For sealed cases - the 5 digit stamped code is what you look for.
From my website - look under the top Fleer header, then click Cases on the left.
From the site:
Most have a 5 digit code stamped on them. From what I've been told (not my research) - here is the breakdown:
First digit is the year. 8 would be 1988. 9 would be 1989. The next 3 digits a for the day of the year. 001 would be January 1st and so on. The last digit is either the printing/sorting location or the employee shift number. Location 1 or 2 vs. Shift 1 or 2 etc. So, in theory, digits before 90171 (January 17th, 1989) would have the FF error inside.
For the record, I've pulled black scribble and black box cards from the same box and have seen FF cards pulled from 'late' run cases. So you never know. The clearest Marlboro Johnson cards were likely removed or at least mostly removed before Dec 1988 (83351 code).
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