What is the value of the 1/1 Stamp?

mouschi

In 1991, Topps ran the first (known to me) buyback program.  To celebrate 40 years, they randomly inserted one of every card from 1957 to 1990 in packs of 1991 Topps.  (The others were redemptions, if I recall correctly.)

Kids and adults alike were VERY excited to get their hands on packs, boxes and cases to join the treasure hunt.  The problem?  It has been said that the buybacks fell about 1 per 24 cases, unbeknownst to us back when they came out.  Imagine opening nearly 500 boxes of 1991 Topps, and your prize is this:

(Note: Nick Esasky is my "go to" object of wrath for some reason.  I don't know why - I have nothing against him personally!)

Let's say the odds are ever in your favor, and you pull something HUGE ... like a 1990 Topps Frank Thomas.  If this happens to you, immediately drive to the corner store to get a lottery ticket.  You would probably jump out of your skin ... yet, it would still only have been for a card worth 50 cents.

Pause:  Have you ever noticed the creepy guy without a face?  What the heck is that about?!  Forget the NNOF ... the regular card is a NFOF.  No joke, I swear a similar guy was in a nightmare I had years ago that I still remember to this day.

With a 1991 Topps Desert Shield PSA 10 complete set recently selling for over $100,000  it made me wonder.  How much is the mighty Topps gold foil stamper actually worth?  It was estimated that about 6,500 or so of each 1991 Topps card were stamped with the Desert Shield logo.

So, the question is this:  If Topps put one of each card in 1991 Topps packs, what would happen to the value of the key cards if they were stamped 1/1?  Yeah, I know buybacks have flooded the market recently, but this predates most (if not all) other buybacks by several years.

Could you imagine?  The first buybacks ... stamped 1/1 ... of key rookies.  How much does this 50 cent card skyrocket in value to?

What about the rookies of Rickey Henderson, Cal Ripken Jr., Bo Jackson, Tony Gwynn, Roger Clemens?  This stamped buyback would have been a different animal, because it is quite possible that many of these would not have even been pulled in our lifetime.  There are more than likely BILLIONS of 1991 Topps out there.

So, what would you speculate the pricing of some of these to be?  Did you ever pull anything from 1991 Topps or hear of anyone who did?

daltex

Cards worth over a certain amount were also redemptions.

Alex Relyea

Estil

Any of those redemption cards still exist? I'm curious as to what they look like.

And yeah that was a big oversight of Topps for not stamping the 40th anniversary logo on the inserts.

ergoism

This reminds me of one of my favorite childhood collecting stories. Nine year old me was in a grocery store in my hometown in 1991 looking at the unopened pack selection deciding which pack I could beg my parents to buy. A kid in his late teens was there and he turned to me and said “Did you know Topps randomly inserted old cards into these packs?” I had no idea as I had only ripped them open instead of ever reading the wrapper. He reached into the box of jumbo packs, grabbed a pack, and said, “Here, try this one.” I bought the pack, ran to the car, and ripped it open. Inside was a 1968 Topps common and my mind was absolutely blown. The earliest card I owned at the time was from 1987 so I felt so special having this "old" card in my humble collection. I've always only been able to speculate how the hell that kid handed me the right pack.

About 6 years ago I wanted to try it again and I thought I bought a case of 1991 Topps wax on eBay for $100 but it ended up being vending. I still have it and use the cards for packing material sometimes.
If those cards had been stamped 1/1, the value of unopened 1991 Topps product would probably be exponential what it is today.

Has anyone ever seen a redemption card from that set? I don't think I've ever seen an image of one. I'd love to see what they looked like and how they noted which card was won.