General Forum

I'm curious if anyone is aware of an answer or answers to the following:

"Is there a generally-agreed-upon, single trading card that is considered to be the most mass-produced card in the history of trading cards?"

I'm being a bit intentionally vague and non-specific with my phrasing here because I'm curious to see what different answers (and arguments for each) might arise from different interpretations of the question. I'd love to hear any and all perspectives from this group.

For context, I'm contemplating an interior design project in which I'd be using the card(s) in question as a variety of surface coverings (e.g., wallpaper, tabletop, drawer lining). Thanks in advance for any input!

I don't know if it can be narrowed down to a single card, but I would think it is in either 1988 Donruss, 1990 Fleer, or 1991 Topps.

Which sport, baseball, presumably? I've always assumed the PRs for baseball sets are significantly larger on average than other sports, but really don't know if that is always a true assumption (i.e., in all years, cycles, etc.).

I would guess it had to be a trade card with a low number of cards in the set. If you don't count things like checklists or advertisements, maybe the Brooke Bond Farewell to Picture Cards? It was only a three card set and it was probably in all PG Tips boxes for a while.

If you do count more debatable cards, then probably one of the generic Pokémon code cards.

Upper deck made 1000's of extra runs of their Griffey Jr. RC.

For Hockey cards it has to be 1990-91 Pro Set - Millions upon millions rush printed with two minni erorrz (I did that on purpose), then millions upon millions printed with corrections ... and that was just Series 1. If you look under Stats for hockey cards on the site - Most Common Cards in Members' Collections it dominates the category. My guess would be any card from that set, Wayne Gretzky card#118 perhaps, or card #1 Ray Bourque (or Borque on the error card)? 

These are great responses and the variety is exactly what I was hoping for. Please keep 'em coming.

Those extra cards were made to honor their commitment to replacing all of the cards that were damaged due to it being in the top left corner of the first sheet.

They printed the cards in numeric order and that was why there are so many high graded slabs of that one card.

So much 88 Donruss

Somewhere, deep in the recesses of a printing facility at an undisclosed location, someone still hasn't gotten the message to stop printing 1990 Donruss. Occasionally they'll add an extra dot somewhere on the printing plates just to troll us.