1991 Topps Desert Shield Baseball Packs (6, with 5 Unopened)

Bidding

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/6/2020

Coming at a time when a smoking-hot baseball card hobby merged with a patriotic fervor as our troops descended on Kuwait, the 1991 Topps Desert Shield Baseball cards were a phenomenon back then and remain so nearly three decades hence. Offered here are five of the unopened packs of the famous, limited-edition pasteboards that were reportedly shipped to our servicemen and women in the Middle East and beyond and distributed with whatever level of Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Airforce knowhow the circumstances would permit. Essentially identical to the regular-issue 1991 Topps Baseball cards that year, the Desert Shield cards were differentiated by a gold Desert Shield logo planted near the top of the card, typically but not exclusively in the right-hand corner. Allegedly limited to a print run of a mere 7,000 cards for each player, the cards remain a curious outlier from an industry that typically prints in, uh, much more substantial numbers. The five offered packs seem to have weathered the two-way overseas trip in good fashion, seemingly Ex-Mt to Near-Mint or better, a condition description that could apply to the 15 sample cards included as well. It’s an impressive group that is joined by a game card and an Excellent condition wax pack, the former and the 15 cards presumably having been set free from the latter. The opened pack included Tim Raines, Mike Jackson, Dave Henderson, BJ Surhoff, Phil Stephenson, Jack Howell, Tracy Jones, Juan Agosto, Sam Horn, Buck Rodgers, Lance Dickson, Steve Frey, Bobby Valentine, Clay Parker and Mel Rojas, along with the wrapper, game card and the remains of a piece of gum.