What do you call vintage?

Wabittwax

I saw this in another post, someone was asking if 1973 is considered vintage. What years do you guys consider vintage? At what point does 1988 Donruss become vintage? I consider 1980 and and before vintage because 1980 sells as good as some earlier years. Right at 1981, cards start to really decline in popularity. I know some of the big vintage guys would totally disagree. As years go by, more stuff will be considered vintage. What do you all think?

interchanges

While I can't argue with your 1980-1981 reason, I collect pre-war and some 50's issues. To me vintage is pre-1972. I don't really know why, maybe cause that was the last year of cards being released in series, not sure.

Mantlefan

Many view vintage as anything over 25 years old. Thus 1978 and before is now "vintage".

jaxxr

There are many ideas or points of view on what is " Vintage"

I believe the general public or bystanders assume any thing 25 years or more is vintage, thus 1978 and before is vintage. The 1980 and before idea is promoted by Beckett and has some logic as it the final year Topps had a monopoly and was the only issuer of a full set of baseball cards. To me this is fine, old enough, rare enough, and has a finite meaning , the final year of the "simple"or pure one set issuance. Before the real glut of multiple brands , inserts, and so on.

Some see 1973, the last year of series issued cards as the benchmark for " Vintage". Many think 1956 the last year BB was made in non-stand size, as a proper mark for " Vintage". Others view pre-war as real vintage.

There is no CORRECT time frame, it is how we see it. Vintage , Antique, Classic, Old-time, Etc. are all concepts based upon our own frame of references or personal feelings. I do like 1980 as a starting point, and various publications do concurr. But who really is right ??? If one is 70+ years old, his idea is probably different than that of an 18 year old. Old, real old, extremley old, what's relavent to you.. ????

FB

I've always thought of the last year of "vintage" as 72 because this was the last year that the cards were sold in packs by series. Yessss... I know that the 73's broke out the high series, but it always struck me as the "beginning of the end".

brucemo

1988 Donruss will never be vintage. The problem is that the newer stuff isn't like the older stuff, so it makes more sense to have a definite line of demarcation.

Setting a demarcation point earlier than 1970 is a little too snobbish, in my opinion. Cases for years in the 1970's:

Here are some ideas about where to put the "last vintage year."

1970, 71, 72: No real case.
1973: Last set issued in series.
1974-6: No real case.
1977: Dale Murphy RC caused something of a non-kid stir, but this is too obscure.
1978: No real case.
1979: Last year in the 70's, but 1980 was similar, and after 1980, everything really did change. It seems kind of strange to orphan 1980.

1980 makes the best case because it's the last year of just Topps in baseball. After that year, adults were really starting to pay more attention, too. In the 1970's, moms were still throwing away your cards. In the early 80's, moms had figured out the cards were worth cash dollars and were starting to buy them themselves. My mother bought a box of '82 Donruss and put it in the closet for years. In 1981, people were putting Joe Charboneau RC's in soft-sleeves.

bruce

wackypackages

WAY IN THE FUTURE I THINK THE BASEBALL CARDS VINTAGE/MODERN LINE WILL BE DRAWN AT THE TIME WHEN GUM STOPPED BEING PUT INTO THE PACKS.

Virtualizard

<< <i>WAY IN THE FUTURE I THINK THE BASEBALL CARDS VINTAGE/MODERN LINE WILL BE DRAWN AT THE TIME WHEN GUM STOPPED BEING PUT INTO THE PACKS. >>



That is an interesting point. I'd say I might agree with that someday in the future. By the way, what year was that? I stopped buying packs in the early/mid '80s but decided to pick up some packs in '91 (I have no explanation for this and can't remember if there was gum or not).

JEB.

AlanAllen

I agree on 1980. In addition to the end of te Topps monopoly in 1981, I believe that was also the year those '52 Mantles sold for $2000-$3000, which caused a some bloodlust and the first widespread stockpiling of cases. I also wouldn't argue with 1973 because of the single-series switchover. Plus romor is Topps increased production exponentially around that time.

Joe

spacktrack

I know 1989 Bowman had gum inside the packs...anyone know of anything later?

brucemo

Yes, '90 Topps had gum inside the packs. I don't know about years after that.

If that's the last vintage year though, something is wrong.

bruce

jaxxr

" Super Joe " Charboneau, where's he at now ?, brings to mind the absurd prices ( once ) for the 2000 Stad. Cliub RC of Rick Asadorian, now a mere possible prospect. Some things never change, let's get rich quick with rookies who will become great... in Vintage there were not 75+ different rookie cards of any one guy.

Once Rickey H. finally retires, vintage will have only former players, and therfore rookie cards which are not overly speculative.

wackypackages

VIRTUAL LIZARD I THINK THE LAST YEAR OF GUM VARIES BY MANUFACTURER. BRUCEMO SAID 90 TOPPS HAS GUM. I'M PRETTY SURE 89 UD DIDN'T HAVE GUM.

BRUCEMO SURE IT SOUNDS STRANGE NOW TO LOOK AT THE MODERN/VINTAGE LINE BASED ON THE GUM. SAYING ALL THAT OVERPRODUCED 80'S STUFF IS VINTAGE SEEMS RIDICULOUS. BUT WAY IN THE FUTURE I THINK COLLECTORS WILL SEE THE REMOVAL OF GUM FROM PACKS AS THE KEY SEPERATING POINT BETWEEN THE VINTAGE AND MODERN ERAS. THINK ABOUT IT BRUCEMO. IT WAS THE TIME WHEN THE MANUFACTURERS STARTED CARING ABOUT THE CONDITION OF THE CARDS. THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING IN THE CARD COLLECTING WORLD.

MartinDihigo

Personally, I consider anything pre-WWII to be vintage. I realize I am in the minority here and have no problem with people calling pre-1972 vintage, which seems to be what most people on this board use as the standard.

I actually think something more similar to what the comic book industry uses might work well with baseball cards. Maybe some comic book collectors can chime in, but I think they use "Golden Age", "Silver Age" and "Bronze Age". Not sure exactly what the years are.

For baseball, everyone would never agree on what years each "Age" would be, but a rough attempt might look something like this:

1st Group:everything up to 1950. Personally, I'd prefer to see this broken down much further since most of what I collect falls in this group and it's tough to consider a Gypsy Queen or Kalamazoo Bats card in the same category as 1949 Bowman, but it still seems like the best option.

2nd Group: 1951 to 1972. Obviously the first somewhat real Topps issue. I'm not sure where you guys place 1972, but around there seems to be where people feel that the era changes. I'm not exactly sure why, but I'm sure there's a reason.

3rd Group: 1972 to 1988 or so. This category could possibly go to whenever all the crazy refractor stuff started happening and each year had 50 different cards.
4th Group: 1988 or so, or whenever all the crazy refractor stuff started happening and each year had 50 different cards - to present.


Something like that might work. I would like to point out that to me, it makes more sense to put 1951 to 1980 as one category instead of ending in 1972. Then 1981 (when there were Topps, Donruss and Fleer) until whenever the refractor stuff started.

Any way, please realize that any system is going to be problematic and have its flaws. I have heard other people mention 1968 or so when cards started being double-printed as being a good dividing line.

Sorry for the long post

-Ryan

AlanAllen

There was no gum in 1989 Upper Deck because Topps filed an injunction after 1981, and to this day is the only manufacturer allowed to package baseball cards with gum. So, for 1981 Topps, Fleer, and Donruss had gum, and after that only Topps. I don't know when the last regular baseball issue with gum was, but in football it was 1990. However, Topps has once again started packaging gum with cards in their Heritage series (2001-present I believe). This time around each piece of gum is in a little cello wrap and there are nutrition facts on the pack . But it tastes just like I remember, and lasts just about as long.

Joe

goodriddance189

i was born in 1980, so that is the vintage cutoff point for me

purelyPSA

1991 Topps also had gum. That was also the last year of the traditional card stock.

And Jaxxr, when Henderson does eventually quit, Jesse Orosco and his bionic arm will still be around, representing the '80 set.

murcerfan

Double Knit uniforms
The "designated hitter"
Hank Aaron as a Brewer
Willie Mays as a Met

Any of these things found in your set.................. it ain't vintage.

Davalillo

Vintage--1957 and before
Semi-Vintage-1958-69.
Modern-1970 and newer

The number of years old a set is from today should never be used as the standard.

Davalillo

thejam

other ideas mantle, pre mantle =vintage last time curt flood appears = vintage first 100 years of baseball = vintage senators move to texas = not vintage pilots 2 milwaukee = not vintage

cdbb

It doesn't matter what we think. For the vintage grading special this month($10.00 for 10 days) it is for "pre-1972."

Yeti

The term "vintage" is by its nature subjective, at least when you're not talking about wines. The year that always struck me as the cutoff is 1972, not because of the way Topps issued the cards that year, but because I started collecting cards in 1973. As a kid going to visit my older cousins I was hypnotized by the magical cards from a far away time. Everything from before 1973 was fascinating, everything from after was old hat. I guess that first impression stuck.

RobE

I realize that Musical instruments and cards are like mixing Apples and Pumpkins BUT a 1975 or earlier Fender Stratocaster or Jazz Bass is concidered "vintage."76 to 80 old and 81 to 90 getting old.

JeffVN

Since I'm a 1958 model, that means I'm vintage and working on antique.

1420sports

Some topics never die - thus the beauty of the forum ....

The number of years old a set is from today should never be used as the standard.

I agree with Davalillo's statement, but I say that vintage is pre 1980. I would bet that in 25 years the 2003 sets are NOT going to be called vintage.

AROD626

I consider 1980 the cutoff line, but a case could be made for 1984 (way too recent) as that was when the whole boom really took off, with Mattingly and Strawberry rookies selling for huge amounts. Tons of "investors" came into the hobby around that time.

Golfcollector

Anything pre 1970, Anything 1940's and earlier is vintage vintage......