As you can see, the back is kind of blank. Now what's odd is that there was another one of these cards up on Ebay and its back looks like this:
So...WTF? Why is my card missing the 1988 stats line? I did a little research today on this but there's nothing in Engel about there being a variant of this card and I don't think that the Calbee Collector website says anything about one either. I found another card for sale on Yahoo Japan Auctions and it has the stat line also.
I can't imagine that someone would go through the trouble of faking the card but leaving off the stat line so I don't think the card is a fake. And generally when I've seen BBM reprint a Calbee card in SCM, they put some graphics and text on it to make it obvious it's a reprint. Calbee's reprints have been the same - obviously reprints. So I'm kind of stumped by this one.
I will say that I got the card extremely cheaply - my winning bid was $8.50 - so if it turns out to be fake then at least I'm not out much money. (Of course, if it is fake, maybe that's why I got it so cheap - all the other bidders were wary of it.) I got the card from someone I've gotten many cards from so if it is fake, I suspect he did not know.
I'd appreciate any suggestions that anyone can make about this.
5 comments:
Man... you're the expert on Japanese baseball cards. If you don't know... there's no way I'm going to know. Maybe ask Robb Fitts?
But the card itself is awesome. If I had to be my life... I'd say both (or all three) are real. It's probably an error that was later corrected.
That is a really interesting find, I`m a bit stumped. I did a few google searches in Japanese to see if any Japanese collectors have written anything about any 89 Fielder variations, but came up blank (pardon the pun).
It would be a strange thing for someone to fake, I wonder if it might be some pre-production copy or something?
Ok, I will answer this question.
If you look at the BBM SportsCARD #100 guide, the one with Hideki Matsui on the cover, it lists two entries for Calbee #107. There is a 107a ERR and 107b COR card listed. So, you have the 107a ERR card which is listed for 2000 yen which is the same as the 107b COR card. They also list cards #35, #66, #98 as having the same issue / problem.
Regards,
Scott Kaneko
Thanks Scott! That's good to know.
It's interesting - cards #35 and #66 were for Rod Allen of the Carp and George Hinshaw of the Dragons. Both of them, like Fielder, were in their first years in Japan (in the case of FIelder and Hinshaw, their only years in Japan). i wonder if Calbee had issues getting the previous year's stat lines for them initially.
The other card (#98) is for Kazuyoshi Ono and I think it's a different error. I hope to do a post about that card in the next day or so.
I have the same card. It came in a food product. Potato chips or something. Mine is intact has the stats
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