I pulled a copy of the card a few days ago but hadn't noticed the error until seeing Dave's post. My kids thought it was pretty cool.
Japanese collectors have taken note (Calbee itself put an announcement on its website about the error, promising to replace them with corrected versions). Yahoo Auctions is now full of Hiromi Ito Error cards with asking prices much much higher than a 2024 Calbee regular card of a pitcher with a 27-28 career record would normally command.
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These aren't just sitting there either, a lot of them have bids. This one for example is up to 1900 Yen (about 13$ US) with 63 watchers.
This reminds me a lot of the late 80s/early 90s error mania in the US, when 1989 Fleer Billy Ripkens or 1990 Upper Deck Ben McDonalds were the hottest cards on the planet for a brief period.
The problem for anyone paying real money for an Ito error card is that it doesn't seem like its even remotely rare - there are dozens of copies of it available on Yahoo Auctions right now. According to Calbee they will start distributing corrected versions of the card from May, so it stands to reason that all of the cards they've issued in April will be the error card, likely a significant number of total production. It'll probably end up being harder to find than your average Calbee card, but I don't see it being a major valuable card in the future.
Nonetheless, its kind of cool to see some buzz around a card. Brings me back 35 years......
Doing a quick search on YJA - looks like it's pushed the price of a complete set up a little too. I'd gotten mine for 1200 yen when the set first came out but the cheapest "Buy It Now" price is 2000 yen now.
ReplyDeleteThe craziness has spread to Ebay - someone's got it up there for $23.
So the corrected card won't be out for another month? All the existing cards so far have the error?
JFC - Jamabalaya has is for 2800 yen!
DeleteWhat is REALLY annoying me about this craziness is that over the last few days bags of Series 1 chips have completely disappeared from store shelves. Until Monday I had several supermarkets and convenience stores on my way home I could stop off at to get them, all very well-stocked. Today all of them are sold out. I have to wonder if its due to people buying them up to try to get that error card.
DeleteError mania back then was really something. The 1989 Upper Deck Dale Murphy reverse negative was a big one for some of my friends.
ReplyDeleteI remember that Dale Murphy too! Though not quite as popular, I remember the 1990 Donruss set having a bunch of errors too and being quite excited when I landed a couple of them (the All Star cards had some error on the back, can't remember what it was).
DeleteThis is pretty cool. I honestly like it when stuff like this happens and brings attention to our hobby. Maybe this will inspire more non-collectors in Japan to start collecting.
ReplyDeleteAny publicity is good publicity as they say!
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