1982 Fleer #576 John Littlefield "Pitching Lefty" Error Card Collection (100) Plus Uncut Sheet

Sold For:

$4,406

Year:

1982

Auction:

2009 Spring

Lot #:

877

Category:

Postwar Baseball - 1970s to Present Cards

Extraordinary collection of exactly one hundred 1982 Fleer #576 John Littlefield "pitching left-handed" error cards, one of the few modern rarities of the 1980s, plus an additional uncut 66-card proof sheet (29 x 23 inches) featuring the Littlefield error card. Because of a reverse negative printing error, this card was printed with Littlefield pitching right-handed and left-handed. The scarce left-handed error card is extremely well known as one of the rarest of all error cards from the 1980s. This is a unique and extremely unlikely collection with an amusing story: Charlie Conlon always had a great interest in rarities and error cards. He had literally cornered the market on 1975 Topps minis, and was the proud owner of one of the very few known authentic rare T206 Doyle cards. When Charlie discovered the rare 1982 Fleer error card #576 Littlefield, he became intrigued, and after carefully assessing its rarity thought that this card might represent a unique opportunity. Right away he began to actively look for and purchase examples of this card before everyone "jumped on the bandwagon." For a while it appeared he was really on to something, as the rare Littlefield was not easily found. Pretty soon Charlie had stockpiled a dozen of them and, based on the difficulty of finding examples, he was very encouraged that this a very worthwhile project. Eventually, as can be seen here, he had a hundred of them! Unfortunately, perhaps because there were so many other error cards of different types issued by Fleer in the early 1980s, the value of the genuinely scarce Littlefield error card never really went anywhere. But it's day may come yet! We doubt we will ever see another collection of one hundred examples (and would be surprised to see another collection of even ten examples). All the cards are pack-fresh Nr/Mt-Mt or better examples including three graded by PSA (one MINT 9 and two MINT 9 [OC]). The proof sheet is in Nr/Mt condition. The SMR value for MINT 9 grades is $80 and NM-MT 8 is $40. Also included are five examples of the correct (pitching right-handed) variation. Total 106 items (100 error cards, 5 non-error cards, plus one uncut sheet). Reserve $500. Estimate (open). SOLD FOR $4,406