1980-present variations

mrmopar · #1 01-20-2015, 01:04 AM

I took a recent interest in these types of cards after seeing a number of true variations that I was never really aware of, such as the Inc and Inc. on the late 80s/early 90s Donruss cards. Of course the trick is to have enough of any one card to find anything different between them. Also, are those flaws unique to a few cards or are they on ALL of the cards?

Aside from Garvey variations to add to the collection, and he missed the bulk of what I have discovered in the late 80s/early 90s, I really didn't necessarily care a whole lot if I had these for other players, then I thought about all the extra Dodger cards I had from years of buying lots. I started going through them and was finding a fair number of both the "real" variations (* or **, Inc or Inc., letter or no letter on back, etc) as well as the print flaws that you are showing here. I found a number of print dots and ink color differences that almost certainly have to show up in a percentage of the print run, but sometimes they seemed like they would have to be unique. With the Dodgers, there was a lot of blue ink and sometimes you could see more reddish or purple tones. I noticed hats and jerseys that were definitely not like the rest of the cards I had even if it was slight.

I found a lot of print dots in the 85-89 Topps, mainly because I had a pretty good sample size of a lot of the cards. Sometimes the differences were tough to spot and sometimes that jumped out. I hope to scan some once I finish sorting them all out. It's been a slow go, as I need really good light and I have been relying on the natural light from outside, but that only allows a limited timeframe in which to work and only if it is not overcast (and I live in WA). I am in the Ws now.

bnorth · #2 01-20-2015, 10:23 AM

Some more from the 89 Fleer set. Rafael Belliard has a pink stripe by the S on his jersey. Tommy John has a blue spot on his neck. Guillermo Hernandez has a pink moose head by his shoulder. Tom Henke has a black strip over the A in Jays on his jersey. With a little searching all these are easily found.

bnorth · #3 01-26-2015, 11:04 AM

A pair of Randy Johnson rookies with print dots in the stadium.

bnorth · #4 02-03-2015, 12:29 PM

Here is 2 more from the 89 Fleer set. This is pretty much the only modern set I collect this stuff from and mainly just Bill Ripken, Randy Johnson, and Ken Griffey Jr.

For a person that collects the weird suff this Ripken has it all. Nice print offset, real factory saw cut, a huge diamond factory miscut and it says F*ck Face twice.

The Griffey has what looks like a womens fertility symbol on the inside of his left wrist.

4reals · #5 02-08-2015, 12:51 PM

1980 Topps Jim Bibby #229 - (3) Card Variation Sequence of Blue Overspray at Position Banner getting progressively worse

bnorth · #6 02-09-2015, 03:23 PM

Here is one from my all-time favorite player Wade Boggs. This is a very common print error that is easily found. His 1988 Topps All Star Batting Average AL Leaders Teardrop card(on left). Notice the white tear coming out his right eye. Don't know what he was crying about he hit an amazing .363 to lead the league.

con40 · #7 02-11-2015, 09:41 AM

Ben, I truly admire your zeal to discover as many modern "variations" as possible, but none of these cards are true variations in any sense whatsoever. These cards are the results of print quality issues. Presses in the day ran tens of thousands of sheets an hour. At that speed, any dirt, debris, ink density, registration problem, blanket damage, etc., would yield issues on hundreds, if not thousands of sheets before the pressmen could catch it and clean/fix the press issue. The affected sheets would not be thrown away and would continue on into packs. This would occur constantly throughout the press run.

Printing is far from a precise process and all kinds of issues occur on a press run consisting of millions of sheets.

You will keep discovering these anomalies for the rest of your life.

However, your 1988 Wade Boggs All Star is a true variation! It's actually two different cards. I suspect it was placed on the sheet twice, or was printed in two runs of separate printing plates.

How can I tell?

Look at the space between the bottom of the yellow frame and his name in cyan ink. The space is different on each card. Since yellow and cyan are solid CMYK inks, this is not a registration issue (the photo is crisp and it has yellow and cyan ink in it). The only way this could happen is a change in the yellow and cyan plates... or it was two separately stripped cards on the sheet.

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