What is the origin of Frank Thomas NNOF?

[West]

From 1982:


"Space creature helps unemployment
Aug. 27, 1982

DURYEA, Pa. -- Topps Chewing Gum Inc., riding the success of the year's most popular space alien, says it will delay seasonal layoffs and recall other workers to meet the demand for 'E.T.' bubblegum cards.

Topps Chairman Arthur Shorin said Thursday the firm also plans to market other products related to the successful Steven Spielberg film later this year.

'We knew the movie had every chance to be a hit, but we didn't know how big of a hit,' Shorin said. 'We're delighted to see how it turned out.'

Topps spokesman Norman Liss reported 'excellent sales' of 'E.T.' cards, which it markets in 30-cent packets of 10 that also include a slice of gum and a sticker.

Liss said 25 employees who had been furloughed by the firm's Duryea plant will return to work Monday and the company will delay its usual seasonal layoffs to keep up with the demand.

The plant, which employs 675 people, makes the bubblegum sold with the 'E.T.' cards and the firm's more famous baseball and football cards.

Liss said the 'E.T' cards are printed 'in different places, which we don't say for security reasons.'

Shorin said Topps will introduce an 'E.T.' sticker album in the fall and plans to market plastic figures filled with candy by Christmas. Other products, which Shorin declined to describe, are on the drawing board.

'We have a good ability to maximize on a property such as this,' he said. 'At this point, we think good combinations are possible.'

Neither Shorin nor Liss would comment on how much revenue the company expects to realize from its 'E.T.' product line.

Shorin said the company obtained the bubblegum card rights to 'E.T.' long before the motion picture's release, 'but we had a great deal of faith in Steven Spielberg and his organomething America needs. It's a refreshing character.'
"

[Rich Klein]

The "Tiffany" Sets were all printed in Ireland as were the Traded sets and I think 1-2 other products. So in the 1984-91 realm there are definitely two different printing places (if not more).

Rich

[West]

In Topps' earliest annual report available online (1997), under "Production", they detail there that:
'High-quality paperboard is sent directly to outside printers by the Company's suppliers."

http://getfilings.com/o0000812076-97-000007.html

Annual reports are available for every year since Topps went public in 1987. If someone were to acquire a report for any of the years from 1987-1994, it should detail their production methods in the same manner in which it did in 1997.

[lowpopper]

Ok so does anybody have a DEFINITIVE answer on what packs the error cards made it into?

[ALR-bishop]

If someone had a definitive answer I wonder if they would share it on a sports card chat board or just be out buying those cases, boxes and packs

[lowpopper]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

If someone had a definitive answer I wonder if they would share it on a sports card chat board or just be out buying those cases, boxes and packs

I completely agree but the answer is out there somewhere. The cards have been out for 27+ years now and there is only maybe 100-200 of them. I am beginning to think that they may not have come out of packs and could have easily been found in a Topps scrap pile....just a thought.

Moreover, if there was over 100 finds so far, why is there no written account of a pull from a pack/set type of medium?

The Bush-Yale card never came from packs....

If possible, someone please cite an exact documented account of a true NNOF find.

[Rich Klein]

"I completely agree but the answer is out there somewhere. The cards have been out for 27+ years now and there is only maybe 100-200 of them. I am beginning to think that they may not have come out of packs and could have easily been found in a Topps scrap pile....just a thought. "

I will reiterate (And I wish I still had the letters) --we got more than enough letters at Beckett to verify these cards from packs. Now what type of packs or when they were in packs is a different issue but they were truly in packs. I was the E&V guy so I read those letters.

Rich

[West]

Originally Posted by lowpopper

I completely agree but the answer is out there somewhere. The cards have been out for 27+ years now and there is only maybe 100-200 of them. I am beginning to think that they may not have come out of packs and could have easily been found in a Topps scrap pile....just a thought.

Moreover, if there was over 100 finds so far, why is there no written account of a pull from a pack/set type of medium?

The Bush-Yale card never came from packs....

If possible, someone please cite an exact documented account of a true NNOF find.

You really need to take the time to read through the comments on this thread which summarize nearly all of the public knowledge of this card. Your questions above have actually already been answered.

I will echo what Rich said. As I mentioned before, they were found only in wax packs. I have spoken to several people who can attest to this directly, not to mention the person in the CU boards who pulled 5 of them and documented it in that thread. As for population, there are already some 250-275 graded NNOF and I estimated the original print run at 400-1000.

[jacksoncoupage]

Originally Posted by lowpopper

I completely agree but the answer is out there somewhere. The cards have been out for 27+ years now and there is only maybe 100-200 of them. I am beginning to think that they may not have come out of packs and could have easily been found in a Topps scrap pile....just a thought.

Moreover, if there was over 100 finds so far, why is there no written account of a pull from a pack/set type of medium?

The Bush-Yale card never came from packs....

If possible, someone please cite an exact documented account of a true NNOF find.

Correct on the Bush Yale card. That was misinfo by Beckett.

The NNOF Thomas (orange sheet blackless) absolutely did NOT come from factory sets. That was an angle by sellers in the mid 90's to move surplus. But as you've seen, there are plenty of other near or partial blackless cards from other sheets to be found in them. I pulled that same Drabek out of one years ago.

These cards have been pulled from packs in the last 10 years, but shy of live videos of a sealed case being broken that contained them, you won't find 100% guaranteed evidence of it. From my memory, a guy on the CU boards named "RookieWax" had pulled at least one at the time of that thread. I believe he is still active on that board. He had the accompanying/connecting ones to go with it. The thread had been derailed because he decided to start offering packs for sale from the batch of retail/grocery display packs he pulled his from.