1988 Topps Baseball Forum

I have this 1988 Topps card, number 231, and the manufacture date shows "1983". I have tried for several days, if not a week or so, to try and locate info as to whether it's an actual error or not. I can not, have not found anything. 

Has anyone seen this before? Are there any links or suggestions about where I can find info? 

Thanks for looking and for any info you might have, 

Doug.

looks like this is still an 1988 card, just perhaps part of the 8 was worn off or not printed completely.  You can look at the player's record/stats and see that they were not in major leagues in 1983

mark

That's what I thought too, it's an 88, but if you zoom in on the photo, you can see that it is a three (3). I had to break out the HUGE magnifying glass to see it. But the photo shows it "clearly". 

If you wouldn't mind, take another look, please and thank you. 

Doug

I see it as an "8" with discoloration / ink bleed. Try another photo of your card with lower lighting, there is glare on the picture. I took one of mine in bright light and saw imperfections in that line that don't show up in lower light. In lower light my card looks pristine.

Though it definitely looks like it was printed as a 3, if you compare it to other 3s on the card, you'll see a slight difference in the shape and curves. It corresponds exactly to the 8 next to it, though, just with some missing ink.

Than you Jeff for "looking" at the card. It is a three (3). It has not been tampered with. 

I "looked" at the card as zoomed as possible with what you've provided. No one said it's been tampered with. You really think you have the only copy of this card in the universe that was printed with a 3 instead of an 8? It's an 8 with missing ink. Sorry to disappoint you, but there's nothing special about the card. 

I'm not disappointed. I was just trying to find out more info about this particular card. Wondering if anyone else has seen one or if anyone has one, so I can verify that it is not a golden unicorn. There are/were so many errors from the 80s that I was curious if this one was "common". If it's worthless, no big deal. If it's rare, then I'd like to know more about it. 

Thank you to those that replied. It is appreciated. 

Doug 

Sorry, no unicorn here. It's a card from a very-overproduced set that if you looked at 100 copies of this card closely, you'll find 100 different "versions", all based on small (or larger) printing fluctuations (mostly due to paper / card stock roughness). The card stock used back then was not smooth like the card stock of the past 25-30 years. Anomalies occur on almost every card.

This was not a 3 printed on this card, but an 8 that amy have had some of the ink miss in a unique manner. That's all.

Thank you Dan for replying. 

Doug