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

[Athos01]

Hi Steve - nice pics! I don't see these versions in your current matrix. These boxed versions are very early, short-run corrections that Fleer applied to the Marlboro sign.

[hockeyhockey]

wow steve, those are very cool. never seen that before.

[Statfreak101]

Originally Posted by Athos01

Hi Steve - nice pics! I don't see these versions in your current matrix. These boxed versions are very early, short-run corrections that Fleer applied to the Marlboro sign.

Do you have this confirmed? In terms of "very early", what time frame are you exactly referring to?

[Athos01]

By early, I'm referring to Fleer case codes around the 833XX or 834XX time frame. I'm not sure I have seen any cases earlier than 8324X, so these were definitely made early-on in the Johnson correction timeframe. But, it is very key to remember that the entire timeframe for the Johnson corrections was far shorter than the Bill Ripken correction timeframe. The Johnson cards were all fully blacked out ads prior to Fleer even touching the Ripken FF cards.

[steve5838]

Yes, it was me. I was holding off on this post until I had the card in hand and it was paid for. I had actually written up something last month but decided to wait before posting in on this board. Now that it's paid for I am happy with how everything worked out and wanted to share "the rest of the story" (even though there isn't really that much more to add) for anyone that is interested.

Anyway, here is the timeline... once David posted the picture of the 3rd graded clear one here on Net54 (in post #195 at 4:24 pm on Friday 9/24), I went back to FB and this time was able to see a public post by the card shop owner showing the card. I messaged the owner Friday evening, gave him my personal email and asked if he was interested in selling. Saturday morning a little after 10 am I received response that "the card is hitting the market today. 15k obo." Within a half hour or so, I made a low ball offer but he said no he already had an offer @ 12k. After some back and forth I told him I could do 13k and call in payment that day if he wanted an easy sale and he accepted. By the time David and Ben posted (#202, #203) late Saturday morning it was already a done deal. It is by far the most I have ever spent on a card, but for me there isn't a card I would want more.

So that is the story. After that it wasn't hard to follow up on the other RJ's in the hand collated sets - which made things even better with those blue stencil cards. Whether the deal is crazy to others or not, I guess it doesn't really matter -- there are plenty of things I don't understand why people spend their money on (I guess I already mentioned why the whole thing made sense to me back in post #211). I can't put into words exactly how or why this clear version is so fascinating to me but it is.

Of course, there was some pain involved here too... over the last month and a half I sold almost half my PC to make this happen. Having the heads up about this card from statfreak101 before it was graded/listed gave me time to mentally prepare/work through what I would be willing to "sell/trade" for it so I could make a quick move on the card when it was listed (and for that I am very grateful).

So that's it... I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. For anyone interested here are pictures of my two clear cards side by side - together in the same scan.

Steve

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by steve5838

Yes, it was me. I was holding off on this post until I had the card in hand and it was paid for. I had actually written up something last month but decided to wait before posting in on this board. Now that it's paid for I am happy with how everything worked out and wanted to share "the rest of the story" (even though there isn't really that much more to add) for anyone that is interested.

Anyway, here is the timeline... once David posted the picture of the 3rd graded clear one here on Net54 (in post #195 at 4:24 pm on Friday 9/24), I went back to FB and this time was able to see a public post by the card shop owner showing the card. I messaged the owner Friday evening, gave him my personal email and asked if he was interested in selling. Saturday morning a little after 10 am I received response that "the card is hitting the market today. 15k obo." Within a half hour or so, I made a low ball offer but he said no he already had an offer @ 12k. After some back and forth I told him I could do 13k and call in payment that day if he wanted an easy sale and he accepted. By the time David and Ben posted (#202, #203) late Saturday morning it was already a done deal. It is by far the most I have ever spent on a card, but for me there isn't a card I would want more.

So that is the story. After that it wasn't hard to follow up on the other RJ's in the hand collated sets - which made things even better with those blue stencil cards. Whether the deal is crazy to others or not, I guess it doesn't really matter -- there are plenty of things I don't understand why people spend their money on (I guess I already mentioned why the whole thing made sense to me back in post #211). I can't put into words exactly how or why this clear version is so fascinating to me but it is.

Of course, there was some pain involved here too... over the last month and a half I sold almost half my PC to make this happen. Having the heads up about this card from statfreak101 before it was graded/listed gave me time to mentally prepare/work through what I would be willing to "sell/trade" for it so I could make a quick move on the card when it was listed (and for that I am very grateful).

So that's it... I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. For anyone interested here are pictures of my two clear cards side by side - together in the same scan.

Steve

That is great that it ended up with someone who really wants to own it. Congratulations on a amazing card.

[hockeyhockey]

amazing! thanks for sharing those pics

[Athos01]

Absolutely awesome, I'm glad the card is going to a good home and a true collector! Congrats Steve!!!

[Kzoo]

Originally Posted by Athos01

By early, I'm referring to Fleer case codes around the 833XX or 834XX time frame. I'm not sure I have seen any cases earlier than 8324X, so these were definitely made early-on in the Johnson correction timeframe. But, it is very key to remember that the entire timeframe for the Johnson corrections was far shorter than the Bill Ripken correction timeframe. The Johnson cards were all fully blacked out ads prior to Fleer even touching the Ripken FF cards.

So, are these 'clear' Marlboro ad cards only in the early wax cases, or could some have been inserted into the rack and cello packs as well?

[jacksoncoupage]

Originally Posted by Kzoo

So, are these 'clear' Marlboro ad cards only in the early wax cases, or could some have been inserted into the rack and cello packs as well?

Highly unlikely since those packaging types followed the wax release. Not long after, if I understand it correctly, but they weren't immediately concurrently available.

[bnorth]

Cleaning my card room and found this refractor. I also have the superfractor someplace. I made them a few years ago.

[steve5838]

Originally Posted by Athos01

Hi Steve - nice pics! I don't see these versions in your current matrix. These boxed versions are very early, short-run corrections that Fleer applied to the Marlboro sign.

Thanks, Kevin. I believe the darker blue (more box like) stencil/negative version card in the upper pic is the one shown in the bottom row of the matrix (with the yellow border around the picture). When I put together the matrix I didn't own one of these cards and added the yellow border to indicate that this was not one of mine (it is a picture of Hatorade's blue stencil/negative card). I haven't added the lighter blue stencil/negative version into the figure yet but I think positioning in the matrix would be similar.

[lowpopper]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/313796345116

Can we precisely identify which version this is?

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by lowpopper

https://www.ebay.com/itm/313796345116

Can we precisely identify which version this is?

Not sure the exact name but it is the second clearest version. There are several posted in this thread and can usually easily be found on eBay. I posted my PSA 9 that I paid around $20 for. Not sure of the exact current value but for a raw one $9500 might be a little overpriced.

[lowpopper]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Not sure the exact name but it is the second clearest version. There are several posted in this thread and can usually easily be found on eBay. I posted my PSA 9 that I paid around $20 for. Not sure of the exact current value but for a raw one $9500 might be a little overpriced.

Lol I wasn’t sure what it was. Had to put some juice on it

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by lowpopper

Lol I wasn’t sure what it was. Had to put some juice on it

Get it in a PSA 9 or 10 slab. Slabbed they are pulling really good money. 2 years ago you couldn't hardly give the Johnson Marlboro cards away. Now they are going for crazy money in some cases.

I would love to have my PSA 9(same version) back to sell at the prices now. I looked and I paid $9 for it.

[jacksoncoupage]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Not sure the exact name but it is the second clearest version. There are several posted in this thread and can usually easily be found on eBay. I posted my PSA 9 that I paid around $20 for. Not sure of the exact current value but for a raw one $9500 might be a little overpriced.

Originally Posted by steve5838

This is what I've referred to as the "br2" version. I'm very familiar with the version. With a good light source it is the second clearest version.

Until Kevin's clear version turned up, this is what was always referred to as the "first" version, the original Marlboro error.

I dont see them much anymore, would love to own one again but this is well out of my range.

[steve5838]

I wanted to share something pretty cool with everyone. I was playing around with Adobe Photoshop to see if I could get better pictures of the Marlboro sign on some of the versions. I have no idea what I'm doing with the program but I took a scan of the two blue negative/stencil versions (shown in post #284), added a blue "color range" in Photoshop, and copied the resulting grey scale preview into the jpg file below. It probably means nothing but the result wowed me. The card on the left is one shown in the bottom of the #284 post (from the hand collated sets with the clear find) and the card on the right is the one shown in the top of the #284 post. Thought others might be interested too. Hope everyone has a happy new year.
Steve

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by steve5838

I wanted to share something pretty cool with everyone. I was playing around with Adobe Photoshop to see if I could get better pictures of the Marlboro sign on some of the versions. I have no idea what I'm doing with the program but I took a scan of the two blue negative/stencil versions (shown in post #284), added a blue "color range" in Photoshop, and copied the resulting grey scale preview into the jpg file below. It probably means nothing but the result wowed me. The card on the left is one shown in the bottom of the #284 post (from the hand collated sets with the clear find) and the card on the right is the one shown in the top of the #284 post. Thought others might be interested too. Hope everyone has a happy new year.
Steve

Cool, could you clear up any of the other versions sign area?

[steve5838]

Originally Posted by lowpopper

https://www.ebay.com/itm/313796345116

Can we precisely identify which version this is?

This is what I've referred to as the "br2" version. I'm very familiar with the version. With a good light source it is the second clearest version.