Besides the Evan Gattis Bowman Chromes, any other examples of non-released cards showing up?

digicat · Apr 20, 2013

They never included the Evan Gattis card in the 2012 Bowman Chrome set, yet there are over-sized and unsigned "proofs" hitting Ebay.

Are there any other cases like this, when a player's only card gets cut from a set, but unreleased "proofs" find their way onto the open market?

gradedeflator · Apr 21, 2013

I picked up two trevor bauer 2012 bow chro parallel cards i had not seen before. Will try and post scans tomorrow:

1) red auto - all his autos were redemptions, i havent seen one red redemption on ebay since the release (and i check pretty regularly)

2) blue wave auto - again never seen one. Didnt know he was in the set.

Both cards lack autos but have the space for them

mredsox89 · Apr 21, 2013

Anthony Ranaudo from the same seller, who has everything from the base "auto" through superfractor

digicat · Apr 21, 2013

ebay seller shelbyville_sports_cards seems to have a bunch of these unsigned and unreleased cards from 2012 Bowman Chrome.

Has this sort of thing happened for other years (specifically players who never got a real card but have a "proof")?

Bob Loblaw · Apr 21, 2013

digicat said:
ebay seller shelbyville_sports_cards seems to have a bunch of these unsigned and unreleased cards from 2012 Bowman Chrome.

Has this sort of thing happened for other years (specifically players who never got a real card but have a "proof")?

It has happened for at least one I recall -- Ryan Anderson "Little Unit" had a superimposed Ovation card made but never released. I don't believe this has ever happened for a player who made it.

VandyDan · Apr 21, 2013

I bought a Jason Esposito Bowman Chrome test from the seller. I'll say this: if they are fakes (and not merely backdoors), then they are damn convincing fakes.

nappyd · Apr 21, 2013

So how does it happen with the proof slipping out? They get printed to be signed and then a guy just keeps them or never knows they're there to sign?

digicat · Apr 21, 2013

They're slightly over-sized. They probably went out the back-door the same way the flood of unnumbered 2006 BC gold refractors, unsigned and unnumbered 2007 BC Lincecum refractors, and unnumbered 2009 Bowman red border cards got out of the factory.

I doubt that they were "faked."

Given the number of subjects, it seems that 2012 Bowman Chrome was supposed to have a much longer autograph list.

Bob Loblaw · Apr 21, 2013

VandyDan said:
I bought a Jason Esposito Bowman Chrome test from the seller. I'll say this: if they are fakes (and not merely backdoors), then they are damn convincing fakes.

They're real, and they're spectacular.

gradedeflator · Apr 21, 2013

When I was communicating to the seller, they mentioned that they had bought the full 9-card set (superfractor, red, purple, orange, gold, etc.) from another dealer who got them from Topps. Apparently that dealer had a relative who was an executive at Topps for quite a while. The believe that these were printed as design examples before production started...

Again, this is solely what they mentioned. I can't verify, obviously. From the cards I have in hand they do look "real" although clearly were not packed out and are, from a storage perspective, annoyingly large. If anyone has any and is keeping them in toploaders, I'd like to know which ones

gradedeflator · Apr 21, 2013

mredsox89 · Apr 21, 2013

They are definitely real. They are varying sizes. Seller's asking prices on the "rarer" stuff are a bit outrageous. Says he paid a ton for them

Bob Loblaw · Apr 22, 2013

gradedeflator said:
When I was communicating to the seller, they mentioned that they had bought the full 9-card set (superfractor, red, purple, orange, gold, etc.) from another dealer who got them from Topps. Apparently that dealer had a relative who was an executive at Topps for quite a while. The believe that these were printed as design examples before production started...

Again, this is solely what they mentioned. I can't verify, obviously. From the cards I have in hand they do look "real" although clearly were not packed out and are, from a storage perspective, annoyingly large. If anyone has any and is keeping them in toploaders, I'd like to know which ones

Which cards or which toploaders?

Weren't they shipped to you in toploaders?

gradedeflator · Apr 22, 2013

ah, mean which toploaders were they storing them in. Yes the proof cards were in toploaders with a penny sleeve put in front to protect the card surface. however, the proof card was not in a penny sleeve. Once I put the proof card in the vintage card penny sleeve, it is slightly too wide to fit into the top loader now.

Was wondering if anyone knows of any wider top loaders? my LCS doesn't carry any.

BBCgalaxee · Apr 22, 2013

Re: Besides the Evan Gattis Bowman Chromes, any other examples of non-released cards showing

Do these have compete backs?

I won an un cut sheet of valor fb & they are blank backed.

gradedeflator · Apr 22, 2013

Yes, complete backs. the only obvious differences that I can tell, in no particular order, vs. the packed out versions are:

1) no auto
2) no factory stamped serial number
3) slightly oversized

they feel like the real thing.

uniquebaseballcards · Apr 22, 2013

Bob Loblaw · Apr 22, 2013

BBCgalaxee said:
Do these have compete backs?

I won an un cut sheet of valor fb & they are blank backed.

Yup. Only missing a foil serial #.

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