1991 Topps / DS Packaging

[Zach Wheat]

Joe,

Thanks for responding. I really wanted you to chime in on this topic before going further. First Ben has indicated some of the fronts glow - which I had never checked before - in both sets. A new discovery every day.

Second, I will have to re-check my results on the DS set as both Sheet A & Sheet B are different than the other sheets, but I don't think all DS cards flouresce under black light. I think the majority of the cards flouresce - ie maybe 95%, but not all.

I believe most of the way through the print run for 1991 Topps cards, they switched inks and added a brightener to the orange ink and probably other colors as well. The brightener enhanced orange ink is most obvious (under UV light) around the 40th Anniversary logo on the perimeter orange box on the reverse of the cards. And yes you can detect the differences in the ink through the back of the wrapper. This importance of this, is that it should allow you to reduce the probability of obtaining a fake DS pack.

I will chime back in later with a more details on flourescing ink on DS cards.

Z Wheat

[ALR-bishop]

I admit I did not check every card in the my DS set. I have them in sheets in a binder and sampled every couple of pages through out. The ones I looked at all glowed. I tried to check the unopened pack I keep with that set but can not view the back of the card clearly through the wrapper to see it under a black light

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

I admit I did not check every card in the my DS set. I have them in sheets in a binder and sampled every couple of pages through out. The ones I looked at all glowed. I tried to check the unopened pack I keep with that set but can not view the back of the card clearly through the wrapper to see it under a black light

Al,

Check the back of the pack wrapper on the border where the packaging is white. Your black light might not be strong enough to make the ink glow - but on all of my packs I can clearly see the orange ink fluorescing in this area of the pack. Or maybe try a room that is completely dark as well.

Z Wheat

[bnorth]

I still have some of the regular 91 wax boxes and they all glowed under BL.

[4reals]

Originally Posted by bnorth

I still have some of the regular 91 wax boxes and they all glowed under BL.

I found that the wax packs that contained glow ink cards had half of the pack that glowed and half that did not. They were collated in the packs based on sheet codes and the glow ink cards would be consistent with the same two sheets throughout the entire box. For instance Ben, if you opened one of those boxes, while A&B sheet cards might glow throughout the entire box, C-F sheet cards will not. Or if E-F sheet cards glow throughout the entire box, A-D will not. The rack packs I opened were slightly different in that the first two sections contained cards from sheets C-F and glowed but the third section contained bold back cards from sheets A-B and did not glow. Vending boxes contained either all glow or all non-glow. Non-glow was more prevalent by about 80-20 in the ones I obtained.

Here's some pics of a rack pack containing glow ink cards with a section of non-glow back/bold backs in the far right section:

[bnorth]

Great info everyone, thanks for sharing. Here is a little more info on my experience. I bought about 1 case worth of wax boxes over maybe a 4-6 week period. All the boxes I have left(8) glow. I did not get any of the bold backs and only about 10% of the cards I have glow on the backs.
Here are the pics of my 3 DS print error cards. The Jose Rijo is my favorite.

[ALR-bishop]

Great info Joe. I am glad though it is you living that alternate reality