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Conference school::sports_memorabilia

Title:	Sports Memorabilia
Notice:	Wanted: 3.; For_sale: 4.; Traded: 5.*
Moderator:	SCHOOL::KOPACKO

Created:	Wed Aug 27 1986
Last Modified:	Thu May 08 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	730
Total number of notes:	8547

76.0. "Card quality - at what price?" by SMURF::BREAU (Where were you when Reagan slept?) Wed Jun 28 1989 10:10

    
    This is a base note for a discussion of baseball card quality.  In note
    508.3, here's a note about Topps quality, comparing it to 89 Bowmans:
    
    > Quality is typical Topps, wax on the back, off centered and chaffed
    > on the sides
    
    I'm also getting fed up with the card quality put out by the major card
    manufacturers with the exception of Score (best quality for the price)
    and Upper Deck (but, quality at what price?).  I actually like the
    vertical stripes on '89 Fleer, because they offer an easy way to see
    how badly off-centered (my pet peeve quality gripe) they are ... in my
    opinion, all but 1 or 2 per pack are badly centered.
    
    Check out the '87 Turn-Back-the-Clock set from Topps.  As you know,
    this set is a 5-card series illustrating the Topps cards of certain
    stars from previous years.  Card #314 ('67 Yaz) is badly centered and
    card #313 ('72 Clemente) is VERY badly centered.  That card #313 really
    p*ssed me off.  You'd think that since these cards are only smaller
    reproductions of previously issued cards, that Topps would have used
    only perfect specimens of the '67 Yaz and the '72 Clemente to start
    with!  Unless of course, there were *no* well-centered cards out of the
    several million of each that were issued for those two cards  ;^)
    
    Does anybody else have opinions on this subject?  How about the Donruss
    cards?  I thought the little dangling '88 (the last year I looked at
    Donruss) looked stupid, and I never liked the last-five-years-only
    stats on the back.
    
    So, what other opinions are there about quality and esthetics?  - Jim

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
76.1	Get those early cases	WHELIN::DIFONZO		`Wed Jun 28 1989 10:57`	8
	Jim, You forgot to mention the gratuitous errors/variations that each company puts out each year. Funny how from '75 - '85 Topps has only 2 variation cards ( Perez and Bump Wills ) I guess technology has gotten worse over the past few years :^) John
76.2	Are They Listening?	SAGE::JACUNSKI		`Wed Jun 28 1989 11:14`	7
	In defense, maybe, of Topps, the last few wax packs I opened had that advertising card right where it should be - at the bottom of the pack protecting the real cards from wax stains. Is this a new policy or just a fluke? Off center cards really burn me, too. There's no excuse for 90% of cards to be off as much as they are. I did a better job of cutting out those Post cereal cards when I was a wee child. Sheesh.
76.3	THUMBS DOWN FOR TOPPS!	USRCV1::FEBUSJ		`Wed Jun 28 1989 12:52`	17
	Considering that Topps has been producing baseball cards longer than all the other competition, I feel that they put out the lowest yield of true mint cards than any of the other vendors. As big as the hobby has gotten over the years you'd think Topps would either improve their printing equipment or take a serious look at what the cards look like before they go into the wrapper. I collect Topps, Donruss, Fleer, and the new Upper Deck cards. Without a doubt, except for the 87T set, all of the Topps sets are either very much off center, or the quality of the photo is attrocious! I think that Topps has the corner on the market, as such, if the profits are rolling in, why change anything? (right? WRONG!) Just stating my view guys! THANX Juan
76.5	are Topps Traded produced differently?	SMURF::BREAU	Bush: Now, about those old taxes	`Thu Jun 29 1989 17:11`	6
	Does anyone know if the Topps Traded sets are produced differently from the regular sets? My 88 Topps Traded is unusually mint - 132 cards, yet every single one is sharp cornered and well-centered, my pet peeves as far a quality is concerned. -Jim
76.6	"89 Donruss MVP and Diamond Kings look great	SMURF::BREAU	Mars <global situation> Venus	`Mon Jul 24 1989 09:27`	4
	Thumbs up to '89 Donruss MVP and Diamond Kings - esthetically both beautiful designs - Jim