Site Forum

A member submitted an inaccuracy report regarding a possible variation to cards in this set. I have confirmed that there is, in fact, a variation affecting most if not all cards. Examples below. The first pair of pics is the no line version as you can see there is also a difference in spacing of the logo on the card front. The second pair of photos is the with line version. The version with the line seems to be the most common version with about a 10/2 frequency. 

Would we want to add it as a variation to the cards in the set? 

I just looked through more Larry Bird cards on COMC than I really wanted to, but it does appear that the "No Line" version has the 2 distinctive differences that I was able to discern looking at either side of the card (although the no line on the back was much easier to spot).

It appears to be a difference in the layout for printing, not a printing glitch or anything like that. None of the other major hobby sites seem to make any distinction on these (not that that should determine whether we do or not).

All I ask for whoever goes through with this (if we do), is that you please verify what exists and what does not exist. One of the worst things in the hobby is the "phantom card" - a card listed on various hobby checklists that doesn't actually exist. I would really be upset if we started adding phantom cards to the site. (We did have some, and we've since removed the ones we've realized.) Basically, if you cannot get visual evidence, or someone else who has said that all cards have both versions, then let's go with a partial checklist, and we can always add in the others as the evidence surfaces.

Was this a case like Donruss, where there was a factory set released and that's how the differences occured, or were both versions packed out?

Out of around 100 cards, I have 2 without the bar and these too have the slight offset logo on front.   Normally I could say that these all came out of the same wax box but 25 years ago my son won a doorprize at a local  card show and received a shoebox full of cards so these may have been in that mix.

Just my two cents on these types of things, although I have much less experience in the hobby than a lot of people here.  I don't think it's all that necessary (in fact even confusing) to officially catalog things such as printing variations that the company had no intention of making an actual variation for. 

If the company decided to alter a card for some reason, then I feel like that is a much more valid reason to officially list it as a variation.  (Randy Johnson Marlboro for example).

I felt the same way with the Upper Deck holograms.  They were always intended to be the same card, they just were sticking whatever holograms on them they happened to have at the time of printing.  

I'm not saying I am right about this or anything, just my opinion on the subject.

It's not something I think I would have ever noticed myself, but if it affected cards I collected I would probably sort them separately, even if the variation was not officially recognized. Perhaps an entry in the Release Notes noting the apparent extent of this set variation would be a good first step, pending the further research Dan suggested.

Out of the images we have uploaded only 4 have no black line; #8, 14, 21, 39.  All were uploaded by the same member.  Are there any "no black line" cards beyond card #39?  I might look at comc.com.

As far as the front and the Fleer '90 logo.  That's not a variation, just how the different color plates registered when printed. The gap varies on all our front images. 

I agree 100% with everything Shannon says below. I'm tired of seeing "variations" because of an ink blot on the card or "parallel" sets because different print runs of the same set used different shades of cardboard.

If someone decides to split up this Fleer listing I would certainly never bother to check which ones I have to add any resulting missing scans.

RE: the front logo

C2C - play a game. Go to this page: https://www.comc.com/Cards/Basketball/1990-91/Fleer_-_Base/8/Larry_Bird/1401497

Looking at only the front images, guess which ones will not have the black line on the back. When you've guessed on that page, flip them all, and check.

I did this and could spot them every time. Good news, they correspond with the black line cards, so it's not like some are front var and others are back var, and then others are both. It's ither black line and the logo in one spot, or no line and the logo in a different spot. 

On comc.com, cards with both "black line" and "no black line":
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9. 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 35, 39, 40, 41, 42, 86, 87, 98

From the members' inaccuracy report. 

 My list of cards that have no line are: 1-4, 6-16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 26, 29-31, 33-35, 86, 87, 98-100,  

My suggestion would be that if it does get added it should be as a separate checklist to not clutter up the main checklist.