1987 Topps Stickers.... back ink variations ?
1966CUDA
Posts: 2,007 ✭✭✭✭
Hello- Just wondering how common this is? I don't see that PSA grades both variations, but I have found backs come in blue ink and black ink. The blue seems much more common when searching Ebay. I have several black ink backs and was wondering how rare this might be and also if you think PSA would grade the two variations if brought to their attention. Also, the "made in Italy" text is only at the bottom of the black inked back. Thanks- Claude
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oopps,,,my mistake..reading thru, the body of the text is the same except for the "made in Italy". I also have some blue backs with the "made in Italy" text, so there are 3 different back variations.
COMC recognizes the black back as a variation. Currently they have 3 types listed:
There's only one copy total of the Black Ink, so I'd guess they're fairly rare. The Test Issues seem to be fairly common.
Getting PSA to recognize is an uphill battle unless you can find the variation noted in a major hobby publication.
I have a set of both the 87 stickers in hard back, the Topps test issue, and the Panini soft backs. This was the 7th year for the latter. Also have the Album for the Paninis which has Mike Schmidt on the cover. When SCD was still listing post 80 issues they reported (in 2011) that the production of hard back test issue with the Topps only copyright was reported to be 1/10 of 1 % of the soft backs. Have no idea if that is accurate.
Was not aware of back differences. Do the differences only appear in soft back ?
Bowman Baseball -1948-1955
Fleer Baseball-1923, 1959-2007
Al
Would someone mind explaining to a fool what the differences between a hard back and a soft back are?
Arthur
If I remember correctly, these black ink versions only affect the foil sticker subjects. There are definitely far fewer of the black ink versions than the base or the "hard back" versions.
Arthur-the "soft back" term was my misnomer. The hard backs are not really stickers. They are thin stock mini card that have the same images as the sticker set. The sticker set is thinner....and "softer"
The stickers have the Panini logo, the hard backs just the Topps logo. Not sure why the hard backs are referred to as a test issue since the stickers had been around for 6 years, unless Topps was thinking about a mini non sticker series. The prior 85 Mini test set went nowhere
Bowman Baseball -1948-1955
Fleer Baseball-1923, 1959-2007
Al
Ahhh... gotcha. Thanks, Al.
Arthur
I believe the test issue was a precursor to the future sticker sets... where the stickers had hard backs that were actually a mini baseball cards. I believe they began calling them "Yearbook Stickers with Superstar Cards" at that point.
baz --you maybe right. I also have the Topps sticker sets from 88 to 90. But Topps changed it up some starting in 88. There was a sticker card hardback set of 67, and that set formed the backs for all 313 different stickers in the sticker set. So the sets were combined. They did the same in 89 with 66 sticker cards and 326 stickers, and in 90 with 67 cards and 328 stickers
By the way, in 90 they also produced what was called a Mylar Experimental Sticker product with only 6 subject. The size of standard cards it is one of the toughest Topps sets to assemble
Bowman Baseball -1948-1955
Fleer Baseball-1923, 1959-2007
Al
So in your opinion since the black ink backs seem scarce in relation to the blue ink, would it be worth pursuing with PSA to get them to recognize the black backs?
I think it would be worth a try but PSA is notoriously bad at adding new variation info that doesn't appear in catalogs. I've sent examples of each variation to assist with catalog info and had the new variation attempting to be labeled rejected and returned (this was the case with 1989 Score Promo/Missing Copyright variation). I've spent a lot of time via email and phone attempting to get them to add new, verified, variation info with no success.