1991 Topps Desert Shield: what's the deal with these baseball cards? How rare, how valuable?

The 1991 Topps Desert Shield baseball card set is a unique issue for the junk wax era. How rare are they? How valuable? What's the history behind them?

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[brentdesroches]

Post-War cards has a great article on the subject - check their article titled "1991 Topps Desert Shield Wax Pack and Box Authentication". BBCE does authenticate the boxes - but the only way they can do that is to open the box and open a pack inside the box to check!! Thereby every BBCE box becomes a frankenbox. I was also curious about unopened packs of this product. PSA doesn't authenticate them, because as you mention - there are no visible markings on the packs to indicate they would be any different than 1991 Topps itself.

[bradgrimm]

I served in Desert Shield/Storm and one evening a sergeant came into our tent in the middle of nowhere Iraq with a box and said that these cards had been sent over to the troops and to take some if you wanted any. I grabbed about 7 or 8 packs and opened them and got quite a few more from others that opened them and decided later they didn't want them. All in all, I probably have about 150 cards -- no Chipper Jones of course. Some of the better ones that I have are the Ken Griffey Jr. All-Star, Barry Bonds, George Brett, Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, Bo Jackson, and probably another dozen or so HOF'ers or near HOF'ers. Somehow I managed to get these back home in nice shape. I haven't graded any, but given that I am the original source I don't have to worry about any being fake. Being that I collected baseball cards since 1973, I was in tune with the hobby and thought they might have some value given the purpose and distribution of the cards so I made sure to hang on to them and try and keep them in nice shape. These cards are worth more than any other of my cards that I ever bought from a pack and opened (other than perhaps '75 Brett and Yount rookie cards) which is probably more a function of the time in which I was a kid and bought baseball cards than these cards being worth that much. They are a treasured part of my collection.

[mikea]

I have the complete set just finished it this year very hard to find credible sellers but the ones I’ve found are great to deal with and have a true passion for the collecting of this iconic set. Love the content keep up the good work!

[anthonys]

I was in Desert Storm and got 10 packs because not so many troops were interested. I sill have the but out of the wax paper and in a jewel box. Mint.

[Mskedu]

These were super common back then I was shocked to see the prices now

[mattramzzz]

I was living in Greensboro North Carolina during the Persian Gulf war and was not a collector but somehow did acquire several of these. I am going to have to find them.

[johnbaumgardner]

I have some love this set. Fun fact the checklist cards dont have the seal so there is no difference at all. Keep up the awesome content.

[donaldsmith]

I’m a Desert Storm Veteran as well 1st Armored Division.

[christianmorales]

My exception in collect 90's Material. I Collect stars and Hofers in PSA 9 and is a big challenge due the counterfeits. The cards raise in value the past 3 years and in the future will difficult find PSA 10's and 9's examples. The 91' Desert shield is something special.

[ASMRPeople]

I've always thought a 1991 rainbow would be fun to build. Topps, tiffany, dessert shield, o pee chee and micro.

[MrMikey]

I have 52 mostly commons. I bought off of tv shopping show in early 90s just sent 3 into psa.

[ACollectorsDream]

Another great video. The Desert shield are very tough in high grade, as you said. Some rarer modern issues, 1986 Topps Traded Tiffany, only 5k of each player produced. Bonds and Bo Jackson rc

[starscream]

I have about 200 of these including a graded Chipper Jones and ungraded Frank Thomas and Ken Griffey Jr. I believe mine are authentic as I've run every darn test, but who knows lol. Maybe someday I'll send the rest to PSA. Love this set...and all the 80 Tiffany sets. Thanks for sharing

[mozzie]

Great content. Love it when you do these 80's and 90's issues. 1990 Donruss Aqueous should be on your "to do" list.

[ObsessedCollector]

I have a few from scattered collections I bought. Hope one day to get a Len Dykstra DS!

[darrelld]

Like someone mentioned earlier, BBCE essentially needs to 2 boxes of these and take a random pack form each to verify and then fill the one box. They may have some extra packs of these to fill some boxes I suppose after opening and needing to replace over the course of authenticating several in the past. I was in usaf during desert storm but was stateside and I worked part time at a cars shop in Austin Tx and somehow we came into a box of these and sold them by the pack for a premium of course around 1992.

[gregajakus]

My dad was deployed to Saudi Arabia during Desert Shield/Storm. He worked the night shift and at his base, the cards were distributed during the day shift. He said that guys were taking whole boxes. By the time he got to work, they were all gone. He was able to bring a pack back that was already opened. I still have the cards. It is my favorite set of the 90s and would love to own one someday. I am a Brewers fan and do have the complete team set, to include the Yount and Molitor cards in PSA 9s.

[acmevalley]

My favorite set! Trying for all HOFers and stars in PSA and above

[kejola]

I live near Fort Campbell KY and was a regular at the big flea market down there. These cards were a big deal even back then. I own the complete Braves set, and a stack of probably 50 commons/ minor stars. I'm going to dig those out and see exactly what I have.

[jamiejanosky]

My dad was over there and sent alot back to me i still have them he told me they burnt 🔥 alot of them. His name is Daniel Janosky he is also a Vietnam veteran.