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What do you consider Vintage?

I spotted 1991 Topps packs on eBay that advertised them as 'vintage'....
I always considered vintage, when it comes to packs, are those from the 50's and 60's.
Anything after that, through the mid 80's, I would call old. But packs from the late 80's,
the 90's and newer, I still consider modern day packs. What are your thoughts?

Comments

  • fleet47fleet47 Posts: 78 ✭✭

    I consider vintage up to 1973. Those years have different series. After that modern. May be a little extreme here.

  • curchcurch Posts: 590 ✭✭✭

    Technically anything collectible that is 20 years or older is considered vintage.

    Always looking for vintage wax boxes!
  • LittletweedLittletweed Posts: 623 ✭✭✭

    I guess it depends how old you are. I was born in 1976 and do not consider myself vintage. Old? Yes, many days. But, to think of card terms, I think vintage as pre 1979

    It looks like "Vintage" Card Prices stops at 1999

    Matt

  • ChiefsFan1stChiefsFan1st Posts: 845 ✭✭✭

    @Littletweed said:
    I guess it depends how old you are. I was born in 1976 and do not consider myself vintage. Old? Yes, many days. But, to think of card terms, I think vintage as pre 1979

    It looks like "Vintage" Card Prices stops at 1999

    Also born in 1976. And when I get out of bed in the morning, I feel vintage :(

    And similar to you, I use 1980 as the modern/vintage line. But for me there is some kind of gray area from 80 to 87 that I don't know what to call. It is modern to me, but it's before Topps supercharged the printing presses. I guess for lack of better terms I look at it this way

    Pre 1980- Vintage
    1980-1986- 'Tweener years
    1987-Present- Modern

    Anybody else see it this way?

    I dont wanna grow up, Im a Toys-R-Us kid!
  • vintagefunvintagefun Posts: 1,975 ✭✭✭

    I get the 20year thing. And it totally makes sense for wine. But for cards I consider vintage 89 and prior. Mostly because it seemed like for the most part, each producer had a main flagship, and inserts/parallels weren't overly common.

    After that, each producer had a variety of product geared toward different collectors and inserts became a norm. Thus, that's where I draw my line. But I'm not sure there's a right answer, as all collectors have a different perspective and boy do our ages vary.

    52-90 All Sports, Mostly Topps, Mostly HOF, and some assorted wax.
  • bishopbishop Posts: 2,917 ✭✭✭

    The SCD Standard Catalog used to list older and modern cards. They now list only up to 1980.

    Topps Baseball-1948, 1951 to 2017
    Bowman Baseball -1948-1955
    Fleer Baseball-1923, 1959-2007

    Al
  • ChiefsFan1stChiefsFan1st Posts: 845 ✭✭✭

    @vintagefun said:
    I get the 20year thing. And it totally makes sense for wine. But for cards I consider vintage 89 and prior. Mostly because it seemed like for the most part, each producer had a main flagship, and inserts/parallels weren't overly common.

    After that, each producer had a variety of product geared toward different collectors and inserts became a norm. Thus, that's where I draw my line. But I'm not sure there's a right answer, as all collectors have a different perspective and boy do our ages vary.

    Good point! The massive explosion of insert/parallels/ 1 of 1 etc. really killed my interest in anything mid 90's and after.

    I dont wanna grow up, Im a Toys-R-Us kid!
  • 1951WheatiesPremium1951WheatiesPremium Posts: 6,225 ✭✭✭✭✭

    To me vintage ends at 1969 because of my theory that Mickey Mantle is the Jesus Christ of collecting. Think about it - his card is to some the Holy Grail, he resurrected the hobby in the 1980s, the institution that grew from him (Topps) is still printing money from him AND it will take take an act of God for me to have him in front of me in my house.

    That is all.

    Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?

    https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest

  • BrickBrick Posts: 4,922 ✭✭✭✭✭

    1969 makes good sense to me. I used to think 1963 was the end of vintage but as the years roll on vintage ages a bit as well. Tying in the end of Mantle cards with the end of vintage is right on the money.

    Collecting 1960 Topps Baseball in PSA 8
    http://www.unisquare.com/store/brick/

    Ralph

  • BLUEJAYWAYBLUEJAYWAY Posts: 7,938 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 11, 2018 4:48PM

    It depends on ones perspective. But for me Tobacco cards are true vintage.

    Successful transactions:Tookybandit. "Everyone is equal, some are more equal than others".
  • DavidPuddyDavidPuddy Posts: 3,479 ✭✭✭

    In my head I have three collecting eras.
    The beginning of time - 1951 (Pre Topps)
    1951 - 1980 (Topps era)
    1981 - Now ( Modern)

    "The Sipe market is ridiculous right now"
    CDsNuts, 1/9/15
  • FINESTKINDFINESTKIND Posts: 374 ✭✭✭

    All this vintage talk is making me feel really old. And I don't like it.

  • BillyKingsleyBillyKingsley Posts: 2,661 ✭✭✭✭
    edited March 11, 2018 10:21PM

    As an NBA collector it's a pretty easy break. Star and older is vintage, modern begins in 1986-87.
    For NASCAR, there is really only one vintage set, 1971 STP. 38 of the first 39 years of the sport are not documented on cards.
    I'm too new to the NHL to know, yet, I only became a fan in November 2016. But it takes up most of my time now so I am sure I'll learn in time.
    For non-sports, multi-sport and miscellaneous sports it's harder to determine, but I use a general rule of if it's older than me it's vintage. I was born in 1984, so it works out really well for non-sports, as that's a clean break as it cuts off with the original Star Wars sets.

    I think, in many years from now, it will be looked at as breaking when they switched from brown textured cardboard backs to glossy bright backs, but it probably won't be looked at that way during my lifetime.

    There were probably people back in the day who complained about modern cards and meant tobacco cards...they were a lot smaller than the cabinet cards that were in vogue in the 1870s and early 1880s. But, since there was no internet to document it, we have lost the knowledge and opinions of those early collectors. One of the reasons I chose the Google format for Cardboard History was a subconscious hope that in a couple hundred years from now somebody will find my old posts and learn about what it was like to collect in this era. I suspect in that time frame cards will be a lot more interactive, where you will look at them in hand and see footage of the game. I mean, I'm writing this on a computer that fits in my hand,whereas when I began collecting I don't even think the internet existed yet.

    Perhaps one day many years from now vintage cards will be considered ones made of paper that don't move. Hopefully this post survives, somebody finds it, and hails me as a visionary :smiley:

    Edit to add: hopefully by time that happens, Autocorrect will actually be correct and not cause more typos than it solves.

    Billy Kingsley ANA R-3146356 Cardboard History // Numismatic History
  • BLUEJAYWAYBLUEJAYWAY Posts: 7,938 ✭✭✭✭✭

    It was interesting to look up in various dictionaries, including the Urban one, the many definitions of "Vintage".

    Successful transactions:Tookybandit. "Everyone is equal, some are more equal than others".
  • StingrayStingray Posts: 8,843 ✭✭✭

    @bishop said:
    The SCD Standard Catalog used to list older and modern cards. They now list only up to 1980.

    Agee with this!!

  • brad31brad31 Posts: 2,530 ✭✭✭✭✭

    For me it is 1980. 1981 started the multiple companies, the Topps traded sets and the error card craze. From that point on everything was different.

  • I would call my chest hair vintage

    I'm a big Nolan Ryan fan OK???!!!
  • bobsbbcardsbobsbbcards Posts: 3,254 ✭✭✭

    1969 and before. Everything after that is post-vintage. #postvintage

  • garnettstylegarnettstyle Posts: 2,143 ✭✭✭✭

    @brad31 said:
    For me it is 1980. 1981 started the multiple companies, the Topps traded sets and the error card craze. From that point on everything was different.

    This is the correct answer. 1980 was the last vintage set/sets.

    IT CAN'T BE A TRUE PLAYOFF UNLESS THE BIG TEN CHAMPIONS ARE INCLUDED

  • @DavidPuddy said:
    In my head I have three collecting eras.
    The beginning of time - 1951 (Pre Topps)
    1951 - 1980 (Topps era)
    1981 - Now ( Modern)

    This was always the way I looked at it also.

  • jay0791jay0791 Posts: 3,507 ✭✭✭✭

    I collect a little of everything.

    Most feel T206, A & G, Old judge, Goudey, ect to be pre war. True vintage.
    I consider 50's and 60's vintage and 1975 cutoff. Most buyer advertisements have 1975 as the cutoff.
    Anything after 1980 is modern

    I kind of agree with longtmemetsfan.

    I do love many of the new cards out there. Companies have countered big production numbers with numbered short prints and autos.

    Collecting PSA... FB,BK,HK,and BB HOF RC sets
    1948-76 Topps FB Sets
    FB & BB HOF Player sets
    1948-1993 NY Yankee Team Sets
  • rcmb3220rcmb3220 Posts: 1,108 ✭✭✭✭

    I considered 1960 as vintage in 1989 when I was first really big into collecting. I don’t consider 1989 as vintage now even though the time spans are the same. Also, I thought 41 was old in 1989, now, not so much.

  • bishopbishop Posts: 2,917 ✭✭✭

    @longtimemetsfan said:

    @DavidPuddy said:
    In my head I have three collecting eras.
    The beginning of time - 1951 (Pre Topps)
    1951 - 1980 (Topps era)
    1981 - Now ( Modern)

    This was always the way I looked at it also.

    I like this division except that is splits Bowman.

    Bob--if 1969 is your cutoff should Topps drop the Heritage line after this year ? :)

    Topps Baseball-1948, 1951 to 2017
    Bowman Baseball -1948-1955
    Fleer Baseball-1923, 1959-2007

    Al
  • PSARichPSARich Posts: 532 ✭✭✭

    I really don't agree that as time goes by that "vintage" changes appreciatively, i.e. some people currently believe 1980 & prior is vintage but in 10 years maybe it becomes 1990 & prior. Personally I have always considered 1969 to be the general cutoff for vintage. After that production increased more rapidly, distribution by series was starting to end (1973) meaning that some series had been more scarce than others, collecting long term and for investment were becoming more popular and the care and condition of cards was becoming more important.

    Vintage to me means old, scarce, condition sensitive, value increase, etc. For example, I will have a hard time believing that in the near future the 1989 UD Griffey RC (now nearly 30 years old) will be identified as vintage given that it was printed in high volume, was normally well taken care of, and has many, many thousands of graded mint and gem mint copies available.

    Just my opinion and probably skewed due to being a long time collector.

  • UFFDAHUFFDAH Posts: 1,650 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I consider this Vintage and an OLDE.....

  • EstilEstil Posts: 6,862 ✭✭✭✭

    Traditionally 1981 was the cutoff between prices in the price guide being for NRMT or MINT cards. And 1948-present was traditionally considered the "modern era". But nowadays, it's a very open question to say the least.

    WISHLIST
    Dimes: 54S, 53P, 50P+S, 49S, 45D+S, 44S, 43D, 41S, 40D+S, 39D+S, 38D+S, 37D+S, 36S, 35D+S, all 16-34's
    Quarters: 61D, 52S, 47S, 46S, 40S, 39S, 38S, 37D+S, 36D+S, 35D, 34D, 32D+S
    74 Topps: 37,38,46,47,48,138,151,193,210,214,223,241,256,264,268,277,289,316,435,552,570,577,592,602,610,654,655
    1997 Finest silver: 115, 135, 139, 145, 310
    1995 Ultra Gold Medallion Sets: Golden Prospects, HR Kings, On-Base Leaders, Power Plus, RBI Kings, Rising Stars
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