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

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!

A Brief Discussion About 1986 and 1987 Fleer Basketball Print Runs

1986 Fleer basketball cards have become some of the hobby’s most popular collectibles, driven by Michael Jordan’s iconic card #57. 

But many people don’t realize that the 1986 Fleer basketball set was a bit of a dud on release and was treated as “junk wax” for its first few years. Because of this, many deduce, the inferred evidence supports, and some conversations lead us to conclude that Fleer printed the 1987 basketball cards in far lower numbers than the 1986 cards. In the following paragraphs, I’ll share the current thoughts in the hobby about 1986 and 1987 Fleer basketball print runs.

Let me start by saying that all I’m trying to do is piece together some hobby history; Fleer never released print run information directly. No one documented this sort of information, and the people who worked for Fleer or other card companies weren’t necessarily collectors who saved this data; it was just a job for a lot of people.

Earlier in the decade, in 1981, Topps stopped making basketball cards because they were so unpopular, and boxes of Fleer’s 1986 release didn’t sell well either, often not even going for $10 at retail locations, despite being sold directly to dealers for $9 ($108/case).

A collector on a forum noted that a shop owner offered him the 10 1986 Fleer basketball boxes collecting dust on his shelf for $5/box. And I’m told that Fleer also offered full-value refunds for unsold cases. Other collectors and dealers stated you could get them inexpensively in high supply at shows over the next few years.

Reed Kasaoka said that in the late 1990s, a Fleer executive told him that they printed 250k of each card in the 1986 Fleer set (~6400 cases), but based on really disappointing sales numbers, they cut the production rate in half for the 1987 set. And most dealers from this time believe something similar. 

1986 Fleer Basketball Wax Case

Additionally, PSA’s population report is a solid guide as there have been nearly 5x as many 1986 Fleer as 1987 Fleer cards graded. Of course, some of that disparity is based on value after grading, but that’s a huge difference. Plus, at times over the past few years, high-grade 1987 Fleer commons have commanded >$100 prices (when you could grade these cards for $6/each).

In an article about the 1987 Fleer set, Steve Taft noted that there always seemed to be more 1986 Fleer around. One of the set registry collectors agreed, saying that for every box of 1987 Fleer, he saw a lot more 1986s for sale. I also see a lot more 1986 Fleer cards and boxes for sale than 1987 Fleer. A while ago, I searched for “1986 Fleer Basketball” (with some filtering) on eBay, and it returned almost 14k items, while a search for “1987 Fleer Basketball” returned under 8k items – knowing there is some overlap based on people writing “1986/87” in the title.

I don’t think the ‘people are hoarding Fleer product’ argument holds much water here. The hobby, as a whole, was booming by 1986, and there have been a lot of times when the 1986 set was pushing higher in price that would have induced people to sell (Beckett’s first guide, the Bulls championships, Jordan’s retirements, and comebacks, etc.). If a collector had the wherewithal to hoard 1986 Fleer, they probably would have saved some 1987 Fleer, too.

1987 Fleer Basketball Wax Case

In the end, we won’t ever really know how many of each set Fleer printed or how many were returned, thrown out, or saved. However, the stories from dealers and collectors support the notion that Fleer made a lot fewer 1987 basketball cards than 1986. The print run also tells us that the popularity of the 1986 set is primarily demand-driven (no surprise, Jordan is the GOAT). We also shouldn’t be as surprised with 1987 Fleer basketball’s ascending prices over the past few years since they’re more supply-limited.

If you’ve heard stories about the 1986 or 1987 Fleer basketball print runs, please share them in the comments.

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!