misprinted caramel cards

[Archive]

Posted By: Marty

I contacted Jim after I saw him listing the E93 M. Brown card on BST. I owned this card for several years. I told Jim that I would post my story if he wanted, so here it is. I have no records that I have ever sold amything mail order to Jim. I do not know if I have had any dealings with him at a show. I just became aware of this card being offered for sale and of this thread discussing it. I first asked Jim if he would like a history of this card. There are some people that are not interested in the past, but this was not the case. When he said that he would, this is what I sent him.

I started doing local Phoenix shows in 1989 with my son. We did new stuff like everyone else. That has changed. I bought this card probably 1995 give or take. It was a walk up to my table. We discussed it as a "sun bleached" card because of the fading. I probably paid $15-25 for the card. I put it in a box like so much of the stuff that I buy.

Three or four years ago I came across the card again. I had seen
discussions of "ghost" cards on the 54 board. I was at Lew Lipset's looking at his cards to be auctioned. I told him about the card, and he said that he would like to see it or sell it. I posted a scan of the card on the 54 board asking if anyone could help me out on why the card looked like it does. I stated that there was no odor of bleach or anything else on the card. With a 10X loupe, I could see crystals or glaze like on the surface. I stated this also. I have searched the posts on the board and they do not go back far enough. I said that I was taking the card to a Fort Washington show.

I had it in my case for the weekend. I pointed it out to some people who did not help me. I showed the card to Terry Knause. His guess was a "proof" card. I showed the card to Mike Baker, GAI. He said that they would not put a number grade on the card but would authenticate it. He would have to do some investigation, which included Terry. GAI had the card for 3 or 4 weeks, big surprise, before they sent it back to me in the holder that it is currently in. I gave the card to Lew to sell. I believe that it sold for about $650, or that was my 90%. I have my records somewhere. I thought that it would go higher being labeled as an "error" card.

I recently have been told that there is a chemical called sodium hypochlorite or NaClO that is used in altering that may leave a crystal residue. When I bought the card, the price that I paid was for a faded sun bleached card, not for a "special" error or proof. If the person that I bought the card from was trying to pass it off as rare, he was unsuccessful. If he bought it as a special card, he did not represent it as such and probably lost money. It excited me so much that I left it in a box for several years. If I would have been offered the card as a "special" card at a special card price, I would have passed because I would not have had enough knowledge about the card to pay much more. I still do not
have enough knowledge to say if it has been altered or not. I showed it to the "experts" and it was put in the holder. Lew does not own a 10X loupe that I know of so he did not look at it with more than a lower power glass.

If it was an experiment or a shot at fraud, who ever did it did not profit from it. I made the most money on the card. The crystals always concerned me, but I did not keep it a secret. When it was put in a holder, I was satisfied, but I liked the idea of proof card more than error card. I thought that if the card was altered, more colors would be gone.

This will take the card back about 12 years in time for you. If I can answer anything else for you please let me know. Would I do something like this again? Under the same conditions, absolutly. I bought the card as flawed. Years later, I found the posibility of it being special and did some research. The experts passed judgement and I went with it.