Frank Thomas 1990 “Coke” Rookie Card History/Rarity

[BabyFaceFrank]

The unicorn of All frank thomas cards. His 1990 coca cola rookie is an exceedingly rare card even compared to his topps and bowman tiffany. It was given out in a set of 30 cards at comiskey park gates for the parks 80th birthday (and final year.) It is unknown how long the giveaway ran for. Presumably not very long as the cards rarity dictates. No listings or sales have been seen for over 6 months online other then one very high end thomas rookie graded lot (I believe they were asking over $8000 for the lot.) If you have one you are a true die hard fan/collector or very lucky! I wouldn’t be surprised If a few people have this set mixed in with their traded sets and kmart boxes and just have no idea what its value is lol. By far my most wanted thomas card, I hope to own this card one day. Who knows, maybe some of you got this set at a game in 1990 and have more info on it then I do. If so I would love to read your comments or any others.

Thanks for reading my first post on the site! More to come soon.
-Lucas

 

[deaconblues63]

Welcome to the site and thanks for sharing an interesting post.


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[1DogCollector]

When I first got back into the hobby in 2014 or 2015 I bought a bunch of the sets looking for the Thomas and the Lance Johnson who is my main PC. The guy said he even had printing plates of the Lance Johnsons that he had thrown out a while back which almost made me cry lol. I have 18 of the Thomas cards that I have prepared to send to PSA when they reopen but will check if I have any hidden in a box that may not be grade worthy if slight flaws aren't an issue for you. What are these going for at the moment raw as I can't seem to find any sales history on them either. If you even find any rare Lance Johnsons like the no stat 91 Score promo or starting 9 type stuff then I would gladly trade one to you. Thanks and good luck in your hunt.

 

[BabyFaceFrank]

When I first got back into the hobby in 2014 or 2015 I bought a bunch of the sets looking for the Thomas and the Lance Johnson who is my main PC. The guy said he even had printing plates of the Lance Johnsons that he had thrown out a while back which almost made me cry lol. I have 18 of the Thomas cards that I have prepared to send to PSA when they reopen but will check if I have any hidden in a box that may not be grade worthy if slight flaws aren't an issue for you. What are these going for at the moment raw as I can't seem to find any sales history on them either. If you even find any rare Lance Johnsons like the no stat 91 Score promo or starting 9 type stuff then I would gladly trade one to you. Thanks and good luck in your hunt.

That is unreal! Amazing collection. I will pm you about an acquisition.

 

[Letch77]

Interesting...I had no idea this was a tough card to find. I bought mine a couple of years ago for $5.80 - sounds like I may have gotten a bargain. I'll gladly trade it for a 1990 Topps Tiffany Frank Thomas
Good luck in your search!

 

[BabyFaceFrank]

Interesting...I had no idea this was a tough card to find. I bought mine a couple of years ago for $5.80 - sounds like I may have gotten a bargain. I'll gladly trade it for a 1990 Topps Tiffany Frank Thomas
Good luck in your search!

I would say that’s a great bargain. It seems from the few replies so far the card was not that hard to find a few years ago. Sounds like somebody bought them all up after they found the cards potential. That or I'm underestimating how many they gave out at the games.

 

[mrmopar]

I don't think they were all that hard to find originally. I did just pick up a sealed set within the last 6 months for about $20. It's more than most folks would expect for that type of set, so there is certainly demand for them. I don't recall if the listing mentioned Thomas specifically, but I had a search on for the set itself.

I did miss picking up the single when I was heavy into Thomas in the 90s, so I paid more than I wanted to. My speed was more in line with the $5 price mentioned but I recall them selling for less a while back even. I think the supply has just dried up a bit, like many of the oddball sets with what folks consider rookies or pre-rookie appearances.

 

[zyceoa]

I doubt it's THAT rare considering I own one. I bought a set around 5 years ago for $30 solely for this card. There's a few Sosas from the set currently on ebay. That said, I always was curious about the print run. I'm guessing between 20k and 50k which is still tough for that era. There's an estimated 15k to 20k Topps Tiffany sets. I've also heard a printed run of 3,000 Bowman Tiffany sets, though there's probably more. Another one I liked was the 1989 Griffey from the Mothers Cookies team sets also given away during a game. I'm guessing between 40k and 70k of those exist. Still miniscule compared to his other offerings.

 

[zyceoa]

Also, I think these cards are slightly wider than standard ones. I remember trying to put the Thomas in a penny sleeve and the card wouldn't fit.

 

[Letch77]

Yes, they're slightly wider than a standard penny sleeve, but the thick penny sleeves work and still fit into a regular toploader.

 

[gofrankgo]

Had the Coke card once upon a time but sold it a long time ago.

 

[DragonWagon]

I doubt it's THAT rare considering I own one. I bought a set around 5 years ago for $30 solely for this card. There's a few Sosas from the set currently on ebay. That said, I always was curious about the print run. I'm guessing between 20k and 50k which is still tough for that era. There's an estimated 15k to 20k Topps Tiffany sets. I've also heard a printed run of 3,000 Bowman Tiffany sets, though there's probably more. Another one I liked was the 1989 Griffey from the Mothers Cookies team sets also given away during a game. I'm guessing between 40k and 70k of those exist. Still miniscule compared to his other offerings.

Check out www.tiffanycards.com if you want to know the actual print runs for Tiffany set.


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[rikakris]

It was given out in a set of 30 cards at comiskey park gates for the parks 80th birthday (and final year.) It is unknown how long the giveaway ran for. Presumably not very long as the cards rarity dictates.

I believe that it was a single game promotion, like the team sets that they give away annually at the park. Ususally they give them to the first 20,000 fans but probably print more sets than that.

 

[brian26]

I believe that it was a single game promotion, like the team sets that they give away annually at the park. Ususally they give them to the first 20,000 fans but probably print more sets than that.

Correct. They'd print thousands of these, and the leftovers flooded the LCSs around the Chicago area.