1987 Fleer Glossy Brown backs

[HasselhoffsCheeseburger]

This is the second set in a row that I've ripped and there was a brown back card in it. Both sets purchased many months apart and from different sellers. Obviously not a coincidence, I'm curious how many of these just slide under the radar because no one gives a flute's gravy dish about checking the card backs.

Anyone else noticed these before?

The difference in color is much more prominent in-hand than the scan suggests.

[ALR-bishop]

Ok, Arthur-- as a result of your careless and reckless post, I went back and pulled out my 1987 Fleer set which I bought back in the day from SportsCards +. I then went trough all 660 cards, for only the 2nd, and maybe last time ( the first was to count them, while looking at the backs just to make sure the set was complete). Not sure I have ever seen the fronts.

I found ONE brown back card, which you might know was card # 1, Rich Aguilera. You are right that the difference is subtle but very recognizable in hand.

Not sure if this info helps, but thanks for taking up part of my afternoon in retirement

Edit-- SCP must have thought the Canseco, W Clark, B Jackson and R Sierra were the keys to the set, because only those four were in holders....none with brown backs

[steve B]

Is the back glossy at all?

Cardboard differences aren't unknown, but I haven't really tried finding them.
There's also some differences in gloss for a lot of cards, especially Topps in the late 70's early 80's where some gloss stays clear and some yellows slightly. I'm not sure if it's an actual difference, or a sped up degrading maybe from something like the cards sitting in a hot car or something.

[mrmopar]

Looks like a card that sat in a smokers house.

[bobsbbcards]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

...but thanks for taking up part of my afternoon in retirement

Yes, Arthur. Thanks for taking up part of Al's day. Heh.

[HasselhoffsCheeseburger]

Al, just to double-check: you found yours in a Glossy set, right? You just said Fleer so I want to make sure.

The cards are identical on the front (in terms of gloss and color) and feel the same on the back (in terms of card stock). They were all sealed in the same tin under the same conditions so I don't think these are the result of after-factory conditions.

The Fleer Glossy sets (and perhaps the regular Fleer factory sets, I don't know, I haven't ripped any of them yet) are laid out in 12 blocks of 55 cards. The 12 blocks alternate coming from two different sources at the factory and are also either right-side up or upside down. All the upside down blocks come from one source and all the right-side up blocks come from another source. So, if you pull out the first upside down block and they're all heavily off-center toward the top, that problem is going to continue into the next block of upside down cards, even though there's a right-side up block between them. Make sense?

I assume the individual blocks come from the same sheet. I just checked and Rick Aguilera, Carney Lansford, and Jose Canseco (my two brown backs) are all on the same sheet. I suppose it's possible that a bunch of copies of the same sheet were printed on card stock meant for a different '87 Fleer product.

The '87 Fleer basketball cards have a white back.
The '87 Fleer Star Stickers don't have a bright white back but they also don't look like these brown backs either. More of an off-white.
The '87 Fleer Exciting Stars are white back.
The '87 Fleer Game Winners are white back.
The '87 Fleer Award Winners have a tan/orange but it's only half the card back and the other half is bright white so I'm assuming the stock started as white and the color was applied later.
The '87 Fleer Record Setters are white back.
The '87 Fleer Baseball's Best are white back.
The '87 Fleer Hottest Stars are white back.
The '87 Fleer League Leaders are white back.
The '87 Fleer Limited Edition are white back.
The '87 Fleer Mini are white back.

So back to the drawing board. Obviously the sheet was printed on a different stock than the rest of the set but why and how much are the questions. Had to have been a decent amount for me to hit two sets in a row and for Al's set to also have one. That's one hell of a coincidence otherwise.

Arthur

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by HasselhoffsCheeseburger

Al, just to double-check: you found yours in a Glossy set, right? You just said Fleer so I want to make sure.

The cards are identical on the front (in terms of gloss and color) and feel the same on the back (in terms of card stock). They were all sealed in the same tin under the same conditions so I don't think these are the result of after-factory conditions.

The Fleer Glossy sets (and perhaps the regular Fleer factory sets, I don't know, I haven't ripped any of them yet) are laid out in 12 blocks of 55 cards. The 12 blocks alternate coming from two different sources at the factory and are also either right-side up or upside down. All the upside down blocks come from one source and all the right-side up blocks come from another source. So, if you pull out the first upside down block and they're all heavily off-center toward the top, that problem is going to continue into the next block of upside down cards, even though there's a right-side up block between them. Make sense?

I assume the individual blocks come from the same sheet. I just checked and Rick Aguilera, Carney Lansford, and Jose Canseco (my two brown backs) are all on the same sheet. I suppose it's possible that a bunch of copies of the same sheet were printed on card stock meant for a different '87 Fleer product.

The '87 Fleer basketball cards have a white back.
The '87 Fleer Star Stickers don't have a bright white back but they also don't look like these brown backs either. More of an off-white.
The '87 Fleer Exciting Stars are white back.
The '87 Fleer Game Winners are white back.
The '87 Fleer Award Winners have a tan/orange but it's only half the card back and the other half is bright white so I'm assuming the stock started as white and the color was applied later.
The '87 Fleer Record Setters are white back.
The '87 Fleer Baseball's Best are white back.
The '87 Fleer Hottest Stars are white back.
The '87 Fleer League Leaders are white back.
The '87 Fleer Limited Edition are white back.
The '87 Fleer Mini are white back.

So back to the drawing board. Obviously the sheet was printed on a different stock than the rest of the set but why and how much are the questions. Had to have been a decent amount for me to hit two sets in a row and for Al's set to also have one. That's one hell of a coincidence otherwise.

Arthur

Do you know if Wade Boggs is on that sheet? If so that is another card I need to track down.

[HasselhoffsCheeseburger]

I just did a google image search for 1987 fleer uncut sheet and looked at the first handful. Should be an easy lookup.

Arthur

ETA: Just went back to pull an image for reference and there's no Boggs on the sheet.