1989 fleer Randy Johnson

[jacksoncoupage]

I recently posted this on another board.

Because there are so many different correction attempts, PSA has taken the lazy route and divided them all into 3 categories and even those are three are cross-contaminated at this point.

I have examples like yours in PSA 9 holders that should get the "partially obscured" descriptor but are labeled "completely blacked out" so it's a roll of the dice with them.

When it comes to this card, there are strong arguments to be made that Fleer made many changes to the card between the darkest tinting over the sign and the full blackout background (the final version that has a clean, solid black background). Most collectors argue this is ink variance but I am fairly certain there are legitimate, albeit very similar, changes to the background. This portion of the card's production run is responsible for a lot of the confusion surrounding the card.

This is the breakdown, remember there are variances between them but this is the gist:

-Clear sign (one known copy)
-Visible sign, faint haze/dark tint over sign
-Visible sign, faint haze/dark tint over sign, black bar or strip through MARLBORO
-Visible sign, faint haze/dark red tint over sign, black scribble over MARLBORO
-Visible sign, faint haze/dark green tint over sign, black scribble over MARLBORO
-Semi-visible sign, heavy tint over sign, bubble in upper sign, dark red tint
-Semi-visible sign, heavy tint over sign, no bubble, dark red tint
-Semi-visible sign, heavy tint over sign, bubble in upper sign, dark green tint
-Semi-visible sign, heavy tint over sign, no bubble, dark green tint
-Semi-visible sign, heavy tint over sign, no bubble, dark green tint, black bar or strip through MARLBORO
-Boxed sign, heavy red tint over sign, bubble in upper sign
-Boxed sign, heavy green tint over sign, bubble in upper sign
-Boxed sign, heavy red tint over sign, no bubble
-Boxed sign, heavy green tint over sign, no bubble
-Solid black background, sign appears to be digitally edited - no gap between Johnson's ear and fence/billboard in background.

Again, there are likely versions that exist between these listed here but thisa rundown of the types most likely to be found. Also note that the final corrected version (solid black background) is often affected by yellow/green print dots of various quantity and size but as with most print dots, they are random and therefore not cataloged by me as official running changes to the card.