1980's Player Colelctors: Check out your 1986 Topps Minis! Strange variation...
jacksoncoupage
Posts: 609
I have been trying to figure out the source of a variation in the 1986 Topps Mini set,
The most common type, has the cards printed on the "Topps Traded" white card-stock with white photo fronts and and a moderate degree of gloss.
A seemingly scarcer version that I have found on just 2 occasions now, has the cards printed on the "O-Pee-Chee" or "Vanilla Bean" card-stock, with a yellow-brown front and a very thick (almost laminated) degree of gloss.
Keep in mind that if you were to look at the edges/sides of the cards, the difference in stock is strinking. The difference is as obvious as holding a 1988 Topps Tiffany next to a base 1988 Topps.
The first batch of these I found was in 2007, at a card store in Los Angeles, among a batch of other oddball sets/lots, the batch I found was not a full set but many stars like Nolan Ryan, Dale Murphy and Ryne Sandberg were in it.
So for those of you that may have a batch of these, could you take a look through them to see if you have any of the glossier, darker ones? Does anyone know how these were issued?
My original theory was that they were produced as a Tiffany set (the thick gloss looks exactly like the tiffany sets) but unsold and eventually leaked out into the market, hence the lack of catalog information. Or, they were issued this way in the vending cases? I've never opened one, so I can't be sure.
I'd like to get an idea of how scarce or how not scarce this second variety is and hopefully get them cataloged (or at least acknowledged) in future catalogs. Even better would be getting a definitive answer on their origin.
Thanks for any help and I'll be posting a blog about this once I get some info back from everyone.
The most common type, has the cards printed on the "Topps Traded" white card-stock with white photo fronts and and a moderate degree of gloss.
A seemingly scarcer version that I have found on just 2 occasions now, has the cards printed on the "O-Pee-Chee" or "Vanilla Bean" card-stock, with a yellow-brown front and a very thick (almost laminated) degree of gloss.
Keep in mind that if you were to look at the edges/sides of the cards, the difference in stock is strinking. The difference is as obvious as holding a 1988 Topps Tiffany next to a base 1988 Topps.
The first batch of these I found was in 2007, at a card store in Los Angeles, among a batch of other oddball sets/lots, the batch I found was not a full set but many stars like Nolan Ryan, Dale Murphy and Ryne Sandberg were in it.
So for those of you that may have a batch of these, could you take a look through them to see if you have any of the glossier, darker ones? Does anyone know how these were issued?
My original theory was that they were produced as a Tiffany set (the thick gloss looks exactly like the tiffany sets) but unsold and eventually leaked out into the market, hence the lack of catalog information. Or, they were issued this way in the vending cases? I've never opened one, so I can't be sure.
I'd like to get an idea of how scarce or how not scarce this second variety is and hopefully get them cataloged (or at least acknowledged) in future catalogs. Even better would be getting a definitive answer on their origin.
Thanks for any help and I'll be posting a blog about this once I get some info back from everyone.
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Raw: Tony Gonzalez (low #'d cards, and especially 1/1's) and Steve Young.
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