Cards You’ve Never Seen: 1993 Pacific Rob Maurer 313A Photo Error (Jose Oliva)

A ‘final frontier’ type of junk wax variation, a copy finally turned up after decades of searching. Even photos were few since its discovery. 1993 Pacific #313A is one of those upper echelon variations that have only been mentioned among enthusiasts, on every E&V wantlist, yet hardly seen. Rob Maurer’s card was originally printed with a full body photo of Rangers prospect Jose Oliva.

In late 2021, I had the pleasure of chatting with Mike Cramer over email regarding some Pacific variations and oddities and when asked about the Maurer, this is what he had to say:

“Rod Maurer variations are shown. The wrong photo was in the first printing,the correct photo card was in the second printing. As were all of the variations listed. I first print run was very small when we discovered the Mauer card and made the changes. First printing and second printing variations were both in was packs (sic)”

Pretty exciting to finally see a sample.

Quick Look: 1993 Topps Black Gold Foil Variations

Her is a little-known variation that affects one of the few inserts sets from 1993 to retain and even grow in popularity. In 1993, Topps included a special insert called Black Gold featuring 44 of the biggest players at the time. Collector’s could find one of these every other box or so, but on occasion, they could also find “Winner” redemption cards for sets of 11, 22 or all 44 of the cards, since these cards are so popular with player-collectors, the 44 card winner redemption has greatly appreciated in value over the years. Along with the already-documented “switched backs” errors, a blog for another day, a variation in the foil used on these cards can be found.

Most commonly the cards use a holographic gold foil, however, a small sampling of them feature a non-holographic, simple gold foil treatment. In my years of knowing about these cards, I’ve only encountered a handful of examples. Unfortunately, not a single copy of my player, recently-appointed manager of the Chicago White Sox, Robin Ventura.

Quick Look: 1993 Stadium Club Jose Offerman “HOME-less” Variation

1993 Stadium Club. Not a set I really care that much for, aesthetically, but it does have a batch of cool, tough-to-find variations. The most well-known among them is Jose Offerman’s card #129. The early versions were those printed without any information after the word ‘HOME:’ on back.

Quick Look: 1993 Topps Albert Belle #635 Variations

Another interesting variation has popped up in the 1993 Topps set. While I am certain that many Albert Belle and Cleveland Indians collectors have noticed this error for some time, it may be relatively recent that a correction attempt has surfaced. Albert “Don’t call me Joey” Belle’s card has a glaring design error on the card front: It’s banners are green instead of the correct, blue, like the other Indians players.

Check out the card on the right. After breaking 2 1993 Topps factory sets, I have found a copy of this “gray banner” version in each. Methinks that this was Topps’ way of fixing the Belle mistake. Subsequent 1993 Topps Series 2 boxes I ripped open yielded more of the “green banner” versions. While it’s not Pancho Herrer rare, its still a tough single to come by without breaking down a set.

I will continue to post about 1993 Topps variations as more surface.

Quick look: 1993 Topps Russ Swan #96

1993 Topps contains a handful of variations which I will outline in a later blog. But for now, take a look at one of the weirder ones: #96 featuring Mariners pitcher Russ Swan. The first version has the “Complete Major League Pitching Record” heading printed twice. The second corrected it and shifted it to the left as well. Though one can never be sure, I am almost certain that this is one of my own discoveries as it had previously not been mentioned as far as I know.