1990-91 Score Eric Lindros #440 Counterfeits: Where Are They Now?

One of the earliest forays into prospecting for me came during the 1990-91 NHL season with the arrival of Eric Lindros in the 1990-91 Score set. The card was instantly hot and exclusive to the company. Lindros had a ton of hype behind him, deservedly so, and despite what many think today, he had a pretty solid career. To this day, the 1990 Score Lindros Future Superstar and the 1990-91 Upper Deck French Sergei Fedorov Young Guns cards are two of my favorite “worthless” junk era items to pick up. While hockey junk wax and it’s rookie classes haven’t exploded the way that NBA cards form the same time have, these two cards remain icons of the period and may eventually see their moment as well.

By 1991, warnings of counterfeit O-Pee-Chee Premier cards (the other mega-hot product at the time) and 1990 Score Lindros cards began to pepper the hobby magazines. Not that I had the money to be stocking up on the Lindros card in any sort of bulk (or any OPC Premeir, for that matter…) but this info always sort of alarmed me. I recall being hyper-vigilant about it, analyzing every copy I encountered at the shops at that time. It was a thing and lasted for a few years until players like Pavel Bure, Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya came along and took the hobby’s attention away. By this point the knowledge of counterfeit Lindros cards was relegated to a little blurb in the Beckett listing for 1990 Score: “BEWARE LINDROS COUNTERFEITS”

So what happened to them? Based on details from the research done at the time (see pics below), I have never been able to locate a copy and while I haven’t been looking the entire time, at every copy presented for sale online, I have checked in to sites like COMC.com and eBay on occasion. COMC is obviously perfect for this as you get to review zoomed-in images of both the front and back of cards on the site. Typically there are hundreds of the Lindros cards available there at any time and I’m fairly certain I’ve checked them all out. Not a single iffy, suspect, maybe-phony card has shown up. Don’t get me wrong, I believe they exist, in fact, I would that say I’m in the market for one and if multiple counterfeit types exist as posited by SCD in the Sportscard Counterfeit Detector book, I’m in the market for both! But, today, this card, at best, is a $1 nostalgia purchase. A card produced in the millions with far fewer collectors for it so I don’t expect many people to be analyzing their copies too closely. If anyone does have a copy, for sale or otherwise, even a scan, or anything solid to add to this article, please comment below.

1990-91 Pro Set Hockey Errors & Variations: Ongoing Checklist

Key:

(SP) Extremely scarce, very low print run.

(R) Rare, very early or very late print.

(U) Uncommon, tougher version to locate.

(RPD) Recurring print defect, usually quite scarce.

1a Brett Hull (Promo – light color/design changes, blue line at top right)

1aa Brett Hull (Promo – light color/design changes, no blue line at top right)(SP)

1b Ray Bourque (spelled ‘Borque’)

1c Ray Bourque (spelled ‘Bourque’)

1d Ray Bourque (spelled ‘Borqu’ due to excess black ink in name wedge)(RPD)

7a Gary Galley (spelled ‘Garry’)

7b Gary Galley (corrected)(U)

10a Andy Moog (black diagonal line from G on front)(U)

10b Andy Moog (corrected, line airbrushed away)

17a Dave Andreychuck (Arniel photo on back)

17b Dave Andreychuck (corrected)

18a Scott Arniel (Andreychuck photo on back)

18b Scott Arniel (Andreychuck photo on back, 6 in trade stripe partially obscured)(U)

18c Scott Arniel (corrected)

21a Phil Housley (No trade stripe) UNCONFIRMED

21b Phil Housley (Trade stripe)

36a Brian MacLellan (full green blotching over face)(R)

36b Brian MacLellan (partial green blotching over face)(R)

36c Brian MacLellan (face correctly printed)

39a Brad McCrimmon (#39 on front, Trade stripe)

39a Brad McCrimmon (#4 on front, Trade stripe)(U)

39c Brad McCrimmon (#39 on front, No trade stripe) UNCONFIRMED

Quick Look: 1990-91 Pro Set Paul Gillis “Bloody Nose” Variation

Thanks to one of JunkWaxGems’ contributors, we finally get to shine a spotlight on one of the most elusive Pro Set error cards not mentioning drug abuse or depicting adult content.

The 1990-91 Pro Set NHL release is full of errors, many more than the outstanding amount listed in the price guides. One card has been floating around on want-lists for the last eight or so years, yet still remains uncataloged in the big guides is card number 246 depicting then Quebec Nordiques center Paul Gillis.

Sharp-eyed collectors will notice that the error version lists Gillis’ jersey number as 37, as he clearly wears 23. But another, more interesting change shows Gillis’ nose bleeding on the error version while the stream of blood has been airbrushed away on the correction.

This card is truly under-the-radar for most variation and Pro Set collectors but once it gets the proper exposure and eventual recognition in the guides, I can see this extremely scarce “bloody nose” variety reach levels similar to the Fred Marion “Belt” error and potentially to the Manley “Substance Abuse” error. Until proven otherwise, this is a truly rare Pro Set issue and most-certainly the rarest of it’s hockey issues.

Quick Look: 1990-91 Score All-Star Variations

Nothing major here, but since the set features several Hall-Of-Famers and highly-collected players, here’s a look at the two varieties that can be found in the All-Star subset of Score’s inaugural NHL issue:

A. LIGHT BLUE line on back, over text.

B. DARK BLUE line on back, over text.

Quick Look: New 1990-91 Pro Set Hockey Variations

Here is a peek at a few recent discoveries in the error-laden 1990-91 Pro Set Hockey issue. Those of you that have been following the recent discoveries in 1990 Pro Set football, will notice the similarities in variation type for these two: jagged stat lines and “clipped” stat headings are two major parts of the Pro Set football lexicon as of the last few years.

#271 Gordie Roberts can be found with “clipped” and corrected stat headings on back:

#290 Gilles Thibaudeau can be found with incomplete, jagged stat line(s) on back:

Quick Look: 1990-91 Bowman Hockey Hat Tricks Variations

A little-known variety exist on 90-91 Bowman NHL Hat Tricks subset cards. Each of the 22 subject comes in two varieties: Single asterisk * before copyright on back or Double asterisk * * before copyright on back. Some versions are tougher than others depending on the player. Building a master set can be a real challenge!

Cards you’ve never seen: 1990-91 Pro Set Edmonton Oilers Team Statistics

1990-91 Pro Set Hockey is a messy set. Many variations. Many uncorrected errors. Numerous printing flaws. My kind of set! Back in early 1991, Pro Set ran ads in a ton of magazines, showing a card that seems to have never seen production, Check out this ad, where Pro Set greets us in French, with a card no Oilers fan will ever own:

Why Pro Set chose this as the face of their new series is anyone’s guess. It was already approaching a year after the Oilers won the cup and much had happened since. A similar card was issued as part of the “team facts/logos” subset, but it went through a number of minor design changes before pack-out.

With Pro Set’s die-hard fan-base, and the amount of stuff that “escaped” into the market after their bankruptcy, I’m truly surprised that not a single copy of this card has ever surfaced for sale.

Quick Look: 1990-91 Pro Set Mike Krushelnyski #121A NPO NNO Error

One of the tougher, documented 1990-91 Pro Set Hockey variations, Mike Krushelnyski was originally printed without his position and number on front. The box I opened that produced the lone copy I’ve ever seen, also produced the corrected version – go figure! Either way, here’s a look at a cool error card that’s hardly ever offered for sale:

Quick look: 1990-91 Score Mike Modano ART #327

Score’s entry into the hockey card market was celebrated at the time by it’s inclusion of young phenom Eric Lindros. The 1990-91 set is also one of those products that, much like 1990 Pro Set, I consumed like oxygen – opening packs as often as possible. A fun set to revist now since it’s loaded with errors and mysterious cards like the Mogilny “defected”  variation (stay tuned for a blog on that). But one of the big variations happened to affect the rookie card, or rookie-year card of future Hall-of-Famer, Mike Modano.  Check out the 2 versions of his ‘All-Rookie-Team’ subset card: