Just how rare is the 1990 Topps Frank Thomas NNOF?

[JoshHamilton]

I know a pretty good amount about the card and probably the best guess as to how it was released. I think it was inserted in to a late factory set print run only distributed at Sears around Christmas time. The only person I've talked to who can confirm where theirs came from says he got a factory set from Sears as a gift and didn't even discover it until he opened the set several years later. I myself have busted wax, cello, rack, and both hobby and mass marketer retail sets (Kmart, etc) and have never found one. No one else I know has ever pulled the card from any normal outlet either

The card has always been of interest to me and I've always wanted to pick one up. I've seen two that were graded by PRO or USA (albeit long ago before they were associated with trimmers). I passed on both because I don't trust either company. The only other decent graded one I've seen was a PSA 8 a few years ago, which I got outbid on around $600 or so. There are two on Ebay right now, both overpriced (PSA 6.5 and SGC 92)

Just how rare are these? I have my guess that they're around as tough or possibly slightly easier to find than the 1990 Topps GH Bush promo. There are 100 of those

 

[scotty21690]

Very rare....can't tell you the PR, but yeah very rare!

 

[nborton]

No joke story here. Back in 1990 my brother had one. He was about 8 at the time. He went to show it to my dad because it had no name on the front. At the time I don't think anyone knew about them in the way we do now. Anyway, he set it down where there was construction going on to enclose our garage, and it got built into the wall as far as we know. Because days later he mentioned setting it down in an area that was then enclosed with a wall. I bet someone could go into our old house and find it years later. :lol:

I don't think we thought much of it at the time because printing issues were pretty common back then. I still have quite a few 90 Donruss errors around.

I do think it's a possibility he got it out of a set. I'm not 100% certain, but he did get one as a present from my dad. I never saw it pulled from the actual set, so it could have come from a pack as well since we bought a ton of cards back in the day.

 

[Philip J. Fry]

The downside to that card is the fact that it is very easy to produce a fake. Sure, there are ways to tell it apart, but find an unsuspecting victim and they won't be able to tell the difference.

 

[nborton]

The downside to that card is the fact that it is very easy to produce a fake. Sure, there are ways to tell it apart, but find an unsuspecting victim and they won't be able to tell the difference.

Yeah, that's why it's one of the "must buy graded" cards.

 

[scotty21690]

I found this in someones bucket...is it a board member??

 

[magicpapa]

dang and i had to go buy 2 sets of 90 score from sears that year, lol :lol:

 

[nborton]

I found this in someones bucket...is it a board member??

That's a nice copy for sure.

Just thinking. Does anyone else think it makes the top 5 cards of the 90s?

 

[AKA Coastal]

I found this in someones bucket...is it a board member??

That's a nice copy for sure.

Just thinking. Does anyone else think it makes the top 5 cards of the 90s?

I think so. That was a HUGE card for awhile at the card shows I went to. Top 10 easy.

 

[KLARNOLD]

I have always heard that the NNOF came in early rack pack print runs. I haven't heard of the NNOF appearing in late factory sets. Who really knows how they were distributed? Check out this auction for a 1990 Topps rack pack case:

http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/1990-Topps-B...-Pak-Case_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQitemZ350128916121

Also, if you line up where the black ink is missing, it looks the shape of Topps gum:

 

[nborton]

I have always heard that the NNOF came in early rack pack print runs. I haven't heard of the NNOF appearing in late factory sets. Who really knows how they were distributed? Check out this auction for a 1990 Topps rack pack case:

http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/1990-Topps-B...-Pak-Case_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQitemZ350128916121

Also, if you line up where the black ink is missing, it looks the shape of Topps gum:

That's interesting. Wouldn't that have to be coincidental? There's no way they put the gum in before printing.

 

[theplasticman]

The NNOF simply looks like a "blackless" card (re: 1982 Topps)

 

[TNP777]

The NNOF simply looks like a "blackless" card (re: 1982 Topps)

It's only "blackless" where KLARNOLD drew the lines. The rest of Frank's picture has the black border. Interesting for sure that there is no border in that specific area, though. I don't recall ever reading an explanation for that.

 

[BunchOBull]

It's assumed that a strip of card stock some how blocked the transfer of the black...I'd like to see the cards that were to the left and under the Thomas card to see if they're blackless on some portion.

It's been my understanding that they were early released racks in the New England area. Mid-West and California distribution doesn't seem to have included NNOFs.

edited to add:

In 1993 or so when I was questioning the people who had pulled these, it appeared secondary distribution centers were in Upstate NY and Maryland. So, maybe the largest orders that included the NNOF were sent to dealers in these regions.

And for what it's worth, I think there were 250ish produced.

edited to also add...

It appears the rack cases that included NNOF had 3-5 of this variant per case...the rest were standard.

 

[autocut]

Those type of errors were common. I pulled this out of basketball (No Skybox Logo).

Here is a corrected one: