Any unopened collectors collect Donruss Canadian?
ReggieCleveland
Posts: 3,818 ✭✭✭✭✭
I've been going through my collection recently and came across a lot of obscure items that I picked up -- stuff that only someone as neurotic as me would be interested in -- and thought I would throw out a thread to see if there are any other people collecting it as well. Specifically, late-80s/early-90s Donruss Canadian.
While Leaf stopped producing Canadian-specific sets after 1988, they continued to package Donruss for the Canadian market through at least 1991. I first learned about Canadian Donruss right here on CU in one of the Aqueous Test threads. Someone had mentioned that the first surfacing of Aqueous Test cards were packaged in Canadian Donruss wrappers. This piqued my interest since I had never heard of them before and I began searching relentlessly for them. I'm a big fan of variations and oddball items so this was right up my alley. Since that time I've been able to find Donruss Canadian boxes and packs from 1989, 1990, and both series in 1991.
Unlike Fleer Canadian, the Donruss cards themselves have no identifiable markings (that I can tell) that would separate them from their American counterpart. But the wrappers, boxes, and cases have slight differences. The most obvious difference is the card count on the pack -- 15 cards for America and 10 cards for Canada, as seen below.
The 1990 box doesn't appear to have any noticeable difference from the American box but they are smaller and that would be apparent if you had one sitting next to an American box. The 1989 boxes do have different markings on the back panels, as seen below.
American 1989 Donruss box
Canadian 1989 Donruss box
I've never come across a case for 1989 or 1991 but I was able to pickup the one case of 1990 that I found. There are 12 boxes in it (I've yet to see a 12-box American case) and it appears to have it's own product code.
Gauging rarity is difficult. First, it's really only something that can be collected in unopened form. Second, demand is, as you might guess, almost nonexistent. Are they truly rare or do they just never come up for sale because no one cares? In my searches I spoke to a few dozen Canadian dealers and almost all of them had American Donruss wax so it wasn't a case of everyone in Canada getting the Canadian Donruss. This was also the case with a few O-Pee-Chee issues as almost all of them reported having Topps product, which helps explain why issues like 1989 and 1990 O-Pee-Chee are so difficult to find. So it appears that some dealers/retailers got American and some got Canadian.
There's at least one other person as crazy as I out there as the one time I remember an unopened dealer having Donruss Canadian in stock we both hopped on it at the same time. I got most of the 1989 and they got most of the 1991. One interesting tidbit is that when I opened a few boxes of 1989 to try and find any noticeable difference in the cards themselves, I was lucky enough to find a 1989 Donruss Canadian pack with the Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card on back. Which, for someone with my niche interests, was something of a thrill.
Anyway, thanks for letting me ramble and if that one other person out there that's collecting these happens to read this, shoot me a PM and we can compare notes.
Arthur
While Leaf stopped producing Canadian-specific sets after 1988, they continued to package Donruss for the Canadian market through at least 1991. I first learned about Canadian Donruss right here on CU in one of the Aqueous Test threads. Someone had mentioned that the first surfacing of Aqueous Test cards were packaged in Canadian Donruss wrappers. This piqued my interest since I had never heard of them before and I began searching relentlessly for them. I'm a big fan of variations and oddball items so this was right up my alley. Since that time I've been able to find Donruss Canadian boxes and packs from 1989, 1990, and both series in 1991.
Unlike Fleer Canadian, the Donruss cards themselves have no identifiable markings (that I can tell) that would separate them from their American counterpart. But the wrappers, boxes, and cases have slight differences. The most obvious difference is the card count on the pack -- 15 cards for America and 10 cards for Canada, as seen below.
The 1990 box doesn't appear to have any noticeable difference from the American box but they are smaller and that would be apparent if you had one sitting next to an American box. The 1989 boxes do have different markings on the back panels, as seen below.
American 1989 Donruss box
Canadian 1989 Donruss box
I've never come across a case for 1989 or 1991 but I was able to pickup the one case of 1990 that I found. There are 12 boxes in it (I've yet to see a 12-box American case) and it appears to have it's own product code.
Gauging rarity is difficult. First, it's really only something that can be collected in unopened form. Second, demand is, as you might guess, almost nonexistent. Are they truly rare or do they just never come up for sale because no one cares? In my searches I spoke to a few dozen Canadian dealers and almost all of them had American Donruss wax so it wasn't a case of everyone in Canada getting the Canadian Donruss. This was also the case with a few O-Pee-Chee issues as almost all of them reported having Topps product, which helps explain why issues like 1989 and 1990 O-Pee-Chee are so difficult to find. So it appears that some dealers/retailers got American and some got Canadian.
There's at least one other person as crazy as I out there as the one time I remember an unopened dealer having Donruss Canadian in stock we both hopped on it at the same time. I got most of the 1989 and they got most of the 1991. One interesting tidbit is that when I opened a few boxes of 1989 to try and find any noticeable difference in the cards themselves, I was lucky enough to find a 1989 Donruss Canadian pack with the Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card on back. Which, for someone with my niche interests, was something of a thrill.
Anyway, thanks for letting me ramble and if that one other person out there that's collecting these happens to read this, shoot me a PM and we can compare notes.
Arthur
0
Comments
This is true. While you do have differences in the packaging, the cards are all basic Donruss.
1991 Fleer did the same thing. The 1991 Fleer were packaged 48 packs/box where the US version only has 36 and the cards are all the same.
And is it me, or are cases from Kruk Cards always opened?
Arthur
<< <i>I'm a fan of 1990 donruss and would love a box to open for research purposes. I have somewhere, recorded 1990 Donruss error and variation info from boxes I opened. If these are cheap, I'd be interested. >>
They've been cheap when I found them. But I've only found them twice in about 3 years.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
Collecting:
Any unopened Baseball cello and rack packs and boxes from the 1970's and early 1980s.
<< <i>Great read Arthur. Similar to you, but only with the 1980's I like to collect cards in packaging that were not as readily available such as the 1983 Donruss rack packs with the cards showing as opposed to the much more common wax pack racks. Half the fun is the hunt for this stuff and the excitement when it actually shows up someplace. >>
1983 Donruss racks with cards showing - These don't come up very often like the racks with the sealed packs like you said.
I was lucky enough to pick up 60 racks a couple weeks ago
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
Collecting:
Any unopened Baseball cello and rack packs and boxes from the 1970's and early 1980s.
<< <i>I have to say, it wasn't my intention, but if this thread turned into an oddball 1980s unopened thread I'd be pretty happy. >>
It is a niche within a niche.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
Collecting:
Any unopened Baseball cello and rack packs and boxes from the 1970's and early 1980s.
<< <i>
<< <i>Great read Arthur. Similar to you, but only with the 1980's I like to collect cards in packaging that were not as readily available such as the 1983 Donruss rack packs with the cards showing as opposed to the much more common wax pack racks. Half the fun is the hunt for this stuff and the excitement when it actually shows up someplace. >>
1983 Donruss racks with cards showing - These don't come up very often like the racks with the sealed packs like you said.
I was lucky enough to pick up 60 racks a couple weeks ago
>>
I am looking for one with a Gwynn showing if anyone has one.
Website
<< <i>Printed in USA. To the best of my knowledge, there's no difference between the Aerican and Canadian cards themselves. It's all packaging. >>
Interesting that these aren't mentioned in he standard catalog at all. I wonder if it is because there is no difference?
<< <i>
<< <i>Printed in USA. To the best of my knowledge, there's no difference between the Aerican and Canadian cards themselves. It's all packaging. >>
Interesting that these aren't mentioned in he standard catalog at all. I wonder if it is because there is no difference? >>
I would imagine that's exactly the reason. It's a packaging variant, like Michigan Test wrappers.
Arthur
buying O-Pee-Chee (OPC) baseball
<< <i>Is it possibe to pull the errors (All-Star, Ryan, Baines, etc.) from these packs? >>
No idea. I've been able to find 1990 only twice -- once was the sealed case and once was a complete wax box. I think I opened one pack of 1990 to look for differences in the cards but didn't pull anything that would have determined if the errors were in the packs.
Arthur
Thought I would revive this thread and let people know that I finally got the Griffey pack graded and it's up on eBay for anyone that might be interested. After the 8 years since this thread was started, my two Griffeys are still the only two I'm aware of existing. If you have one, please chime in so I know.
Also some Leaf (Clemens RC, Bonds RC) and O-Pee-Chee (Bonds RC) showing on packs if that tickles your fancy. Lots of 1977 Stars Wars, too, including a super tough Series 1 '77 O-Pee-Chee pack.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/175894192061
Thanks for looking and let me know if I can answer any questions.
Arthur
89 pack w/Griffey added to my eBay watch list. My only experience with Donruss Canadian was around 1996 when I opened a 1991 Series 2 wax box. As mentioned above, cards are regular Donruss printed in USA. Still a fun rip and I have 1 unopened pack remaining from that box. Wish I had kept the box unopened, as it seems that these don't come up for sale very often.
buying O-Pee-Chee (OPC) baseball
It's been my experience that none of the three years are easy to find. I haven't found any more since this thread went up. But the least I've found has been 1991. I found one box of Series 1 and one box of Series 2 and that's it. I suspect with the amount of product produced in 1991 that many Canadian vendors ended up with the American version.
Arthur
Cool listing, any chance you will ship to Canada?
I should have the listings set up to show that I'll ship worldwide but if they're not showing it, yes, I'll ship to Canada. Thanks for your interest!
Arthur
Ok cool, ty
ick.. Canadian cards.. ick.
one billion % better than Mexico cards I guess
Well I won the OPC Bonds. Sent you a request for invoice on eBay.
Someone had contacted me about buying my sealed '90 case back when this thread was bumping and I can't find the PM. If you're reading this, please reach out to me again. Thanks
Arthur