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.

800 copies of 1990 Upper Deck Mike Witt #702 Discovered!

A card previously believed to be quite rare, with under 50 copies estimated in circulation has now jumped to closer to 1000 known copies with the recent discovery of an 800 count box filled with 1990 Upper Deck card 702, featuring Mike Witt. The cards were believed to have been pulled from production and destroyed, however, it appears that at least one box made their way out of the factory.

A collector named Gilbert claims to have found the box at a flea market in California. After corresponding privately with collectors he found via commenting on this blog, he took to posting at FreedomCardboard.com for more information on the Witt card. Here is a link to that discussion, which provides so very interesting information: Mike Witt 800ct Discovery Freedom Cardboard Forums Discussion

Below is the initial emails I received upon their discovery:

Hey guys,

I have a guy looking for my help. I have been assisting him. He opened a factory set and instead of the high numbered set being included there were 100 Mike Witt Black Box’s inside.

He found in California, and my thought is that it is a employee box that was filled with them.

Have either of you guys found any counterfiets of these ?

More importantly, how can you tell counterfiet UD like the griffey to help him out…..

Olbermann told me he had 12 and would buy any more from me…….

and I knew of another 15 out there…..so I know there were appx 30 out there I know of…..

What do you think this will do to the price….I told him the first one will sell for 400 and each one after less and less

 And a follow up.

May 31 at 8:28 AM

scratch that….the Whole 800 were all mike witt black box!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A very interesting situation which is certain to bring down the value of the Witt tremendously. While the card is still a great oddball piece of collecting history, the value on them has steadily decreased over the years with the last 10-20 copies discovered being offered for sale. 800 new copies entering the market will certainly see a major drop off after 50 or so have sold. Another question that comes of this is: how many of these boxes of Witts are out there? With UD’s reputation for manufactured errors, extra “executive” print runs of hot cards and back door removal of hot cards in their early years, I would guess that this will not be the only find.

UPDATE: July 12, 2016 post on FCB from the owner of nearly 800 Mike Witt errors:

Gilbert writes:

“Hey Guys,just wanted to update everyone on these cards,ive sold a total of 10 cards so far,some less then $100,my intentions was and will try to get them out to all collectors who would want one for their collection,I’ve made a lot more money from these then I can imagine for something I spend $10 on,talked to a lot of cool people from all over the U.S…made some friends and had a few who tried to take advantage,lol..but it has been an experience,its gotten me into the collection world,the guy I got them from continues to have a huge collection and I’m there every Saturday and Sunday looking thru them,And my “Gem Mint 10″ is now on eBay,so I’m excited about that,i just want that card to be sold for a little higher then the most expensive one sold for(1300)…only time will tell,after that,i might sell a total of maybe 10 after that,but I won’t give them away,lol…so after that,the will be put away…there might be over 800 cards,but not a lot out in the market,what hopefully they keep some value…I admire all you guys,maybe some day I can be a master collector like you all…have a great day people!��”