1991 Upper Deck Baseball Forum

So, I finally tackled this large pile of what I think is the most over-produced set ever (or definitely in the top 5). And yes, I have over 50,000 of these cards. Why sort them? Those crazy hologram VAR!

End Game:

We now have 714 1990 Baseball, 444 1990 Hockey, 241 1990 Comic Ball, and 198 1992 Diamond UD logo VAR listed (#s to the best of my counting).

The 1991 "Upper Deck" hologram is the most common as it was supposed to be "The One" on all cards. Of the 50,000+ cards I have, all but about 2,000 are of this variation. The FS I have opened is ALL of this variation. Tilted in the right light, very bright but small "91"s will often shine in the lines of "UPPER DECK" print. Often these holograms are very faint or at times it looks like there is nothing imprinted on the siver foil. Very poor quality.

The 1990 baseball and the 1992 Diamond Logo VAR are the easiest to differentiate. The Baseball logo initially looks like a smudge till tilted under the right light to see the baseballs.

The other two VAR can be questioned which is it till you see both. The Hockey logo has a larger "90" in the hologram. The Comic Ball "90" is much smaller. As for the crossed hockey sticks or carrots, I will take other collectors' word on it. When you tilt the Comic Ball VAR in the light, it looks like the rows travel horizontally across the foil and also appear more "goldish".

I also found 2 cards that missed the foil stamping (yes I know these are not listable). It is not that the foil peeled off but I believe the sheet just did not get put through that process. I have another where the home plate hologram is peeled off but a clear imprint has been left where it was.  I also saw a few that had the hologram in the wrong spot but also had the bits of a second hologram, usually two sides of the home plate, in other areas. I put this off to the junk era rush to get product out so poor quality control on the company's part.

Personal Conclusions:

Yes, the most over-produced set or one of. No, I did not go out buying these up in the early 1990s but instead accumulated such a hoard from buying collections (not just for 1991 UD baseball) including from one of our members in Ottawa who had already extracted and put in a separate box the hologram VAR from the 17,000 cards he sold me. I now have 25 sets collated and 2 FS (one unopened). Anyone want to buy one or two? If necessary, I can probably put together another 10-20 if the demand is great.

My binder set is all of the 1991 UD hologram VAR (now). The only other set I will slowly try to put together is the Baseball hologram one as I already have over half the cards we have listed. (Is this where I ask what people think a set of just this hologram would be worth?) Yes, I believe if everyone searched their stock including the hand-collated set, we would discover that all of these can be found with the Baseball hologram. I will not list my missing ones as wants as not everyone checks the VAR when trading and last I need is to add to my boxes of these.

Surprisingly, once under the right light, you can go through many of these in not much time. The sorting in numerical order of the 17,000 cards from Ottawa took longer than going through the 30,000 cards I already had.

All other VAR I have are for trade and listed correctly. I have had a couple of members ask about individual ones wishing to buy them. Problem is, for one card (or 2) you are looking at a cost that really does not make sense. After Paypal's changes in policy, I won't use them anymore to sell. For me to ship a card will cost $1.60 and you have to find a way to get me the money. Then there is the cost of the card.

Result:

I have several hours of my life I will not get back. In the words of one of our friends, "I need a new hobby!"

If you have read this far, you too have lifetime that you will now never get back.

You are a brave soul. I'm thinking 88 Donruss is the most overproduced set in the world. I'm still seeing tons of cases and wax boxes unopened out in the wild.

I can not tell which holo is on the UD cards. Magnifying glass doesnt help me either. I have never been able to figure out what i had so i have given away many thousands of them over the years, to clear space. I still am in need of (i think) some for my PC. 91 UD may have been way over produced but at least you have a chance of getting an AU. Whereas 1988 Donruss, there is nothing in them to chase....lol 

Agreed Twinsguy50. I'm only familiar on the hockey side, but I've given away some too. If I can tell within a couple seconds with variation it is, then I file it. If not, it goes in my packing supply box to be sent on its way at some point. 

Well, I got sucked into this.  I originally got involved because I was curious.  But then I recieved a 91' UD Kruk "Baseballs" and a 91' UD Myers "Hockey Sticks" from Bruno.  So, I decided to double check the results of his terrible toil.  Bruno pretty much nailed it, but I will make some additional comments here.

1.  The best way to examine these is outdoors in moderate sunlight.

2.  As you are aware, on the standard version horizontal "Upper Deck"  clearly appears horizontally across the stamp.

3.  I found that, on this version the "Upper Deck" lines wil change color from silver to red and gold and blue as the card is tilted through the natural light.  I did not notice this under a lamp, only outside..

4.  On some cards of this version (3 of 23) an upside down "91" appeared very lightly in the background.  Natural light and a magnifying glass are required to see this.

5.   The key to identifying the BB/Hockey variations is to look for a gap between the  "Upper Deck" lines......a missing line.  Both versions Bruno sent me had this gap.

6.  Confirmed. The large 90 was clearly visible on the Baseball variation.

7.   Hockey Sticks....more problematic...there is the gap between the lines and there is something else in the background, at just the right angle, but I can not determine what it is.

Thats it.

Well, I got sucked into this.  I originally got involved because I was curious.  But then I recieved a 91' UD Kruk "Baseballs" and a 91' UD Myers "Hockey Sticks" from Bruno.  So, I decided to double check the results of his terrible toil.  Bruno pretty much nailed it, but I will make some additional comments here.

1.  The best way to examine these is outdoors in moderate sunlight.

2.  As you are aware, on the standard version horizontal "Upper Deck"  clearly appears horizontally across the stamp.

3.  I found that, on this version the "Upper Deck" lines wil change color from silver to red and gold and blue as the card is tilted through the natural light.  I did not notice this under a lamp, only outside..

4.  On some cards of this version (3 of 23) an upside down "91" appeared very lightly in the background.  Natural light and a magnifying glass are required to see this.

5.   The key to identifying the BB/Hockey variations is to look for a gap between the  "Upper Deck" lines......a missing line.  Both versions Bruno sent me had this gap.

6.  Confirmed. The large 90 was clearly visible on the Baseball variation.

7.   Hockey Sticks....more problematic...there is the gap between the lines and there is something else in the background, at just the right angle, but I can not determine what it is.

Thats it.

On the Hockey Sticks one, you should also see a large block font "90" besides the sticks. Also note the Hockey Sticks version has "UPPER" and "DECK" in the same direction on each line, while the Baseballs version alternates "UPPER" and "DECK" right-side up and upside down. On the set's checklist, if you choose one of the hologram options on the dropdown, the descriptions are listed below.

How do I do that?

https://www.tcdb.com/Checklist.cfm/sid/171/1991-Upper-Deck

Click "Master Set" and change it to one of the hologram options to see just the cards with that specific one, and you'll see descriptive text below the dropdown you just changed.