I’m on a bit of a roll taking a look at some niche styles of Jordans. First Day Issues, Beam Teams, Scoring Kings and even Jordan Lightning cards have all received some attention recently.
I covered off Jordan Panini stickers too so let’s continue that look at early stickers with a look toward 80’s Michael Jordan Fleer stickers.
TL;DR - just show me the Jordan 80's stickers!
Checklist of 1980's Michael Jordan Fleer stickers.
Sticker distribution
In the 80’s Fleer produced stickers seeded at one per pack. The stickers were a separate set to the base set - receiving their own numbering scheme - featuring 11 of the season’s star players of the NBA. Only Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were included in each of the four sets of 1986 through to 1989.
Let’s take a look at the distribution of the stickers vs the base cards.
- 86-87 Fleer packs: 132 base cards, 11 stickers distributed in packs of 12 cards and 1 sticker
- 87-88 Fleer packs: 132 base cards, 11 stickers distributed in packs of 12 cards and 1 sticker
- 88-89 Fleer packs: 132 base cards, 11 stickers distributed in packs of 12 cards and 1 sticker
- 89-90 Fleer packs: 168 base cards, 11 stickers distributed in packs of 15 cards and 1 sticker
From these set distributions we see that every pack contained 1/11th of each base card set. Since each pack contained 1 sticker - and the sticker sets are 11 stickers - each pack also contained 1/11th of the sticker set.
This means that we know that each individual base card had the same production number as each individual sticker. Of course, we don’t know how many were made but we can see that, whatever that number was, it is the same for the base cards and stickers per release.
Ergo the 86-87 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie card had the same print run and pack distribution as the 86-87 Fleer Michael Jordan sticker.
Stickers - designed for destruction
Of course our discussion of distribution on holds true for the initial release of the stickers.
Being an item designed to be essentially destroyed - by being peeled and stuck - we can assume the volume of available stickers would be reduced over the base cards. Of course, base cards will always be more highly sought than subset cards - though these stickers aren’t a true subset I would argue they are closer to a subset than a chase insert given the 1:1 production and distribution.
Let’s take a look at some of the population reports comparing the base Jordans to stickers. We’ll look at both the 86-87 and 89-90 base and stickers to bookend the era’s sets. Totals are as at 27 January 2024.
| Card | PSA | BGS | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 86-87 #57 | 26,246 | 13,877 | 40,123 |
| 86-87 sticker #8 | 19,377 | 7,258 | 26,635 |
| 89-90 #21 | 23,112 | 3,141 | 26,253 |
| 89-90 sticker #3 | 15,210 | 2,434 | 17,644 |
This can be approximated into the range of 50 base cards graded for every 33 stickers for both the 86-87 and 89-90 sets. Interesting that the ratio is the same for both data sets.
As mentioned earlier, there is no doubt a base card will always be more sought out and therefore more likely graded than a subset. However we could be seeing some impacts of availability on the stickers with the agreement on the 1:0.66 ratio across these population reports.
Base vs sticker values
Let’s take a quick look at some recent eBay sales on PSA and BGS 8 graded Jordan base cards and stickers. We’ll stick to the same sets as per our dive into population reports: 86-87 and 89-90.
We can see below that the rookie card halo effect greatly affects the value of the #57 over the #8 sticker. For 89-90 we see much closer values and even consistently higher in this case which is likely due to the significant centering issues found on the 89-90 stickers giving even near mint to mint graded copies a boost in value.
86-87 Fleer Jordan cards recent sales
- base #57 PSA 8: $6,100, $6,755, $6,499
- sticker #8 PSA 8: $1,001, $1,026, $1,375
- base #57 BGS 8: $5,250, $5,000, $5,322
- sticker #8 BGS 8: $800, $815
88-90 Fleer Jordan cards recent sales
- base #21 PSA 8: $35, $23, $30
- sticker #3 PSA 8: $15, $32, $30
- base #21 BGS 8: $15, $15
- sticker #3 BGS 8: $28
Condition factors
Generally speaking the stickers do suffer from greater condition issues. As I mentioned above, the 89-90 #3 sticker can be hard to find with any semblance of nice centering. This is an issue that applies across the board - in fact one method of helping identify a legitimate 86-87 #8 sticker is to look for a diamond cut on the back. This same issue can greatly affect the card’s grade.
Anecdotally, some of the earlier stickers do seem to suffer from stock yellowing more than their base card counterparts. Presumably this would be due to the paper stock used to enable the creation of the sticker function.
A further condition issue to consider is the fact that these stickers were the final card in the pack. This means the gum was pressed against the back of the sticker in the pack. This could lead to issues when removing the gum leaving a residue.
Displaying stickers with base cards
While, generally, base cards are more sought after than subset cards it’s worth mentioning the display opportunities these stickers hold. They each display beautifully alongside each other - I will list out the base cards and stickers below to give you a feel for this.
86-87 Michael Jordan Fleer Sticker #8
The OG and by far the most desirable of the Fleer sets includes both the first Jordan Fleer sticker and his Fleer rookie card.
While the #57 base card is a perfect example of excellent photography, the sticker certainly holds its own with a great shot of Jordan driving toward the rim guarded by Otis Birdsong.
I’ve game dated the 86-87 Fleer rookie card and sticker - both photographed by Noren Trotman - to January 16 1985 for the sticker and either December 14 1984 or April 13 1985 for the rookie card. Check out the article if you’re interested in how I worked through to these conclusions!
87-88 Michael Jordan Fleer Sticker #2
The 87-88 Jordan sticker includes an uncorrected typo on the back - when discussing the record breaking number of votes Jordan received for the 1987 All-Star game the word ‘votes’ is spelt ‘voites’.
Aside from a typo the back of this sticker contains an extraordinary amount of MJ allocades.
88-89 Michael Jordan Fleer Sticker #7
This sticker proudly announces “Fleer Basketball Super Star Sticker” along with a classic vintage design. The photo used is iconic Jordan - tongue out driving hard up the court.
Centering issues can be very pronounced in this set.
89-90 Michael Jordan Fleer Sticker #3
This is Fleer’s first All-Star sticker release paving the way for a true All-Star sticker the following year where Jordan is pictured in the All-Star jersey.
Again, centering is something to check carefully on this sticker.
I hope you enjoyed that look at 80’s Jordan stickers and happy collecting.