21 years later... 1990 Donruss Aqueous test is mine!!

[TNP777]

Congrats on the huge pickup - welcome to the Aqueous Club!

 

[thefatguy]

Where the heck are you finding all these nice cards . Its crazy how ebay works one minute there is nothing really good then all of a sudden some nice stuff pops up. Congrats Paul!

1 person see's the crusade go, thinks he can do well with something rare, like this perhaps, time is right they think....

Congrats again Paul!

 

[theplasticman]

Congrats!!!

 

[Jastermereel]

I've never been completely convinced of the legitimacy of these cards.

There were a ton of errors in 1990 Donruss. In theory the Aqueous cards would have be the error versions of the players who had errors since it was supposedly printed prior to the actual production run. That's what logic would tell me anyway. Has anyone ever checked that?

I bought a Mattingly in the 90's from a guy who claimed to have opened a jumbo box of entirely Aqueous cards.

 

[BunchOBull]

Wow, that's a big chunk of coin for an aqueous, must be fairly desired amongst JC collectors.

 

[Mozzie22]

I was hoping you won this. Congratulations! Player collectors use the words "holy grail" a lot but this truly is the holy grail for player collectors that were unfortunate enough to have this on their checklists. Based on other sales of this issue I would say you actually got a fair deal, I know the Will Clark sold for at least $600 and the Ozzie will go for a mint if that ever comes up. This card is at the top of my checklist along with the 1990 Score Promo.

 

[Mozzie22]

Not all cards are printed in this test run.

I don't get where the person thinks only 5 were printed of each player. I know of some collectors that have more than 5 copies of one player.

I mean no disrespect to you but I highly doubt that is correct unless they worked for Donruss back then. If this is true then you would have many, many, people interested in seeing a photo of them. Once again, I'm not calling you a liar but I think someone is pulling your leg.

 

[BunchOBull]

I think the Clark aqueous went for $250 as well, and the 1992 Donruss DK Super went for over $600.

Those levels seem few and far between.

I paid $70 for my Maddux.

 

[Mozzie22]

I think the Clark aqueous went for $250 as well, and the 1992 Donruss DK Super went for over $600.Those levels seem few and far between.

I paid $70 for my Maddux.

That could be, those Will Clark collectors are legit.

 

[BunchOBull]

There are a couple of set collectors in the PSA forum thread that was posted, as well as others, who have own TONS of these. Definitely not dozens of copies of a single card, but multiples for sure.

 

[tunahead]

Love the Aqueous

 

[clarkfan]

The Aqueous Clark sold for $350, I was definitely not the winner, although I wanted to be. First and only one I've seen. I want it, just not like I wanted a few others (DK Jumbo and 1990 Score). The DK Jumbo sold to me for $600 plus, I thought it was $636 or something like that. Andrew picked up the 2nd DK Jumbo for $490 or something along those lines. And we are definitely crazy b/c $250 is a steal in the Will Clark world for the Aqueous. But I've been offered $200 or more for at least 7 or 8 different players from the Aqueous if I ever find an example, so even though they may not quite reach Clark levels, there are a lot of players some die hard players collectors would easily get close to that level with (Puckett, Sandberg, Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Juan Gonzalez, George Brett just off the top of my head)

 

[MartinFFcollector]

I once owned 3 copies of 2 different players. I know another guy who also had one of each of those players. There's 4 copies right there. I doubt the print run of 5 as well. A good estimate, but has to be higher for numerous players. Some players, like Puckett, I know a few collectors wanting it (#269 or BC-8) and never have seen one (nor have I). It's assumed based on what's been found that nothing over 283? exists in Aqueous.

Here's a email from Chandy to another collector from awhile back...

Hi---thanks for your note.....yes, I was one of the original purchaser of these cards....I think there was one other purchaser on the aqueous test cards somewhere in the Milwaukee area; while there may be another source for the blue/white cards, I haven't found it yet.....peculiar story how I came across this group; I sent this e-mail out several years ago and saved a copy....have copied it on here for you.....best wishes, Chandy

I bought them with ABSOLUTELY no idea what I was getting.......had a phone call one Saturday morning from a gentleman who explained that he was an ex-employee at Donruss (actually, packaging director). He told me that he had been given a few wax boxes when he left the company and wondered if we were buying....he explained that they were 1988-1992 product, and that there were 20 boxes, mostly 1990-1992 Donruss and Leaf along with a few 1988 Donruss........really exciting stuff......well, maybe not......

He mentioned one 1990 Leaf box, and I made him an offer on the group equal to the value of that one box, since everything else he listed was what I would call junk wax which I figured to be my profit on the deal.

At any rate, he arrived at my store just as I was leaving for my daughter's soccer game (I was team coach and had to be there).....we had agreed on a price, so my assistant paid him and he left (without any conversation with me at all).

When I returned to the store later that afternoon, my assistant had moved the boxes back to the back room. I took a quick look and noted that there were 3 boxes which were not regular Donruss boxes, but rather plain white cardboard boxes with a memo, something to the effect of "Donruss Canada", on the side.....at this point, I opened one of the boxes (in regular 1990 Donruss wrappers) and encountered a pack full of the "blue-white" cards from this ad......having been a collector of and fascinated by proofs, errors, and variations all my collecting career, I about went through the ceiling......but had no way to contact the person I bought them from for any information.

After looking at those, I started perusing all of the other boxes and discovered that the boxes of 1990 Donruss cellos I had purchased all had the "Aqueous Test" overprint on the backs of the cards inside (see some of my other ads).

As you can see, all of these cards came from packs....they weren't cut from sheets, although I'm sure that with these as with any card product, there was an uncut sheet at one time........my guess is that they were different ink tests, one for color, the other for water solubility, but I don't know anything more than you do in that area......"

 

[clarkfan]

I've never been completely convinced of the legitimacy of these cards.

There were a ton of errors in 1990 Donruss. In theory the Aqueous cards would have be the error versions of the players who had errors since it was supposedly printed prior to the actual production run. That's what logic would tell me anyway. Has anyone ever checked that?

I bought a Mattingly in the 90's from a guy who claimed to have opened a jumbo box of entirely Aqueous cards.

No chance you still had that guys number or email? If he opened a whole jumbo box of them, maybe he has an extra Will Clark he'd sell me. I've been itching to find one since I got outbid on one in 2009. Thanks man!

NOLAN

 

[Mozzie22]

]I once owned 3 copies of 2 different players. I know another guy who also had one of each of those players. There's 4 copies right there. I doubt the print run of 5 as well.[/b] A good estimate, but has to be higher for numerous players. Some players, like Puckett, I know a few collectors wanting it (#269 or BC-8) and never have seen one (nor have I). It's assumed based on what's been found that nothing over 283? exists in Aqueous.

Here's a email from Chandy to another collector from awhile back...

Hi---thanks for your note.....yes, I was one of the original purchaser of these cards....I think there was one other purchaser on the aqueous test cards somewhere in the Milwaukee area; while there may be another source for the blue/white cards, I haven't found it yet.....peculiar story how I came across this group; I sent this e-mail out several years ago and saved a copy....have copied it on here for you.....best wishes, Chandy

I bought them with ABSOLUTELY no idea what I was getting.......had a phone call one Saturday morning from a gentleman who explained that he was an ex-employee at Donruss (actually, packaging director). He told me that he had been given a few wax boxes when he left the company and wondered if we were buying....he explained that they were 1988-1992 product, and that there were 20 boxes, mostly 1990-1992 Donruss and Leaf along with a few 1988 Donruss........really exciting stuff......well, maybe not......

He mentioned one 1990 Leaf box, and I made him an offer on the group equal to the value of that one box, since everything else he listed was what I would call junk wax which I figured to be my profit on the deal.

At any rate, he arrived at my store just as I was leaving for my daughter's soccer game (I was team coach and had to be there).....we had agreed on a price, so my assistant paid him and he left (without any conversation with me at all).

When I returned to the store later that afternoon, my assistant had moved the boxes back to the back room. I took a quick look and noted that there were 3 boxes which were not regular Donruss boxes, but rather plain white cardboard boxes with a memo, something to the effect of "Donruss Canada", on the side.....at this point, I opened one of the boxes (in regular 1990 Donruss wrappers) and encountered a pack full of the "blue-white" cards from this ad......having been a collector of and fascinated by proofs, errors, and variations all my collecting career, I about went through the ceiling......but had no way to contact the person I bought them from for any information.

After looking at those, I started perusing all of the other boxes and discovered that the boxes of 1990 Donruss cellos I had purchased all had the "Aqueous Test" overprint on the backs of the cards inside (see some of my other ads).

As you can see, all of these cards came from packs....they weren't cut from sheets, although I'm sure that with these as with any card product, there was an uncut sheet at one time........my guess is that they were different ink tests, one for color, the other for water solubility, but I don't know anything more than you do in that area......"

Which players did you own 3 copies of? There must be some disparity between players. I say this because I have spent a lot of time on this subject and there are several players that have never had a single known copy on EBay since its inception.

To those of you that know collectors with a ton of these please shed some light as you'd be making several collectors very happy.

 

[clarkfan]

I'm pretty sure Ronfromfresno has at least 3 or 4 Robby Thompson's if I remember right. I've personally seen multiple copies of a few players as well and none of others. You would think the print run would be the same throughout all players though. Most likely, they are just stashed away in player collections. As with Mozzie, I would love to see a huge stash of these come into the marketplace. I could finally mark it off my need list and I'd never have to worry about them again.

 

[Jastermereel]

I've never been completely convinced of the legitimacy of these cards.

There were a ton of errors in 1990 Donruss. In theory the Aqueous cards would have be the error versions of the players who had errors since it was supposedly printed prior to the actual production run. That's what logic would tell me anyway. Has anyone ever checked that?

I bought a Mattingly in the 90's from a guy who claimed to have opened a jumbo box of entirely Aqueous cards.

No chance you still had that guys number or email? If he opened a whole jumbo box of them, maybe he has an extra Will Clark he'd sell me. I've been itching to find one since I got outbid on one in 2009. Thanks man!

NOLAN

No idea, sorry. That was in 1998 or 1999 and I think I paid the guy $250.

 

[tunahead]

I know at least 6 of the Ripken exist

 

[MartinFFcollector]

Which players did you own 3 copies of? There must be some disparity between players. I say this because I have spent a lot of time on this subject and there are several players that have never had a single known copy on EBay since its inception.

To those of you that know collectors with a ton of these please shed some light as you'd be making several collectors very happy.

Which players have you never seen that were >283?

I owned 3 Jeltz and 3 of another guy and a few doubles. I skimmed a old post of mine and only listed my slabbed. Maybe I kept them raw. I dunno. But I know for a fact I had 3 Jeltz all in PSA slabs.

I submitted most of mine (around 75) to PSA and know another collector who has fairly close to all of the set slabbed (PSA). I dont have access, but the PSA pop report should help show a partial c-list. He also put his in a registry.

 

[scotty21690]

Geez it's about time.