Topps did a great job with the action photography in 1986. The photos are far superior to the more boring head shots from Donruss and to a lesser extent Fleer that year. Look at the row of cards below that features Mattingly coming out of the box, Boggs slapping a base hit, Puckett ripping a line drive, Gooden staring down the plate on delivery...these are amazing looking cards.
Here are the only 2 contenders for GEM MINT from the 500 untouched cards...
@jordangretzkyfan said:
Topps did a great job with the action photography in 1986. The photos are far superior to the more boring head shots from Donruss and to a lesser extent Fleer that year. Look at the row of cards below that features Mattingly coming out of the box, Boggs slapping a base hit, Puckett ripping a line drive, Gooden staring down the plate on delivery...these are amazing looking cards.
I couldn't agree more. That Mattingly is one of my favorites.
These cards are so tricky to find GEM MINT. Out of the 1000 untouched cards I opened tonight, only 5 total contenders emerged for a hit rate of 0.5%...that’s pretty crazy! Here are the 3 candidates from the 2nd box...
Tough set those '86 Topps are. I split a case of '86 OPC baseball many years back with a board member. Took me 7 boxes to get a complete set, getting the last card I needed in the very last pack of the 7th box.
I ripped a few boxes of 86T to complete a set last year. I'm pretty sure both boxes had been stored in the desert for several years and then moved to a rainforest somewhere for a few more years. Every pack had 3-4 cards wasted due to wax or the ancient gum. There were several where the gum had bled through the first card and destroyed a second card as well. That on top of all the other issues with centering, etc. I completed my set. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it.
krisd3279, I occasionally open a few packs of 1986 Topps from my stash, and increasingly they are all having the same problem you are talking about. The gum demolishes the first card, and bleeds through to the second one. Means that usually there are three cards that are worthless in each pack. Still fun to open though!
The centering and print defects on 1986 Fleer are what make this issue tough to fine in pristine condition. Here were the stars and RCs in these racks...
Holy cow these cards are nearly impossible to find in GEM MINT. The vast majority are off center and the few that are centered almost always have chipping on the edges or a speck of white on a corner. That said, the look of this design along with some iconic rookies make for a fun break. Here were the stars and RCs...
Always thrilled to pull these RCs despite none being perfect...
I did manage to find 3 candidates in the box and I was really happy with the star power of these beauties!
@daltex said:
Who is the Rated Rookie on the box top?
Good question since the pictured card was not part of the issued set. Based on the photo, it is of a Texas Rangers player. I presume the photo is of Oddibe McDowell, who was one of the top Rangers prospects in 1986. Donruss likely locked graphics for the box in mid-1985 since the cards were typically released right around Christmas. Since they likely didn’t have the newest prospects under contact at the time of locking artwork for the box, they went with a generic name of “Mike Bo...”
I think Oddibe too. Makes the most sense, but why use the name Mike on the front of the card? That box (1986 Donruss) would have come out very late 1985 or early 1986, so I think it would have been too early for Ruben Sierra who made his first appearance in the 1986 Donruss Rookies and Fleer Update sets. Oddibe had already appeared on a 1985 Topps Olympic Team card.
These cards are so tricky to find GEM MINT. Out of the 1000 untouched cards I opened tonight, only 5 total contenders emerged for a hit rate of 0.5%...that’s pretty crazy! Here are the 3 candidates from the 2nd box...
Honestly, I'm surprised you found any candidates from 1986 vending. I've tried ripping a few vending boxes, and I never even pulled one card that would get a psa 9, let alone any gems.
I'm sure that's why a Ryan 10 would be in such demand with collectors.
I may have missed - how much of this stuff have you submitted so far and what's the results if so?
Hey Mike,
I haven’t submitted any of these breaks yet, but have submitted plenty to PSA over the years. Hence the reason I am being insanely picky on what I consider contenders. Anything that comes back even a MINT 9 will be a losing proposition from the 1980s unless it is a star. I know they won’t all come back 10s, but I am hoping the vast majority will. Anything below a 9, and I would throw it out and search for a better example. My crazy goal is to submit the full set from a year so they have consecutive serial numbers. This will be one massive bulk sub once I get closer to full sets to submit.
I know they are not exciting, but these late 1980s are not going to rip themselves...maybe that is why there is still so much unopened! Here come two 1988 Topps vending boxes...
@daltex said:
Who is the Rated Rookie on the box top?
I've got to ask, where did that term "Rated Rookie" come from? Did they pick one from each team like the Diamond Kings? I dunno it just kinda sounds like an odd name...
And what was up with them calling Pete Rose in 1986 "King of Kings"??? Isn't that kinda blasphemous? Sadly we all know what happened to that "King of Kings" three years later...
Nothing too thrilling in these packs. Here were the stars and RCs...
But I did manage to find three contenders for GEM MINT at first glance...
I’m also going to dig out a few more cases this weekend to increase the mix of brands and years for the rips. More to come once I pull them out of storage...
whatcha using to determine centering on the 1986 Fleer Hall-of-Famer cards? The edges/corners seem to be fine on the 4 in your previous post, although the "centering" is definitely different between the 2 cards (when looking at the Fleer logo in the upper left).
@Kep13 said:
whatcha using to determine centering on the 1986 Fleer Hall-of-Famer cards? The edges/corners seem to be fine on the 4 in your previous post, although the "centering" is definitely different between the 2 cards (when looking at the Fleer logo in the upper left).
The left edge of the HOF circle and the right edge of the yellow banner should be equal from the card edge. The darker blue background should be equal size on the top and bottom. The centering on the left Carew is pretty much perfect as were the edges and corners. The added challenge with the majority of these cards are arrant white print dots most notable on the banner and jerseys of the players. You can see one right above the Nolan HOF logo to see what I mean.
Thanks for the question and following this thread...
I have had the good fortune of opening tons of 1980s boxes over the years, so there are not many who’s contents can make me say wow. This one however had me saying “wow!“ The condition coming out of this vending box was second to none. Like I had hoped...even the Iron Man made an appearance. First, here are the stars and rookies that continue to pile up from 1982...
Then Mr. Ripken made not one, but two appearances. Neither are centered well enough for the perfection I am seeking, but it is always awesome to pull this card...
Here is the part that had me saying wow...21 contenders for GEM MINT emerged from this vending box. 1982 is notorious for centering challenges and stray print defects. I was super happy to find these buried treasures. This set looks amazing when absolutely perfect examples are found. There is even nice HOF star power littered in here...
Alright, I am adding a bunch of new year/brand combinations to this rip mix. Up next, a case of 1981 Donruss that I dug out of storage. I have actually never opened a pack of this stuff before or even owned an individual card from this set. No better way to get familiar with a product like ripping packs! Here goes the first box. Like the others, I will mix the rest of the boxes from this case into the rips over time...
Oh good lord! There was only one card in the entire box that was anywhere close to 50/50 centering. The print stock this year was paper thin which explains how they got 18 cards into the same dimension pack as Topps 15 card packs. On a positive note, I did get to see these cards for the first time and liked some of the old photos. Not sure why there are randomly 3 Reggie Jackson cards in the set with no special notation on the front such as IA, but guess it was a selling point. I also never realized that Danny Ainge had a 1981 Donruss RC. I had always thought the 1982 Topps was his RC. At any rate, here were the stars and RCs...
@jordangretzkyfan said:
I also never realized that Danny Ainge had a 1981 Donruss RC. I had always thought the 1982 Topps was his RC.
Danny Ainge also has a 1981 Fleer card.
Love to see the 1981 Donruss. The photos always seemed a bit washed out, but always enjoyed seeing Wrigley Field in the background of so many of the cards.
The thread on here with Ben's Pack a Day, he opens a Donruss box that is just duplicate after duplicate. It was laugh out loud funny to me. He pulled something like 11 Pete Rose cards out of 1 pack. You think I'd be exaggerating, but I'm not. Of course, like the Reggie Jackson, there's at least 3 different Rose cards in that set. He had packs with 4 or 5 each of Dale Murphy and Mike Schmidt cards too. Of course he also got many multiples of scrubs like Jerry Martin and Dick Tidrow and Mike Ivie. It made me laugh because that is exactly how I remember the collation of the few 81 Donruss packs that I would buy back in the day, except all of mine would have Dave Kingman or Pete LaCock or Chuck Tanner many times over, never a of a card I actually wanted. On my limited card budget back then, I learned quickly to avoid the Donruss at the drugstore, and go over to the grocery store and search the Topps rack packs where I could see the cards BEFORE purchasing and get who I wanted.
As you open more of the 81 Donruss, please share if you happen upon any packs or boxes with such wacky collation. I always figured if I was getting a pack with 3 or 4 Jerry Remy cards, then somewhere was a lucky bastard pulling 4 George Bretts out of a pack. Maybe that guy will be you.
@lawyer05 said:
im looking for 1981 donruss gem mint many sanguillen
TALK TO ME !!!
Since there was only 1 contender for GEM MINT in that entire box of 648 cards, I would say the odds of me pulling one in the near future are low. If I do, I will certainly post a pic of it here.
Thanks to all those who continue to comment on this thread. Up next, a box of 1987 Topps Cello...
The centering on 1987 Topps is abissmal to say the least. However, I do love the look of this year and all the rookies. Here were the stars and rookies with multiple appearances from many of the key RCs...
I still get a thrill when a legit star is found on the top of a cello pack. Check out these two fun packs...
There was only one contender for PSA 10 in the entire box. At least it is a HOFer...
All 87 Topps non PSA 10 potential material should be burned. Maybe we can all start an initiative to round up all the busted raw we can and dump it all in the ocean.
@softparade said:
All 87 Topps non PSA 10 potential material should be burned. Maybe we can all start an initiative to round up all the busted raw we can and dump it all in the ocean.
@softparade said:
All 87 Topps non PSA 10 potential material should be burned. Maybe we can all start an initiative to round up all the busted raw we can and dump it all in the ocean.
I sent a bunch to the landfill earlier this year.
Fully agree. In fact all the 1980s stuff I have been breaking, aside from the key RCs and stars, has been going into recycling...
@jordangretzkyfan said:
Oh good lord! There was only one card in the entire box that was anywhere close to 50/50 centering. The print stock this year was paper thin which explains how they got 18 cards into the same dimension pack as Topps 15 card packs. On a positive note, I did get to see these cards for the first time and liked some of the old photos. Not sure why there are randomly 3 Reggie Jackson cards in the set with no special notation on the front such as IA, but guess it was a selling point. I also never realized that Danny Ainge had a 1981 Donruss RC. I had always thought the 1982 Topps was his RC. At any rate, here were the stars and RCs...
I'm curious about the collation. What was the most of one card you got in a pack?
@jordangretzkyfan said:
Oh good lord! There was only one card in the entire box that was anywhere close to 50/50 centering. The print stock this year was paper thin which explains how they got 18 cards into the same dimension pack as Topps 15 card packs. On a positive note, I did get to see these cards for the first time and liked some of the old photos. Not sure why there are randomly 3 Reggie Jackson cards in the set with no special notation on the front such as IA, but guess it was a selling point. I also never realized that Danny Ainge had a 1981 Donruss RC. I had always thought the 1982 Topps was his RC. At any rate, here were the stars and RCs...
I'm curious about the collation. What was the most of one card you got in a pack?
I don’t recall any packs with duplicates, but I did get 3-4 of some cards within the box. Overall, I would guess that I got about 2/3 of the set and the other 1/3 were dups. I will pay more attention to this as I break more boxes from the case.
As I was digging through some cases, I realized that some of my favorite cards from the 1980s were part of the Topps Traded, Fleer Update and Donruss “The Rookies” sets. So I figured why not add those to the mix too?!? It’s not like the base sets are going to be hard enough to find in GEM MINT, so let’s see what we can do with these too. Here come some 1987 Topps Traded sets...
Just like the base 1987 Topps set, the centering on the Traded set is all over the place. Most of the cards are 60/40 in one direction or the other, so the hit rate on GEM MINT candidates is low. Also, the centering is not consistent on the same card even when the sets are pulled from the same fresh case. Here were the few HOFers and XRC that I set aside...
Out of the 660 untouched cards, only 9 contenders emerged (1.36%)...
The 87 Topps set is gorgeous. Love these gem potentials. We all need to figure out how to make 75% of this issues cards that exist spontaneously combust.
@softparade said:
The 87 Topps set is gorgeous. Love these gem potentials. We all need to figure out how to make 75% of this issues cards that exist spontaneously combust.
And even then we would all still be sitting on mounds of 1987 Topps 😂 I’m with you though...I do love the design and photos from this year!
Time to add some 1983 Fleer into the mix. This is an underrated set from the early 1980s with a simple, yet attractive design. Add the key rookies of Gwynn, Boggs and Sandberg to the equation and you have the makings of a fun rip quest. “Mr. Retailer...2 free packs inside!” So much for Mrs. retailer huh Fleer?
@softparade said:
The 87 Topps set is gorgeous. Love these gem potentials. We all need to figure out how to make 75% of this issues cards that exist spontaneously combust.
Agreed these are beautiful. I bought so, so many...
The typical 1980s centering issues plague this set too. Add to it a bunch of arrant print flaws and some edge wear and you have the makings for another challenging GEM MINT hunt. This box had a very small edge-notching issue likely from the wrapper loader that impacted half of the cards in this box. This made for an additional condition challenge. Hopefully it was just this box and not the balance of the case. Here were the stars and RCs...
If not for the tiny notch on the right edge, the Boggs would have been a PSA 10...
Comments
Topps did a great job with the action photography in 1986. The photos are far superior to the more boring head shots from Donruss and to a lesser extent Fleer that year. Look at the row of cards below that features Mattingly coming out of the box, Boggs slapping a base hit, Puckett ripping a line drive, Gooden staring down the plate on delivery...these are amazing looking cards.
Here are the only 2 contenders for GEM MINT from the 500 untouched cards...
Time for a second box...
I couldn't agree more. That Mattingly is one of my favorites.
Andy
These cards are so tricky to find GEM MINT. Out of the 1000 untouched cards I opened tonight, only 5 total contenders emerged for a hit rate of 0.5%...that’s pretty crazy! Here are the 3 candidates from the 2nd box...
Tough set those '86 Topps are. I split a case of '86 OPC baseball many years back with a board member. Took me 7 boxes to get a complete set, getting the last card I needed in the very last pack of the 7th box.
I ripped a few boxes of 86T to complete a set last year. I'm pretty sure both boxes had been stored in the desert for several years and then moved to a rainforest somewhere for a few more years. Every pack had 3-4 cards wasted due to wax or the ancient gum. There were several where the gum had bled through the first card and destroyed a second card as well. That on top of all the other issues with centering, etc. I completed my set. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it.
Kris
My 1971 Topps adventure - Davis Men in Black
krisd3279, I occasionally open a few packs of 1986 Topps from my stash, and increasingly they are all having the same problem you are talking about. The gum demolishes the first card, and bleeds through to the second one. Means that usually there are three cards that are worthless in each pack. Still fun to open though!
To round out my 1986 ripping spree, here are 4 Fleer wax rack packs up next...
The centering and print defects on 1986 Fleer are what make this issue tough to fine in pristine condition. Here were the stars and RCs in these racks...
Alas, 4 candidates emerged...
Hmmm...what to rip next?
Let’s go one year back and try for more of those black bordered beauties in 1985 Donruss...
Holy cow these cards are nearly impossible to find in GEM MINT. The vast majority are off center and the few that are centered almost always have chipping on the edges or a speck of white on a corner. That said, the look of this design along with some iconic rookies make for a fun break. Here were the stars and RCs...
Always thrilled to pull these RCs despite none being perfect...
I did manage to find 3 candidates in the box and I was really happy with the star power of these beauties!
I think Oddibe too. Makes the most sense, but why use the name Mike on the front of the card? That box (1986 Donruss) would have come out very late 1985 or early 1986, so I think it would have been too early for Ruben Sierra who made his first appearance in the 1986 Donruss Rookies and Fleer Update sets. Oddibe had already appeared on a 1985 Topps Olympic Team card.
Jeff
Geez Chris - those 86s are tough!
I'm sure that's why a Ryan 10 would be in such demand with collectors.
I may have missed - how much of this stuff have you submitted so far and what's the results if so?
Honestly, I'm surprised you found any candidates from 1986 vending. I've tried ripping a few vending boxes, and I never even pulled one card that would get a psa 9, let alone any gems.
Hey Mike,
I haven’t submitted any of these breaks yet, but have submitted plenty to PSA over the years. Hence the reason I am being insanely picky on what I consider contenders. Anything that comes back even a MINT 9 will be a losing proposition from the 1980s unless it is a star. I know they won’t all come back 10s, but I am hoping the vast majority will. Anything below a 9, and I would throw it out and search for a better example. My crazy goal is to submit the full set from a year so they have consecutive serial numbers. This will be one massive bulk sub once I get closer to full sets to submit.
I know they are not exciting, but these late 1980s are not going to rip themselves...maybe that is why there is still so much unopened! Here come two 1988 Topps vending boxes...
Ugly design, but some classic cards like the McGwire All-Star Rookie Cup, Maddux FTC and the Glavine RC. Here were the stars and RCs...
And out of 1000 untouched cards, there were 8 contenders found (0.8%). Pretty excited about the great looking Maddux...
I've got to ask, where did that term "Rated Rookie" come from? Did they pick one from each team like the Diamond Kings? I dunno it just kinda sounds like an odd name...
And what was up with them calling Pete Rose in 1986 "King of Kings"??? Isn't that kinda blasphemous? Sadly we all know what happened to that "King of Kings" three years later...
D's: 54S,53P,50P,49S,45D+S,44S,43D,41S,40D+S,39D+S,38D+S,37D+S,36S,35D+S,all 16-34's
Q's: 52S,47S,46S,40S,39S,38S,37D+S,36D+S,35D,34D,32D+S
74T: 37,38,47,151,193,241,435,570,610,654,655 97 Finest silver: 115,135,139,145,310
73T:31,55,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,80,152,165,189,213,235,237,257,341,344,377,379,390,422,433,453,480,497,545,554,563,580,606,613,630
95 Ultra GM Sets: Golden Prospects,HR Kings,On-Base Leaders,Power Plus,RBI Kings,Rising Stars
Way too much work lately and not enough time to rip packs! That is about to change this weekend. Let’s get started with some 1986 Fleer racks...
Nothing too thrilling in these packs. Here were the stars and RCs...
But I did manage to find three contenders for GEM MINT at first glance...
I’m also going to dig out a few more cases this weekend to increase the mix of brands and years for the rips. More to come once I pull them out of storage...
whatcha using to determine centering on the 1986 Fleer Hall-of-Famer cards? The edges/corners seem to be fine on the 4 in your previous post, although the "centering" is definitely different between the 2 cards (when looking at the Fleer logo in the upper left).
the 2 Carew cards, that is
Alright! I have missed the updates to this thread
The left edge of the HOF circle and the right edge of the yellow banner should be equal from the card edge. The darker blue background should be equal size on the top and bottom. The centering on the left Carew is pretty much perfect as were the edges and corners. The added challenge with the majority of these cards are arrant white print dots most notable on the banner and jerseys of the players. You can see one right above the Nolan HOF logo to see what I mean.
Thanks for the question and following this thread...
Let’s start the day off with a vending box from 1982 Topps. Seems like an Iron Man kind of day...
I have had the good fortune of opening tons of 1980s boxes over the years, so there are not many who’s contents can make me say wow. This one however had me saying “wow!“ The condition coming out of this vending box was second to none. Like I had hoped...even the Iron Man made an appearance. First, here are the stars and rookies that continue to pile up from 1982...
Then Mr. Ripken made not one, but two appearances. Neither are centered well enough for the perfection I am seeking, but it is always awesome to pull this card...
Here is the part that had me saying wow...21 contenders for GEM MINT emerged from this vending box. 1982 is notorious for centering challenges and stray print defects. I was super happy to find these buried treasures. This set looks amazing when absolutely perfect examples are found. There is even nice HOF star power littered in here...
That Jim Essian is off the charts!
that is a stellar group of 21 candidates. I dig the upper left and right corner cards...Gentle Ben and Mr. October
Lmk if you find a min 82 Murray you want to unload. 😀
Thanks,
David (LD_Ferg)
1985 Topps Football (starting in psa 8) - #9 - started 05/21/06
Alright, I am adding a bunch of new year/brand combinations to this rip mix. Up next, a case of 1981 Donruss that I dug out of storage. I have actually never opened a pack of this stuff before or even owned an individual card from this set. No better way to get familiar with a product like ripping packs! Here goes the first box. Like the others, I will mix the rest of the boxes from this case into the rips over time...
Oh good lord! There was only one card in the entire box that was anywhere close to 50/50 centering. The print stock this year was paper thin which explains how they got 18 cards into the same dimension pack as Topps 15 card packs. On a positive note, I did get to see these cards for the first time and liked some of the old photos. Not sure why there are randomly 3 Reggie Jackson cards in the set with no special notation on the front such as IA, but guess it was a selling point. I also never realized that Danny Ainge had a 1981 Donruss RC. I had always thought the 1982 Topps was his RC. At any rate, here were the stars and RCs...
And here is the lone contender at first glance...
Danny Ainge also has a 1981 Fleer card.
Love to see the 1981 Donruss. The photos always seemed a bit washed out, but always enjoyed seeing Wrigley Field in the background of so many of the cards.
The thread on here with Ben's Pack a Day, he opens a Donruss box that is just duplicate after duplicate. It was laugh out loud funny to me. He pulled something like 11 Pete Rose cards out of 1 pack. You think I'd be exaggerating, but I'm not. Of course, like the Reggie Jackson, there's at least 3 different Rose cards in that set. He had packs with 4 or 5 each of Dale Murphy and Mike Schmidt cards too. Of course he also got many multiples of scrubs like Jerry Martin and Dick Tidrow and Mike Ivie. It made me laugh because that is exactly how I remember the collation of the few 81 Donruss packs that I would buy back in the day, except all of mine would have Dave Kingman or Pete LaCock or Chuck Tanner many times over, never a of a card I actually wanted. On my limited card budget back then, I learned quickly to avoid the Donruss at the drugstore, and go over to the grocery store and search the Topps rack packs where I could see the cards BEFORE purchasing and get who I wanted.
As you open more of the 81 Donruss, please share if you happen upon any packs or boxes with such wacky collation. I always figured if I was getting a pack with 3 or 4 Jerry Remy cards, then somewhere was a lucky bastard pulling 4 George Bretts out of a pack. Maybe that guy will be you.
im looking for 1981 donruss gem mint many sanguillen
TALK TO ME !!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_players_from_Panama
Since there was only 1 contender for GEM MINT in that entire box of 648 cards, I would say the odds of me pulling one in the near future are low. If I do, I will certainly post a pic of it here.
Thanks to all those who continue to comment on this thread. Up next, a box of 1987 Topps Cello...
Calling it
The centering on 1987 Topps is abissmal to say the least. However, I do love the look of this year and all the rookies. Here were the stars and rookies with multiple appearances from many of the key RCs...
I still get a thrill when a legit star is found on the top of a cello pack. Check out these two fun packs...
There was only one contender for PSA 10 in the entire box. At least it is a HOFer...
All 87 Topps non PSA 10 potential material should be burned. Maybe we can all start an initiative to round up all the busted raw we can and dump it all in the ocean.
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
I sent a bunch to the landfill earlier this year.
Are you keeping the "star" packs unopened when you find a good one?
Fully agree. In fact all the 1980s stuff I have been breaking, aside from the key RCs and stars, has been going into recycling...
Yes, I have been setting them aside. Not sure what I will do with them, but they are fun to keep intact for now.
I'm curious about the collation. What was the most of one card you got in a pack?
I don’t recall any packs with duplicates, but I did get 3-4 of some cards within the box. Overall, I would guess that I got about 2/3 of the set and the other 1/3 were dups. I will pay more attention to this as I break more boxes from the case.
Yes! Thread HOF.
As I was digging through some cases, I realized that some of my favorite cards from the 1980s were part of the Topps Traded, Fleer Update and Donruss “The Rookies” sets. So I figured why not add those to the mix too?!? It’s not like the base sets are going to be hard enough to find in GEM MINT, so let’s see what we can do with these too. Here come some 1987 Topps Traded sets...
Just like the base 1987 Topps set, the centering on the Traded set is all over the place. Most of the cards are 60/40 in one direction or the other, so the hit rate on GEM MINT candidates is low. Also, the centering is not consistent on the same card even when the sets are pulled from the same fresh case. Here were the few HOFers and XRC that I set aside...
Out of the 660 untouched cards, only 9 contenders emerged (1.36%)...
The 87 Topps set is gorgeous. Love these gem potentials. We all need to figure out how to make 75% of this issues cards that exist spontaneously combust.
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
And even then we would all still be sitting on mounds of 1987 Topps 😂 I’m with you though...I do love the design and photos from this year!
Time to add some 1983 Fleer into the mix. This is an underrated set from the early 1980s with a simple, yet attractive design. Add the key rookies of Gwynn, Boggs and Sandberg to the equation and you have the makings of a fun rip quest. “Mr. Retailer...2 free packs inside!” So much for Mrs. retailer huh Fleer?
Agreed these are beautiful. I bought so, so many...
The typical 1980s centering issues plague this set too. Add to it a bunch of arrant print flaws and some edge wear and you have the makings for another challenging GEM MINT hunt. This box had a very small edge-notching issue likely from the wrapper loader that impacted half of the cards in this box. This made for an additional condition challenge. Hopefully it was just this box and not the balance of the case. Here were the stars and RCs...
If not for the tiny notch on the right edge, the Boggs would have been a PSA 10...
Here were the only 3 contenders for GEM MINT...