear one, the hand collated sets had four other cards where you could read the Marlboro sign. One was a "g1", one was a "rb2", and the other two were the "blue box" version that you own. I purchased the two "blue box" ones from him for $200 each ($400 total). I don't know whether this is a good deal or not (I don't think the cards will grade particularly high and will likely get the "Ad Partially Obscured" label) but I'm very happy with the purchase since I've been trying to track down this version for quite awhile. In case you're interested, I've attached two pictures of each card.Steve

Wow! Wow! Wow! You found 2!! Those are gorgeous cards and they more than likely came from the same case as that clear! That’s unreal. PSA’s labeling is wrong to start and then they apply the labels inconsistently, so you shouldn’t care too much about that. I’ll take one from you for $200 to ease your worries of over paying.

[hockeyhockey]

Originally Posted by Hatorade

Wow! Wow! Wow! You found 2!! Those are gorgeous cards and they more than likely came from the same case as that clear! That’s unreal. PSA’s labeling is wrong to start and then they apply the labels inconsistently, so you shouldn’t care too much about that. I’ll take one from you for $200 to ease your worries of over paying.

PSA makes no sense with these cards, no doubt. i'd love to get a detailed explanation as to what is "obscured" and what isn't. i have cards that for sure looked like marlboro that were tagged obscured...and then you see ones for sale that are obscured and can't see any of the sign.