An Official Letter About How Many 1991 Topps Desert Shield Cards Were Made

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In late summer/early fall 2022, a memo from The Topps Company was circulated around social media, documenting the size of the 1991 Topps Desert Shield print run. Many collectors and dealers have guessed at its size in the past, but we have never had source documentation directly from Topps.

1991 Topps Desert Shield #79 Frank Thomas

The 1991 Topps Desert Shield set has become an incredibly popular set, and many had speculated at its print run. Mile High Card Company auctioned off the #1 set from the PSA Registry for $106k back in March 2018. They explained that the cards were distributed in wax packs sent to troops in the Middle East during Operation Desert Shield. They wrote that the cards were identical to the 1991 Topps set, but each had a gold foil stamp embossed with a shield and palm tree with the words “Operation Desert Shield” underneath. They estimated that Topps produced less than 6500 of each card. 

Sports Collectors Daily also wrote that Topps printed approximately 6500-7000 of each card but that sources on the exact distribution varied. However, they noted that many of the cards were discarded. 

A collector on a Facebook forum shared the following image about the cards.

Dealer Letter about 1991 Topps Desert Shield

This seller noted that Topps printed around 6300 cards for each player and that they thought about half of the cards were destroyed because no one knew they would be valuable. So troops told this collector/dealer that few went to mail call to pick any up and that most were trashed in the dumpster, used to make fires, or given to the locals. So he thinks a high estimate of 3000 of each card remains, but I’m not sure the numbers are even that high. The set’s most expensive card is the Chipper Jones rookie, and its PSA-graded population is just 935. Ultimately, many Desert Shield cards are worth grading, but their populations are minuscule compared to that 3000 card estimate.

Anyway, here is the recently discovered memo from December 21, 1990, directly from the Topps company to its employees.

The Topps Company Letter About Desert Shield Cards

It says, “Dear Fellow Employee: As most of you know, we recently produced 500 cases of baseball cards, specially embossed ‘Operation Desert Shield’, for our troops in Saudi Arabia. Thank you for the terrific cooperation we received on this project. Enclosed is a sample card for you yourself to own. Let it symbolize Topps’ pride in these brave men and women and the prayers of us all for peace. Have a Happy Holiday, a Healthy New Year and come back to us safe and sound.”

So now we know that Topps printed 500 cases of 1991 Topps Desert Shield cards. At 20 boxes per case, 36 packs per box, and 15 cards per pack, for a 792-card set (6 equal sheets of 132 cards), that’s just over 6800 for each card. 

1991 Topps Desert Shield #150 Cal Ripken Jr.

How many of those cards made it overseas, and how many made it back? I’d love to hear what you think in the comments. If you have more information about 1991 Topps Desert Shield cards, please reach out to me; happy collecting!

The PSA 8 Graded 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle Sotheby’s Auctioned In 2005

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In June 2005, Sotheby’s offered this gorgeous PSA 8 graded 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle in their Important Sports Memorabilia and Cards catalog. The expected sales price was $40-50k! It’s now a million-dollar card after changing hands at least two more times!

I’m unsure what Sotheby’s sold the card for, or if it changed hands again, but in November 2014, it showed up in SCP’s Fall Premier Auction, where it sold for $268k.

Then, in May 2017, Memory Lane had the same card in their Spring Holy Grail Rarities Auction, where it sold for $462k.

I’m unsure if that buyer sold it since, but the PSA Card page for the cert shows that it was re-slabbed. Behold, over a million dollars in its plastic tomb!

It would be pretty cool if someone would trace the lineage of all the high-grade (PSA and SGC 8+) 1952 Mickey Mantle cards. It’s sort of just happened that I’ve started such a task with the T206 Wagner cards:

Happy Collecting!

The Set That Never Was – The 1976-77 HRT/RES 1947 Bowman Baseball Cards

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Ted Taylor and Bob Schmierer created three series of 1947 Bowman Baseball cards in 1976 and 1977 to promote the 2nd and 3rd Philly Baseball Card Shows! They placed this advertisement in the July 1976 issue of The Trader Speaks to promote the show and cards!

Here’s what The Standard Catalog has to say about the 1976-77 HRT / RES 1947 Bowman Baseball Cards:

Advertised as “The Set That Never Was,” this collectors’ issue from Ted Taylor and Bob Schmierer used a 2-1/8” x 2-1/2” black-and-white format and gray cardboard stock to replicate the feel of the first post-WWII baseball cards. The set was issued in three series with advertising on back promoting the second (1976) and third (1977) annual EPSCC ‘Philly’ shows. Series one (#1-49) was issued in 1976; series two (#50-81) and three (#82-113) were 1977 issues.

PSA has graded more of these than I expected, considering it’s a bit of an odd collectors’ issue. There are 32 total PSA-graded cards across the 113-card set; here’s an example of one I found on eBay, card #17, in the 1st series, Jackie Robinson.

I found two complete sets for sale on eBay (January 2025); one was asking $295, and the other $285.

The $295 set included a T206 Honus Wagner promotional card, a sort of 114th card.

The seller of the $295 set also added a bit more information. First, they mentioned that the set was patterned after the 1948 Bowman baseball cards; surprisingly, The Standard Catalog didn’t write that; maybe it’s too obvious. They also said that Ted Taylor was HRT and Robert Schmierer was RES, adding that they printed 2000 series one sets while limiting series two and three to just 1000 sets each.

Happy collecting!

PSA’s Alleged 1964 Kahn’s Wieners Jerry Lucas Variation: Real or Not?

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I’m a big fan of the Kahn’s Wieners series of basketball cards, printed each year from 1957 through 1965, and I’ve highlighted Jerry West’s Kahn’s Wieners cards in a dedicated article. But the 1964 Kahn’s Wieners Jerry Lucas card has piqued my curiosity lately. 

1964 Kahn’s Wieners Jerry Lucas

You see, PSA’s checklist says there are windows open and no windows visible versions of the Lucas card. And in their article about the series of Kahn’s Wieners cards, regarding the 1964 Jerry Lucas cards, PSA writes that “There are also two variations of the Lucas card. One pictures him in a shot with windows open in the background, while a second doesn’t have the windows. The “no windows” version is so rare that there hasn’t been an example submitted for grading to PSA and it’s not part of the Master Set on the PSA Set Registry.”

But here’s the thing: I don’t think the card exists; I’ve never seen one.

The hobby hasn’t written much about vintage basketball cards, particularly oddball ones. One guide I’ve used for research showed two Lucas cards, but they listed one version as Three Windows Showing and the other as Four Windows Showing. This makes sense to me, given that all the cards that have been on the market for the last few years are cropped a little differently. Here are a few examples of the 1964 Kahn’s Wieners Jerry Lucas card, each showing the windows a little differently in the background. 

1964 Kahn’s Wieners Jerry Lucas
1964 Kahn’s Wieners Jerry Lucas
1964 Kahn’s Wieners Jerry Lucas
1964 Kahn’s Wieners Jerry Lucas
1964 Kahn’s Wieners Jerry Lucas

You can see that each card has at least some windows open as if the photographer snapped two photos from slightly different distances that were then each “miscut” a little when printed. When you compare the two raw images above, in the one with four windows visible, Lucas’ left arm appears higher (even with his chin), and his left arm is lower than his chin in the three windows visible raw copy; however, that’s not a consistent fact when you look at the graded copies (the second graded card has a partial fourth window with a lower left arm).

Another collector described the cards as follows: “There are clearly two different shots here: the ball is positioned differently in each, along with Lucas’ eyeline and chin.  Different croppings result in 4 windows vs. 3, but the real variation is in the ball position.”

It’s also possible vintage catalogers mixed up a few Kahn’s sets. As I said earlier, there hasn’t been a lot of vintage basketball card documentation like there has been for baseball. That has led to a few mistakes by the major third-party graders. A few Kahn’s Wieners basketball cards have the wrong year printed on the flip since, many times, Kahn’s only made subtle changes to their design year to year. And, if you look at the 1965 Kahn’s Wiener Jerry Lucas card, you can see that no windows are visible (however, the 1965 card is slightly smaller and has red text, instead of black, on the back). 

1965 Kahn’s Wieners Jerry Lucas

A photographer could have shot the photos for the two cards (1964 and 1965) on the same day. They have a similar general appearance, so perhaps someone making a price guide or catalog mistakenly thought they were part of the same set.

There is also the possibility that a card cataloger meant that the No Windows version of the 1964 card was really a No 4th Window Visible (cropped in) version.

Anywho, a collector on Net54 also speculated that the two 1964 Kahn’s Wieners Jerry Lucas card variations should be Three Windows Open and Four Windows Open. If we have to differentiate these subtle variations, that’s a viable pick, or we could use arm/ball position. But I don’t think a 1964 Kahn’s Wieners Jerry Lucas No Windows variation exists. If you have more information, please let me know in the comments. 

Happy collecting!

Rarity and Intrigue: The 1954 Bowman Metal Printers Sheet with Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams

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Here’s an item you don’t see every day: a 1954 Bowman baseball metal printers sheet with Mickey Mantle and, next to him, one of the set’s rarities, Ted Williams! But guess what? It’s got a twin, but I don’t know where either is anymore!

The unique sheet was lot 152 in the 1995 National Sports Collectors Convention Auction, presented by Bill Mastro as “The Best of Yesterday.”

They included a slightly larger photo of the Mantle and Williams cards, too.

Here’s the lots complete description:

1954 BOWMAN BASEBALL METAL PRINTERS SHEET WITH #66 TED WILLIAMS
26 inches by 36 inches metal printers sheet with 32 cards on it (8 across, 4 down) in the upper left corner is Mickey Mantle and immediately to his right is the rarest of all Bowman baseball cards -#66 Ted Williams, many years ago two of these exact sheets turned up, one of which now resides in the Halper collection, the offered sheet has numerous holes and spotting and although it lacks visual appeal it more than makes up for its condition defects with its extreme rarity, framed properly would surely add to its attractiveness, very good condition. MINIMUM BID: 900.00

It’s interesting that Bowman would have made two of these sheets; maybe they weren’t identical. Also, if you weren’t aware, according to BaseballCardPedia, “In 1954, Topps signed an exclusive contract with Ted Williams, which forced Bowman to pull card #66 of Williams from its set. Bowman replaced #66 with a card of Jimmy Piersall who was also featured on card #210.”

Interestingly, I haven’t been able to track down any “regular” 32-card 1954 Bowman baseball uncut sheets, just this absolutely incredible proof sheet from portland_uncut_sheets on Instagram.

But I did find that Heritage sold a 4-card uncut panel featuring Mantle, Wiliams, Mueller, and Gilliam in the same layout as the metal sheet. It sold for $13,145 in May 2016.

Robert Edward Auctions then re-sold the same sheet for just $6k in the fall of 2018. They highlighted that it was cut down from a larger 32-card production sheet

It doesn’t look like a salesman sample; those had a diamond/square sticker on the back, and the 4-card panel shows no evidence of sticker removal. Of course, it could have been intended as a sample but never used as one. Here’s an example of the back of a 1954 Bowman Salesemen’s Sample:

Happy collecting! And check out more uncut sheets on the archive!

A Look Back at the 1952 Topps Partial Uncut Sheet Auctioned at the 1992 National

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Superior Galleries auctioned off this awesome 1952 Topps partial uncut sheet of 12 triple-printed cards via the 13th National Sports Collectors Convention Auction in July 1992. I’d love to find a copy in color!

First, here’s the sheet’s complete description:

1952 Topps Partial Uncut Sheet of 12 Cards. This unique sheet has a triple-printed image on each card. Extremely difficult uncut sheet to acquire. Contains the following triple-printed cards: Johnny Mize, Jackie Jenson. This sheet must be seen to be appreciated. A great item for you uncut sheet collectors. Overall Excellent condition with some creases and some partial cards. Estimated Value $1200-2000.

There are a few of these in the hobby; in November 2013, Heritage sold this 9-card example for $1,673 (the back was also multi-printed).

Then, a few years later, in August 2015, they sold these multi-printed panels for $334 (which today feels like a robbery by the buyer!)

And in the spring of 2020, REA sold this double print error uncut panel for $1,680.

How many of these came from the same printing? I have no idea! But to learn more about 1952 Topps uncut sheets, I highly recommend the article What In The Wide World Of Sports Is Going On Here? by The Topps Archives.

Also, check out The Uncut Sheet Archive for more items like these, and happy collecting!

Collecting the Jerry West Kahn’s Wieners Basketball Cards

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Basketball fans know Jerry West as a great player and a highly successful NBA executive. And a lot of collectors treat his 1961 Fleer basketball as his rookie card. However, others feel the 1960 Kahn’s Wiener card, which predated the Fleer release by a year, to be his true rookie card. Whether or not a regional oddball qualifies as a rookie card, the Kahn’s card is pretty incredible. They went on to make three more Jerry West basketball cards as well. Still, they can be tough to classify when in raw form, so I’m going to run down Kahn’s basketball sets, explain the differences between each of the four cards, and discuss a few more details about West’s four Kahn’s Wieners basketball cards.

Kahn’s Wieners released basketball sets between 1957 and 1965. They’re one of the few basketball food issues of the era and are pretty rare, particularly in excellent condition. That’s because Kahn’s was a Cincinnati-based meat processing and distribution company (now owned by Tyson Foods) that packaged the cards with hot dogs. 

Given their regionality, Kahn’s sets featured players of the Cincinnati Royals. However, for four years, they also included a card of Jerry West (1960-1963). It’s suspected because he was from the area (West Virginia) or as a brilliant marketing move, as West was a really popular player.

The first Jerry West card that Kahn’s Wieners released was in 1960.

1960 Kahn’s Wiener’s Jerry West – Front
1960 Kahn’s Wiener’s Jerry West – Reverse

The front of the card features a black-and-white photo, West’s facsimile autograph, and Kahn’s slogan along the bottom. The rest of the 1960 Kahn’s cards had player vitals, a short biography, and statistics. But the back of West’s 1960 Kahn’s basketball card had vitals and a more extended biography because he hadn’t yet played a season. I like how they projected West being a star for years to come.

The 1960 Kahn’s Wieners Jerry West is a BIG card for major basketball collectors, particularly those who consider it his true rookie card. The PSA 8 pictured above sold for $21,600 in Robert Edward Auctions’ Spring 2017 auction. PSA has graded 33 of these Jerry West cards.

The 1961 Kahn’s Wieners Jerry West card used the same photograph as the 1960 card but has a smaller facsimile autograph in black ink. Also, the backs of 1961 Kahn’s Wieners cards are blank.

1961 Kahn’s Wiener’s Jerry West – Front
1961 Kahn’s Wiener’s Jerry West – Reverse

The 1961 Jerry West card is slightly less scarce than the 1960 card; PSA has graded 43 of them. Here are a few historical sales: $540 for a PSA 1 in September 2022, $900 for a PSA 2 in March 2022, $244 for a PSA 2 (MK) in October 2020, $179 for a PSA 6 (MK) in September 2018, and $3861 for a PSA 9 back in 2012.

In 1962, Kahn’s Jerry West card used a new image. The back of West’s card has a short biography but no statistics, like the other Kahn’s cards that year.

1962 Kahn’s Wiener’s Jerry West – Front
1962 Kahn’s Wiener’s Jerry West – Reverse

PSA has only graded 34 1962 Kahn’s Jerry West oddball basketball cards, and the last public sale I could find was a PSA 3 at Robert Edwards Auctions for $930 in July 2021.

In 1963, Kahn used the same photo of West as they did in 1962. However, the 1963 Kahn basketball cards have a white border around the front. Also, the facsimile autograph on the front of the card is in white text in 1963, instead of the black used on West’s 1962 card. Be aware that I have seen a mislabeled Kahn’s Jerry West basketball card on the market where PSA got the year wrong.

1963 Kahn’s Wiener’s Jerry West – Front
1963 Kahn’s Wiener’s Jerry West – Reverse

PSA has authenticated 29 1963 Kahn’s Wieners Jerry West basketball cards. In September 2022, Memory Lane Inc. sold a PSA 1 for $300, which Goldin had also sold (the exact same card) for $300 in January 2022. A PSA 3 sold for $300 in May 2017, and a PSA 9 sold for over $5k in December 2014. 

While these Kahn’s cards don’t get as much respect in the market as Fleer and Topps do, the Jerry West cards are great, and it’s undeniable that Kahn’s had successful regional runs with these sets. So, if you’re looking for a challenge in the hobby, getting your hands on all four of Jerry West’s Kahn’s cards is probably just behind the difficulty of getting a bunch of the in-era George Mikan oddballs.

Happy collecting!