Rare Barry Bonds rookie card on Ebay

coolstanley

Nope, its not mine.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1987-O-Pee-Chee-OPC-320-Barry-Bonds-RC-Rookie-BGS-10-Pristine-Holy-Grail/373129743554?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

baz518

Damn! Guessing the black print dot to the right and below the nameplate, is why the surface got a 9.5?

80sOPC

Sheet cut card fwiw

JoeBanzai

Borders look a little too wide. No rough cut.

80sOPC

Because this card doesn’t come out of a pack centred like that. And BGS grades sheet cut which is the only reason it is in that slab.

olb31

@JoeBanzai said:
Borders look a little too wide. No rough cut.

I have many of these and none have the rough cut.

DotStore

There's also a PSA 10 on eBay right now... same black print dot below the nameplate as the BGS version...

80sOPC

There are some cards that just never came from the factory 50/50 centred. This is one of them.

I have my suspicions on who the consignor is - there is a Canadian seller that has/had sheets from all years OPC baseball and hockey. He has been cutting cards forever and getting them in KSA and BGS slabs...has some impossible cards in slabs. These are clearly sheet cut - 50/50 74 opc RC’s that are impossible to find better then 80/20 all of a sudden showing up in PSA 10 slabs = guaranteed sheet cut. No way these cards were sitting in boxes, perfect centering and corners for 45 years.

FWIW I don’t have any issues with this seller. He is not hiding anything, has sheets and cards all for sale. I suspect this is his card.

craig44

@80sOPC said:
There are some cards that just never came from the factory 50/50 centred. This is one of them.

I have my suspicions on who the consignor is - there is a Canadian seller that has/had sheets from all years OPC baseball and hockey. He has been cutting cards forever and getting them in KSA and BGS slabs...has some impossible cards in slabs. These are clearly sheet cut - 50/50 74 opc RC’s that are impossible to find better then 80/20 all of a sudden showing up in PSA 10 slabs = guaranteed sheet cut. No way these cards were sitting in boxes, perfect centering and corners for 45 years.

FWIW I don’t have any issues with this seller. He is not hiding anything, has sheets and cards all for sale. I suspect this is his card.

Thank you for the explanation. I have a few and they do not have a rough cut but are off center

80sOPC

Yes 87 edges are pretty clean but every Bonds I have pulled or seen in O/C. Reggie Cleveland knows this card better then I do and can confirm that these are impossible to find centred.

JoeBanzai

@olb31 said:

@JoeBanzai said:
Borders look a little too wide. No rough cut.

I have many of these and none have the rough cut.

I am sure you do. Just answering the question asked.

Tabe

I know it matters to a lot of people but not to me - I don't care if a card is sheet cut. It's no different than some candy card that was never actually distributed but people have no problem with.

coolstanley

@Tabe said:
I know it matters to a lot of people but not to me - I don't care if a card is sheet cut. It's no different than some candy card that was never actually distributed but people have no problem with.

Same here. It makes no difference. All the grading companies have sheet cut cards in slabs.

80sOPC

I respect that opinion, but if after market cutting is fine I assume you guys are good with trimming as well? Lots of cards are hand cut, so it should follow that trimming is fine as long as the card remains some what to size.

Herein lies the problem.

olb31

@80sOPC said:
There are some cards that just never came from the factory 50/50 centred. This is one of them.

I have my suspicions on who the consignor is - there is a Canadian seller that has/had sheets from all years OPC baseball and hockey. He has been cutting cards forever and getting them in KSA and BGS slabs...has some impossible cards in slabs. These are clearly sheet cut - 50/50 74 opc RC’s that are impossible to find better then 80/20 all of a sudden showing up in PSA 10 slabs = guaranteed sheet cut. No way these cards were sitting in boxes, perfect centering and corners for 45 years.

FWIW I don’t have any issues with this seller. He is not hiding anything, has sheets and cards all for sale. I suspect this is his card.

i actually pulled a psa 10 from a pack that i opened. bought the box from kruk cards. no rough cut and perfectly centered.

ScoobyDoo2

The black print dot is pervasive on all the O-Pee-chee 's. ... I've never seen a Bonds O-pee-chee without the black dot on the bottom.... its similar to the nose dot issue on all Greg Maddux '87 Topps Traded Tiffany's

coolstanley

What's a 86 fleer Jordan BGS 10 sell for?

80sOPC

The PSA card looks pack pulled, it has tilt and is off a hair l/r. I think that is as good as this card gets but I could be wrong.

80sOPC

PSA card, to my eyes anyways, looks like it has wider borders as well.

JoeBanzai

@80sOPC said:
PSA card, to my eyes anyways, looks like it has wider borders as well.

After looking at 8,000 or so 1987 Topps, I feel pretty confident in how much border they should have. Assuming OPC is the same.

I originally thought centering should be judged by the top and side borders as the "name box" didn't seem to be an actual border. The first cards I set aside had equal borders on top and both sides and the bottom border looked small because of the "box".

After looking at how PSA likes 10's to be centered (using the bottom of the "box" for centering) "perfectly" centered cards had wider side borders than the top and bottom borders.

The Maddux card pictured is a good example of when three of the borders are equal either the top or the bottom border is smaller. A little surprised the Maddux got a 10. Looks a bit high to me. Prolly still in the tolerance for a 10. I recently sent in a bulk sub of 87's and none were centered that high.

The Beckett example above looks to have unusually large top and bottom borders, but it sure is a beautiful card. The Topps card looks a bit better, but borders do look a little bigger than they "should"

As has been pointed out, not all OPC Bonds' are going to be off center, just as not all have a rough cut.

Perhaps this one (or these two) is just a little oversized cut from the factory?

Gemyanks10

@80sOPC said:
There are some cards that just never came from the factory 50/50 centred. This is one of them.

I have my suspicions on who the consignor is - there is a Canadian seller that has/had sheets from all years OPC baseball and hockey. He has been cutting cards forever and getting them in KSA and BGS slabs...has some impossible cards in slabs. These are clearly sheet cut - 50/50 74 opc RC’s that are impossible to find better then 80/20 all of a sudden showing up in PSA 10 slabs = guaranteed sheet cut. No way these cards were sitting in boxes, perfect centering and corners for 45 years.

FWIW I don’t have any issues with this seller. He is not hiding anything, has sheets and cards all for sale. I suspect this is his card.

I know who you’re talking about and agree with your entire synopsis.

tkersting

I still think the ‘87 OPC Bonds is an underrated card. I’m partial to the design of 1987 Topps and OPC, plus Bonds rookie, plus the scarcity factor of a nicely center pack pulled OPC equals a really nice modern card.

RiceBondsMntna2Young

I agree that this is very highly likely sheet cut. It's what I thought independently when I saw the listing. We know what 80sOPC is talking about when he says rough cut. The edge shouldn't look like it was cut by a Topps Chrome laser. It doesn't have to be serrated but it should have the normal acceptable imperfections of a card cut in the 80s.

coolstanley

@tkersting said:
I still think the ‘87 OPC Bonds is an underrated card. I’m partial to the design of 1987 Topps and OPC, plus Bonds rookie, plus the scarcity factor of a nicely center pack pulled OPC equals a really nice modern card.

Is 1987 topps baseball the best unopened bargain in the hobby? Has a TON of rookie HOF/HOF candidate cards.

countdouglas

@coolstanley said:

@tkersting said:
I still think the ‘87 OPC Bonds is an underrated card. I’m partial to the design of 1987 Topps and OPC, plus Bonds rookie, plus the scarcity factor of a nicely center pack pulled OPC equals a really nice modern card.

Is 1987 topps baseball the best unopened bargain in the hobby? Has a TON of rookie HOF/HOF candidate cards.

I've been telling everyone that exact same thing since as far back as 1987! 😉

JoeBanzai

@countdouglas said:

@coolstanley said:

@tkersting said:
I still think the ‘87 OPC Bonds is an underrated card. I’m partial to the design of 1987 Topps and OPC, plus Bonds rookie, plus the scarcity factor of a nicely center pack pulled OPC equals a really nice modern card.

Is 1987 topps baseball the best unopened bargain in the hobby? Has a TON of rookie HOF/HOF candidate cards.

I've been telling everyone that exact same thing since as far back as 1987! 😉

I recently ripped 8 vending boxes, 3 wax boxes and a rack case. I got 4 Bo Jackson's and a couple of McGwire's, Ryan's and Canseco's that I sent in that look like 10;s. Not one single well centered Bonds though.

I got the product at a good price, from a local guy so I didn't have to pay for shipping.

To find a perfectly (?) centered card with no print defects is very few and far between.

It's the best "bargain" out there, but there's not many 10's in those packs.

countdouglas

I can't speak to anyone else's experience in the baseball card bubble market of the 80s, but when 1987 product came out, everyone in my area was certain that the unbelievable rookie crop was going to make us all enormously wealthy. Topps was by far the most commonly found, and we would buy it by the case from Sam's Wholesale Club to stock our little baseball card side hussle. We'd also have our moms drive us all over in search of the elusive Donruss and Fleer because Cone and Seitzer were the certain HOFers that weren't included in the Topps issue.

But my goodness, I mean, sure, we all know the names Bonds and Larkin and McGwire and Bo and Joyner and Canseco and Will the Thrill and Palmeiro, but let's not forget some of these other names like:
Ruben Sierra, Andres Galarraga, Greg Swindell, Mike Greenwell, John Kruk, Pete Incaviglia, Dave Magadan, Kevin Mitchell, Kal Daniels, B.J. Surhoff, Bobby Thigpen, Mitch Williams, Kurt Stillwell, Doug Drabek, Bobby Witt, Chuck Finley, Devon White, Jim Deshais, Charlie Kerfeld, Jaime Moyer, Dale Sveum, Tim Pyznarski, Ed Hearn, Chris Bosio, John Cangelosi, Randy Myers. There were the rest of the Future Stars and Rookie Cups.

Most of those names have faded from the collectors' consciousness now, but I bet a LOT of you still have 50 count snap cases with some of those fringe guys tucked away if you were to go looking...

The point being, even in the moment, we just ALL KNEW 1987 was going to be the best year EVER! for baseball cards. The fact that it's cycled back around to being thought of as a great buy in 2020 is the joke, the wink, as some of us have never left those dreams of wealth from the junk era behind. Those memories are as fresh today as they were in 1987. Great times!

1959

well written!

JoeBanzai

@dustinspeaks said:

@coolstanley said:

@tkersting said:
I still think the ‘87 OPC Bonds is an underrated card. I’m partial to the design of 1987 Topps and OPC, plus Bonds rookie, plus the scarcity factor of a nicely center pack pulled OPC equals a really nice modern card.

Is 1987 topps baseball the best unopened bargain in the hobby? Has a TON of rookie HOF/HOF candidate cards.

I've been thinking 1990 topps is the best unopened bargain.

1990 topps has the colored boarders. Similar to 1975. Better than the wood grain IMO. And the lineup is real hot in 1990.

Griffey, ($200) Thomas,($90) Sosa, ($50-100) Walker ($80.00) McGwire ($50-80) are all great cards in PSA 10. Nolan Ryan has several cards that have good value as well.

miwlvrn

@countdouglas said:
I can't speak to anyone else's experience in the baseball card bubble market of the 80s, but when 1987 product came out, everyone in my area was certain that the unbelievable rookie crop was going to make us all enormously wealthy. Topps was by far the most commonly found, and we would buy it by the case from Sam's Wholesale Club to stock our little baseball card side hussle. We'd also have our moms drive us all over in search of the elusive Donruss and Fleer because Cone and Seitzer were the certain HOFers that weren't included in the Topps issue.

But my goodness, I mean, sure, we all know the names Bonds and Larkin and McGwire and Bo and Joyner and Canseco and Will the Thrill and Palmeiro, but let's not forget some of these other names like:
Ruben Sierra, Andres Galarraga, Greg Swindell, Mike Greenwell, John Kruk, Pete Incaviglia, Dave Magadan, Kevin Mitchell, Kal Daniels, B.J. Surhoff, Bobby Thigpen, Mitch Williams, Kurt Stillwell, Doug Drabek, Bobby Witt, Chuck Finley, Devon White, Jim Deshais, Charlie Kerfeld, Jaime Moyer, Dale Sveum, Tim Pyznarski, Ed Hearn, Chris Bosio, John Cangelosi, Randy Myers. There were the rest of the Future Stars and Rookie Cups.

Most of those names have faded from the collectors' consciousness now, but I bet a LOT of you still have 50 count snap cases with some of those fringe guys tucked away if you were to go looking...

The point being, even in the moment, we just ALL KNEW 1987 was going to be the best year EVER! for baseball cards. The fact that it's cycled back around to being thought of as a great buy in 2020 is the joke, the wink, as some of us have never left those dreams of wealth from the junk era behind. Those memories are as fresh today as they were in 1987. Great times!

Funny, the best year for total quantity RC's of HOF'ers in a single year of issuance across all sports has got to be 1990 Hockey. The list of RC's is as long as your baseball list posted above, but instead of a bunch of guys who never panned out, the hockey guys all made it to the Hall, or otherwise will within the next 1 to 3 years. However, there must be millions of each of their cards out there, so in that case, the best players end up being worth the least. I doubt it is realistic to see the dime-a-dozen HOF RC's from 1990 getting a correction like we are seeing with this crazy '80's boom.

coolstanley

@dustinspeaks said:
I've never been a hockey fan. I remember I had multiple boxes of 1990 score hockey at some point in the late 90s. That set was real sweet. Boxes are still cheap. No demand.

No demand probably because no huge star rookie card like Bonds, as with the 87 sets

Kep13

@coolstanley said:

@dustinspeaks said:
I've never been a hockey fan. I remember I had multiple boxes of 1990 score hockey at some point in the late 90s. That set was real sweet. Boxes are still cheap. No demand.

No demand probably because no huge star rookie card like Bonds, as with the 87 sets

hard not to call Brodeur and Jagr huge stars

miwlvrn

@coolstanley said:

@dustinspeaks said:
I've never been a hockey fan. I remember I had multiple boxes of 1990 score hockey at some point in the late 90s. That set was real sweet. Boxes are still cheap. No demand.

No demand probably because no huge star rookie card like Bonds, as with the 87 sets

1990 hockey is full of lots of huge star rookies, including Brodeur and Jagr as mentioned, as well as a lot of others too. The problem is that the supply is ridiculously greater than demand.

coolstanley

@miwlvrn said:

@coolstanley said:

@dustinspeaks said:
I've never been a hockey fan. I remember I had multiple boxes of 1990 score hockey at some point in the late 90s. That set was real sweet. Boxes are still cheap. No demand.

No demand probably because no huge star rookie card like Bonds, as with the 87 sets

1990 hockey is full of lots of huge star rookies, including Brodeur and Jagr as mentioned, as well as a lot of others too. The problem is that the supply is ridiculously greater than demand.

Stars yes, but I meant as in Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr, huge.

miwlvrn

@coolstanley said:

@miwlvrn said:

@coolstanley said:

@dustinspeaks said:
I've never been a hockey fan. I remember I had multiple boxes of 1990 score hockey at some point in the late 90s. That set was real sweet. Boxes are still cheap. No demand.

No demand probably because no huge star rookie card like Bonds, as with the 87 sets

1990 hockey is full of lots of huge star rookies, including Brodeur and Jagr as mentioned, as well as a lot of others too. The problem is that the supply is ridiculously greater than demand.

Stars yes, but I meant as in Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr, huge.

Umm, I hate to break it to you, but Bonds is not Gretzky/Lemieux/Orr huge...

coolstanley

@miwlvrn said:

@coolstanley said:

@miwlvrn said:

@coolstanley said:

@dustinspeaks said:
I've never been a hockey fan. I remember I had multiple boxes of 1990 score hockey at some point in the late 90s. That set was real sweet. Boxes are still cheap. No demand.

No demand probably because no huge star rookie card like Bonds, as with the 87 sets

1990 hockey is full of lots of huge star rookies, including Brodeur and Jagr as mentioned, as well as a lot of others too. The problem is that the supply is ridiculously greater than demand.

Stars yes, but I meant as in Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr, huge.

Umm, I hate to break it to you, but Bonds is not Gretzky/Lemieux/Orr huge...

Lol of course he is. He is the GOAT in the opinion of many. And he certainly holds the records to back that up.

miwlvrn

Yes, but you can't remove the steroid accusations. That is the reason why he won't be regarded among the top tier greats from either a statistical or popularity perspective. Bonds will never be in the same class as guys like Mantle and Aaron, no matter what his home run totals say. The general fans and collectors can't overlook the steroids issue, even though the level of his involvement is debatable. It isn't quite the same situation as you have with Lance Armstrong for example, but it still will keep him down a few notches.

coolstanley

@dustinspeaks said:
If Bonds isn't one of those guys pretty much everything from the 90s is trash. Bonds is the best guy to come out of that era. One of the best of all time. The steroid thing is unfortunate. He never failed a test though. Most of the other guys who are from that era did fail tests. If you remove the steroid accusations from the picture. He is might be the best ever. Arguable. Most guys can't even argue for that title.

Exactly. And steroid accusations were commonplace in NHL locker rooms for years, as well.

miwlvrn

No one would ever consider Gretzky to have a legacy tarnished by steroid accusations.

ReggieCleveland

That thing is definitely sheet cut.

Arthur

ETA: Both of those are the two biggest '87 OPC cards I've ever seen.

gonzer

@miwlvrn said:

_> Bonds will never be in the same class as guys like Mantle and Aaron, no matter what his home run totals say.
_
That's because Mantle and Aaron HAD class and Bonds never did and never will.

coolstanley

@dustinspeaks said:
What do you mean Bonds never had class?

Mantle doesn't exactly have a great reputation outside of baseball.

Aaron is no saint himself.

craig44

@gonzer said:

@miwlvrn said:

_> Bonds will never be in the same class as guys like Mantle and Aaron, no matter what his home run totals say.
_
That's because Mantle and Aaron HAD class and Bonds never did and never will.

Mantle had class?? you have got to be kidding. He was a drunk for crying out loud. a terrible father and a terrible teammate

dontippet

@countdouglas said:
I can't speak to anyone else's experience in the baseball card bubble market of the 80s, but when 1987 product came out, everyone in my area was certain that the unbelievable rookie crop was going to make us all enormously wealthy. Topps was by far the most commonly found, and we would buy it by the case from Sam's Wholesale Club to stock our little baseball card side hussle. We'd also have our moms drive us all over in search of the elusive Donruss and Fleer because Cone and Seitzer were the certain HOFers that weren't included in the Topps issue.

But my goodness, I mean, sure, we all know the names Bonds and Larkin and McGwire and Bo and Joyner and Canseco and Will the Thrill and Palmeiro, but let's not forget some of these other names like:
Ruben Sierra, Andres Galarraga, Greg Swindell, Mike Greenwell, John Kruk, Pete Incaviglia, Dave Magadan, Kevin Mitchell, Kal Daniels, B.J. Surhoff, Bobby Thigpen, Mitch Williams, Kurt Stillwell, Doug Drabek, Bobby Witt, Chuck Finley, Devon White, Jim Deshais, Charlie Kerfeld, Jaime Moyer, Dale Sveum, Tim Pyznarski, Ed Hearn, Chris Bosio, John Cangelosi, Randy Myers. There were the rest of the Future Stars and Rookie Cups.

Most of those names have faded from the collectors' consciousness now, but I bet a LOT of you still have 50 count snap cases with some of those fringe guys tucked away if you were to go looking...

The point being, even in the moment, we just ALL KNEW 1987 was going to be the best year EVER! for baseball cards. The fact that it's cycled back around to being thought of as a great buy in 2020 is the joke, the wink, as some of us have never left those dreams of wealth from the junk era behind. Those memories are as fresh today as they were in 1987. Great times!

Jut to reinforce your point, I think you missed one that was actually quite hot in '87. Cory Snyder.

Don

JoeBanzai

@craig44 said:

@gonzer said:

@miwlvrn said:

_> Bonds will never be in the same class as guys like Mantle and Aaron, no matter what his home run totals say.
_
That's because Mantle and Aaron HAD class and Bonds never did and never will.

Mantle had class?? you have got to be kidding. He was a drunk for crying out loud. a terrible father and a terrible teammate

He was a great teammate, he was a drunk and an absolute disaster as a husband and father.

rsherryjr

Yeah I mean if you are looking at an athlete for anything other than the way he plays a sport its a mistake. I personally dont care what type of person they are or what they believe in politically. They live a very different life than most of us.

RailsideCards

sells for $12,601 + $50 shipping

SammyC

Too skinny... i meant Bond... not the card