Options
New Variation 1968 Topps Milton Bradley Variety
teapartyjr
Posts: 4
I have a card shop in Boston. A customer walked in with a Milton Bradley Win a Card Baseball Board Game. Inside the box were approximately 100 cards (I say approximately because I do not if some were missing. What I do have are (26) 1967 Topps Football, (19) Hot Rod Non-Sport Cards, (63) 1968 Topps Baseball Cards. Nothing unusual at first but then I noticed that the color on the back of the cards were all the same bright yellow color, different from the mustardy yellow-orange on regular 1968 Topps Baseball and 1967 Topps Football backs. I also noticed that the '67 Topps and the Hot Rods, if they were off-center a bit, had a little bit of the 1968 Topps Baseball background on the off-center edge. It was as if the entire run of these cards came from the same sheet. I didn't notice any other differences in the cards except for the color. All the cards were crisp but many were off-center. Some of the names in the group of cards: 1967 Topps Joe Namath, 1968 Topps Nolan Ryan, 1968 Topps Ed Brinkman (Yellow team variation), 1968 Topps Casey Cox (Yellow team variation). I should say the Ryan and the error variations are all in terrific shape. These cards remind me of 1962 Topps Green Tints. Does anyone else know about this? Should I send them to PSA as variations? Do you think PSA would consider them a variation? Anyone's thoughts would be appreciated.
J.J. Teaparty Sports Cards
51 Bromfield St.
Boston MA 02108
51 Bromfield St.
Boston MA 02108
0
Comments
Milton Bradley Variations
PSA won't differentiate them in the grading
After readng that thread I had to check out my own 1967 Topps FB cards, and sure enough I found several in my set with a distinct, and different, yellow back, and they all had a little sliver of the burlap design from the 1968 BB set on either the top or bottom edge, with the exception of 1 which was pretty well centerd top to bottom and just didn't catch any of the BB background. Other than that, I couldn't really see any difference in the fronts or with the design in general. Still, I may just have to persue these just incase they get recognized by the catalogs.
I love stuff like this that turns a pretty easy set to assemble into something much more challenging.
But for the record, this doesn't seem like something the price guides are likely to recognize, especially in light of the fact that they won't even recognize the more obvious color variations of the 1963 Topps FB set. Maybe someday though, there is always hope I guess.
Cataloging all those pesky, unlisted 1963 Topps football color variations Updated 2/13/05
1968 Topps Baseball
#7, (2) #8, #10, #13, #16 Lou Piniella / Richie Scheinblum, (2) #17, (2) #18,
#19, #20 Brooks Robinson, #24, #26, (2) #34, #36, (2) #38, #43, #44, #45 Tom
Seaver, (3) #48, (3) #49 Ed Brinkman Error Yellow Team, (2) #53, #57, (2) #58 Ed
Mathews, #60, (2) #61, #62, #64, (2) #66 Casey Cox Error Yellow Team, #68, #72
Tommy John, #74,
(2) #77, #78, (2) #80 Rod Carew, (2) #81, (2) #85 Gaylord Perry, (2) #89, #94,
(2) #98, #99 Rocky Colavito, #100 Bob Gibson, #105, #106, (3) #107, (3) #108,
(2) #110 Hank Aaron, (2) #112, #113, (2) #117, (3) #118, (2) #119, (2) #120, (2)
#121, (2) #124, #127, (2) #128, (2) #129, (2) #136, #139, #143, (2) #146, (2)
149, (2) #155, (2) #156, (2) #165 Tony Oliva, #168, #172, (2) #175, #176, (2)
#177 Nolan Ryan / Jerry Koosman, #179, (2) #180, #185, (2) #189, (3) #191, (2)
#193, (2) #195
1967 Topps Football
(3) #2 Babe Parillli, (2) #12, #13, (2) #18, (2) #22, (2) #28, #30, #31, (2)
#32, #48, #49, #51, (2) #58, (2) #60, (3) #67, (2) #68, #71, #84, #86, #87, (2)
#88, (2) #92, (2) #95, #98 Joe Namath, #103 Daryle Lamonica, (2) #106 Fred
Biltnikoff, (2) #110, #116, #117, (2) #121, #124, #125, #130
Hot Rod Cards
#1, #2, (2) #5, (2) #6, #7, (2) #8, (2) #10, (2) #11, (2) #12, #13, (2) #16, (3)
#17, (2) #18, (2) #20, (2) #22, #24, #26, (2) #28, (2) #29, #31, (2) #32, (2)
#33
I've added an image to show the Football, Baseball, Hot Rods backs
51 Bromfield St.
Boston MA 02108
<< <i>bowdowntome, those are some REALLY BIG color variations in the 63 football cards you have pictured there
That's probably the single most obvious variation in the set (Erich Barnes). Out of the 170 card set, I've identified 116 cards with 2 distinct variations. I'm getting really close to saying the list is complete though. Not counting the 14 team cards and 2 checklists, that leaves just 38 player cards. Most of these I've come to the conclusion that they don't exist in the 2 variations.
But will the priced guides LISTEN!!!??? NO!!!!
Sometimes I wonder why I even try.
Cataloging all those pesky, unlisted 1963 Topps football color variations Updated 2/13/05
Cataloging all those pesky, unlisted 1963 Topps football color variations Updated 2/13/05
My guess is that only the shade differs and PSA does not want to create a variation. JJ you should look in the Nolan Ryan thread a rather large story is found there. or PM Con40 he has all the info. nice p.u btw.
Steve
I spoke to someone at Beckett and they feel that what I have is a complete sheet. I have 131 different players (or Hot Rod cars). What is missing might be the instruction card. This might be enough evidence to conclude that this was a special print run, different from the regular print run and since these cards are all similar to but different from the original run of cards, I think we're talking (do I say it) the elusive 4th Nolan Ryan Rookie Variation!!! Topps, OPC, Venezualen and Milton Bradley. Who's with me? Remember when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor! Who's with me! I know Con40 is with me. Right, Keith? Oh a boy and his Ryan card can dream....
Honestly, I think we are getting close on this one.
51 Bromfield St.
Boston MA 02108
the milton bradley cards have no distinguishing features EXCEPT for the brighter backs. unlike the venezualens and opcs which have a different trademark. the cards appear to have come fromtheir own sheet of 131 mixed cards , baseball , hot rods and football.
so I strarted to think about this and came up with a few questions,
1.) does it even matter if these are milton bradley or not even if they are cataloged? I mean they are the same cards with a different shade back. I read in the other thread that there were back variations in the regular print runs which nobody even bothers with. since the back is the only distinguishing factor, isn't it just the same thing? there was a point about presentations sets being printed in a different print run , sounds like a similar case.
2.) is it really a complete set? is anybody going to want to collect this as a set? hot rods, baseball and football all mixed.
3.) lets say that these get recognized, is someone going to pay a HUGE premium for these things? i think of 56 white and grey backs or the other 68 backs and they really fo unnoticed. if the card had something different on it , like a trademark, they I could see the premium and all the fuss but with a yellow back that can be found on other 68 cards from different series , i am not so sure
my conclusion is that it is a pretty neat discussion and fun to talk about but at the end of the day I'm not so sure that their is a potential premium like there is in the venezualens and opc. there may be a slight premium , say 25% , but nothing extrodinary, any thoughts?
anybody try to sell opc's lately? the cards are 20 times tougher to find than topps and even worse if you ar looking for high grade yet you can buy them for 75% or less of a topps counterpart in most cases.
also , I am curious on what would be required to get these cataloged, would beckett require the set sent to them for confirmation with regular copies to prove they are different or would they go with a checklist and scans. this is more of a curiousity for me as I would think they would be very thorough in their research.
good luck and thanks for the cool topic
I agree with your observation on the OPC cards selling for less. It seems like that has always been the case. The 75 minis are similar. Some give them a premium and others don't like them.
I'm sending Beckett (1) Football, (1) Baseball, (1) Hot Rod card. RK was excited about the find. Honest.
I liked your points about grey and white backs except you failed to mention that there are only a handful of these yellow backs in the first two series. There are plenty (in comparison) of grey and white backs (in 1956) and OPC cards (in the '60's). It would be more interesting if these Milton Bradley cards had different copyrights on the back or something to delineate them besides the color but hey, these cards are definitely scarce (until someone finds a giant hoard of them and they start selling them on Shop at Home
51 Bromfield St.
Boston MA 02108
Cataloging all those pesky, unlisted 1963 Topps football color variations Updated 2/13/05
as for the football cards shown above. they remind me of the green tinted variety which is in the 62 baseball set.
Steve
this tells me 1 of 2 things.
1) this print variation is not that rare
2) this back variation is also available through a regular topps run meaning that the only thing differnet between these and milton bradleys is the means of distribution which is not a variaition outside of a color variation. how would this be proven 1 way or the other?
<< <i>
as for the football cards shown above. they remind me of the green tinted variety which is in the 62 baseball set.
Steve >>
You are right about the comparison. After looking at a few of the 62 baseball under magnification, both varieties of the same card, it looks like they both came about the same way. The major difference I see is that, unlike the 62 baseball, the "green tint" variation of the football is far more plentiful.
Also, it's my opinion that calling either a "green tint" variation is sort of a misnomer. They don't use any green inks or tints to print these, only combinations of yellow and blue (which makes the green), red, and black. The green appearance comes from leaving out the red in certain areas, or masking it out in some way. In the case of the football cards, most have the red masked out in either the sky, or sky and backdrop, but never the player. I think a more accurate term might be "redless" variations, but who am I.
Cataloging all those pesky, unlisted 1963 Topps football color variations Updated 2/13/05
<< <i>Steve D,
I spoke to someone at Beckett and they feel that what I have is a complete sheet. I have 131 different players (or Hot Rod cars). What is missing might be the instruction card. This might be enough evidence to conclude that this was a special print run, different from the regular print run and since these cards are all similar to but different from the original run of cards, I think we're talking (do I say it) the elusive 4th Nolan Ryan Rookie Variation!!! Topps, OPC, Venezualen and Milton Bradley. Who's with me? Remember when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor! Who's with me! I know Con40 is with me. Right, Keith? Oh a boy and his Ryan card can dream....
Honestly, I think we are getting close on this one. >>
As you can see here..Beckett now recognizes 4 Nolan Ryan Rookie variations....
1968 O-Pee-Chee
1968 Topps
1968 Topps Milton Bradley
1968 Topps Venezuelan
4 variations
<< <i>The Topps/Milton Bradley baseball cards have been listed in the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards for 3-4 years. They are under 1968 Topps. >>
Right....and since this post was started in 2005, that sounds about right.