Interesting Read on 1990 Topps George Bush + Musings
mouschi
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This article is a mere 4 years old today, but I've never seen it and enjoyed the read, as well as the questions that it kicked up in my head.
**Cliff's notes: **The story on this card is that 100 were made and specifically presented to/for the White House. The quantity has been challenged, as Topps sheets typically have 132 on them, and some card shop owners in Illinois claimed to pull one from a pack, even though Topps claimed it as being impossible. A former Topps employee also took 70 copies and sold them privately.
Here is where it gets interesting.
A former governer/white house chief of staff submitted some of these to PSA for grading. PSA thought they were odd, because they all had an amateurish looking glossy cover that sloppily overlapped the edges of the card. This was different than what the others they had seen in the past looked like (regular issue 1990 Topps card stock and finish).
PSA reached out to the former Topps CEO Arthur Shorin (pictured above) to investigate further. He had a copy of this card that was signed by Bush, and sure enough, his had the same coating. The signature was on top of the coating.
Based upon these two things, while they believe both non glossy and glossy to be authentic, PSA concluded that the glossy versions were the only ones that made their way to the White House. Because of these assumptions, they place a distinction of "White House Issue" nowadays on the PSA label for the ones that are glossy.
While there is a visible distinction between the two, it is interesting that perhaps the journey of the card may in fact increase the value of the cards themselves. As a collector, I can see the draw and interest in cards that were at the White House, even though they are essentially the same card, though one appears to have an amateurish laminate on them, which would otherwise be counted as having destroyed the card.
PSA made another interesting note that most high grade T206 cards you see likely did not sit in dingy tobacco containers for years, but rather may have come from uncirculated circumstances. Same with the '50s food issues. A high grade 1954 Wilson's Franks card was probably not pulled from a hotdog package either.
Anyway, many interesting thoughts go through my mind here. Some of the most fun hobby stories are due to controversy, whether they be from the back story of the 2010 Upper Deck buyback anniversary stamped cards, the pacific bankruptcy plates, or various Topps test issues - it is all great fun to learn about, but it makes me wonder why/where/how/who draws the line for what when it comes to crossing the line from being worthless to significantly more valuable than a regular version.
Comments
What is the story with the 2010 UD buybacks?
Interesting read, thank you for sharing.
I could have bought the card in the Illinois card shop for $1. I went to that shop all the time and he got a box from an employee about 2 weeks before it hit the market. He made a board with a bunch of cards from the box on it. Some guy sued him saying he offered to sell it to him for a quarter or something and then found out it was worth a lot and wouldn't give it to him. There was an article in People magazine. Lee Hull owned the shop and I played softball with him back then. Card was tied up in litigation for a long time. Never quite sure what the ruling on that one was.
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This is from memory, but here goes ...
In 2009, Upper deck inserted 20th anniversary stamped buyback 1989 Upper deck cards. In 2010, Upper Deck came out with a series 1 baseball card, but because of a loss of license, they couldn't come out with a series 2. They randomly inserted 2010 Exquisite cards in the packs. Many were numbered to 50, 75 and 100, yet it is assumed that only 5 or less of each exist. That is off topic a bit though - back to the buybacks...
Someone popped up online years ago stating they purchased some factory sets of 1990 Upper Deck. When he opened them, every single one of them had a 20th anniversary buyback hologram stamp. While these were on sell sheets, no one else had ever heard about them until that point. I have one, and can vouch that it was certainly not a home job. Was it a rogue employee who stole these and made up a story of how he got them? Did they somehow purposely make their way to market through other unscrupulous means? No idea, but a VERY low percentage of collectors know about them.
Great info as always. Can you please post some pictures. I'd love to see this.
nice article thank u
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You bet! Here is a pack pulled 1989 from 2009 Upper Deck:
and here is one that was unreleased. From everything I've heard, it is likely that there are only 3 or so total of these.
Mind blown. Thank you.
Thanx Tanner.
Good question buddy. I've always wondered that?
When these first surfaced they were hard to find. Supposedly because only 100 to 120 were made and all given to the President. But then they started to show up more often and I thought it was peculiar none were autographed if they all originated from the White House. Then it was said the ones given to the president were glossy and the ones without gloss made it to market via Topps employees, maybe from proof sheets. I have seen some glossies with autos, which would make sense if the above tales are true. Mine is non glossy, and since I am not an auto guy, that's fine by me.
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