1989 Fleer Randy Johnson #381 Marlboro Errors - 30 Years Later

[Hatorade]

Thanks for sharing the image of the clear version Kevin. That is a truly special card. Would you mind sharing how many of the Johnson errors you own? Have you come across any of the blue versions? They seem to be the 2nd rarest of the error variations. I’ve attached an image of Ben’s blue card he shared earlier.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Hatorade

Thanks for sharing the image of the clear version Kevin. That is a truly special card. Would you mind sharing how many of the Johnson errors you own? Have you come across any of the blue versions? They seem to be the 2nd rarest of the error variations. I’ve attached an image of Ben’s blue card he shared earlier.

I got that blue card from COMC and am sure it was altered to be blue instead of green. It also has a very heavy layer of gloss on it compared to a normal 89 Fleer card.

[Hatorade]

I’ve seen 5 of the blues since I’ve been collecting the errors. Ben’s copy, 2 PSA 9’s I bought a few years ago(both pictured with a 2nd zoomed image of each), another card on Ebay that I missed around the same time that I purchased the 9’s and the 5th is a card I saw back in 2014 that I saw as a completed sale(also attached). They all seem legit. These versions are the easiest to read the letters in Marlboro that I’ve seen outside of Kevin’s clear card. The way that they are tinted doesn’t really fall in line with all the other versions though.

[Athos01]

Hey guys. I don't know exactly how many Johnson Marlboro-type errors I have, probably about 100 or so.

I only have the one "clear" sign version.

A version that doesn't get a lot of pub has a mid-level greenish filter placed over the entire sign. None of the words "Marlboro" nor the cowboy are obscured. There is just what looks like a green filter over the ad. Very, very tough version. It looks similar to the blue version shown above.

While I am sure the Ripken '89 Fleers have been faked from time to time, there are FF reprints, white scribble reprints, and white out fakes; however, I am pretty convinced that there are very few, if any, fake Randy Johnson Marlboro cards. This is not a card that people are getting rich off of.

[bnorth]

Pretty sure this is the green version used to make the blue cards. Sorry for the bad picture, when I find my blue card and one of my green versions I will update with a much better scan. I pulled these off the web.

As far as the comment about why would someone fake/alter a cheap card. Because scammers will do almost anything to make even $.25 on a card. Just look at the guy that this forum exposed switching out T206 cards in those newer Topps holders. Scammers actually love people that think no one fakes cheap cards.

[Hatorade]

DEEADE7B-6ACB-4DE3-875B-B4E896E440D9.jpgI finished up scanning all the Marlboro errors we have.We have 1120 cards, 310 PSA graded and 92 graded by BGS. I’ll be posting them all to My Flickr page soon so that anyone can view them and compare them to their own variations. Unfortunately the graded cards don’t scan real well. I still have to go through and crop all the images down to a size that works better to view on Flickr before I post them as well. I came across this little beauty towards the end of the scanning process. It looks very similar to some of the box versions,but the color is very different. It appears to me to be a dark blue version. You can’t really tell from the image, but with some decent light you can read the Marlboro lettering pretty well. There’s a pretty big jump from the other blue cards I’ve seen to this version. Does anyone have any blue cards that they could share an image of?

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Hatorade

Attachment 342557I finished up scanning all the Marlboro errors we have.We have 1120 cards, 310 PSA graded and 92 graded by BGS. I’ll be posting them all to My Flickr page soon so that anyone can view them and compare them to their own variations. Unfortunately the graded cards don’t scan real well. I still have to go through and crop all the images down to a size that works better to view on Flickr before I post them as well. I came across this little beauty towards the end of the scanning process. It looks very similar to some of the box versions,but the color is very different. It appears to me to be a dark blue version. You can’t really tell from the image, but with some decent light you can read the Marlboro lettering pretty well. There’s a pretty big jump from the other blue cards I’ve seen to this version. Does anyone have any blue cards that they could share an image of?

That is a very cool card. 1120 WOW, I guess I don't have as bad of a hoarding problem as I thought.

[steve5838]

Hi. My name is Steve and I have been collecting 1989 Fleer Randy Johnson Marlboro cards for the last couple years. I'm a big fan of the card and keep an eye out, in particular, for graded ones with the clearer versions of the Marlboro sign. Thanks to many of the people posting on this and other boards I was able to view pictures of the various versions along the way including what appeared to be the only known instance of the "clearest version" (as noted in the above thread the card is owned by Kevin and graded a PSA 9). I always hoped to see the card in person and wondered whether more of these "clearest version" cards were out there. Anyway, last week I was lucky enough to stumble upon another "clearest version" card on eBay under the listing title "1989 Fleer RANDY JOHNSON PSA 9 Rookie RC See Pics - CLEAREST MARLBORO SIGN EVER!". As I reviewed the listing over breakfast something about the card kept nagging at me even beyond the clarity of the Marlboro sign. I came back to this board and compared the card in the listing to the clearest version owned by Kevin. The sign clarity in the two cards looked pretty similar (at least to my eyes) AND SO DID THE PSA CERT NUMBER. To my shock the PSA cert on this card (15790561) was just one number off the cert on Kevin's card (15790562). I looked the two cards up on the PSA site. Both cards are in the PSA database but unfortunately no documented previous sales of either card are listed. My guess is that the two cards were graded in the same batch and whoever originally submitted Kevin's card for grading also submitted this one. Beyond this I don't know anything about the card's origin (beyond the listing description that "Hello, I am new to eBay and I’m selling my dad’s stuff"). In any case, I knew I would kick myself later if this fell through by waiting for a counter offer to come back so I checked out with "Buy It Now". The card arrived today and I'm super excited about it. I'm attaching some pictures. I don't post much but figured that this new sliver of information could be interesting to a very small group of others and may add a new layer to the ongoing story surrounding this card. In case you're interested, you can probably still view the original listing on eBay by searching recently sold items too. Steve

[jacksoncoupage]

Originally Posted by Athos01

A version that doesn't get a lot of pub has a mid-level greenish filter placed over the entire sign. None of the words "Marlboro" nor the cowboy are obscured. There is just what looks like a green filter over the ad. Very, very tough version. It looks similar to the blue version shown above.

I have recently updated the blog post I did on these back in 2009-10 and have been thinking a bit about which versions appear to have dried up or what I haven't seen much of. This is a very good example. I must have sold 3-4 in lots over the last ten years but I can't really recall seeing a copy for sale over the last few years. Of course, this now makes me want a copy!

Another thing I have noticed as a regular buyer of low-priced "box" versions, is that there appears to be a blacked out sign version where the sign does not run straight across to Randy's head, instead, it has the telltale gap of a coverup/edited version. The first copy I owned was picked up around 2008-2010 at some point and while I noted it, didn't give it any special consideration. I've probably picked up 50+ box versions (not to mention the 100s scrutinized online) in the years since and have only found two others. I've studied the copies and magnified the area and can't see any red, green or box outline to them. For now, I consider this to be the lone "rare" version among the box-out types. Perhaps someone(s) here with a large sample size could check through theirs?

[Hatorade]

Originally Posted by jacksoncoupage

Another thing I have noticed as a regular buyer of low-priced "box" versions, is that there appears to be a blacked out sign version where the sign does not run straight across to Randy's head, instead, it has the telltale gap of a coverup/edited version. The first copy I owned was picked up around 2008-2010 at some point and while I noted it, didn't give it any special consideration. I've probably picked up 50+ box versions (not to mention the 100s scrutinized online) in the years since and have only found two others. I've studied the copies and magnified the area and can't see any red, green or box outline to them. For now, I consider this to be the lone "rare" version among the box-out types. Perhaps someone(s) here with a large sample size could check through theirs?

From your description it sounds to me like a very dark version of the “black box” card from your site. I went through my scans and posted the one image I found that matches up. There were several others that were very dark, but I could still make out the ad area slightly on them. It’s interesting because the majority of error variations fall into a box category (green, red, black) but the darkest of the black box versions are actually a rare card to track down. Is the card I posted similar to the card you are referencing?

[jacksoncoupage]

Originally Posted by Hatorade

From your description it sounds to me like a very dark version of the “black box” card from your site. I went through my scans and posted the one image I found that matches up. There were several others that were very dark, but I could still make out the ad area slightly on them. It’s interesting because the majority of error variations fall into a box category (green, red, black) but the darkest of the black box versions are actually a rare card to track down. Is the card I posted similar to the card you are referencing?

Yes, very similar/maybe the same. I held my current copy under a number of light sources and tilts and couldn’t make out a defined box but I’d bet it is what you’re describing. Either way, seems the harder of the “box” types to locate.

[Statfreak101]

https://ibb.co/Z1NQDfk

https://ibb.co/8dv0HMP

https://ibb.co/zXY7BFn

Any chance you guys are referring to the card shown in the pics? If so, I have come across a few of those in my pursuit of Johnson variation cards from 1989 Fleer.