Canadian collectors who began their ritual of buying hockey cards in the fall and winter of 1974-75 discovered some changes in the packs that they snared from the shelves of local markets and drug stores: they'd need to buy more of them if they had any hope of completing a set. Saving their snow shoveling and errand money to buy a full box was great--but they would … [Read more...]
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Vintage Pack Facts: 1976-77 Topps Basketball
The world of pro basketball was a wild and woolly place in the 1970s and Topps was along for the ride. After a call to the league got them another crack at NBA trading cards in the late 60s, the company toyed with the format of its cards--and the size. Their first two sets were "tall boys", rectangular in size, supposedly a nod to the size of the players. They … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1960 Leaf Baseball
They couldn't sell them with gum. They apparently couldn't call them baseball cards and apparently landing a lot of the biggest names in baseball at the time wasn't easy. Still, Leaf pushed onward. Their 1960 product came to market as a five-cent package of "Original Authentic Baseball Photos." So, yes, other than the fact that they were the same size as … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1973-74 Topps Basketball
As the 1970s unfolded, Topps settled into a pattern of consistency with its annual basketball card releases. Standard sized cards with 264 in a set between ABA and NBA players, leaders and post-season highlights. The only thing collectors had to wonder about was the design. And of course, if you were a kid, you were hoping the price of a pack wouldn't … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1962 Topps Football
Not that it was a major concern for the youngsters who collected them at the time, but Topps' decision to use black borders for its 1962 football set has caused plenty of headaches for collectors of high-grade cards. To this day, PSA has yet to grade even a single card as a 10. Only a little over one percent of the more than 29,000 cards submitted there to date have … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1975 Topps Football
Collectors looking for a set that has a heaping helping of solid rookie cards, a nice roster of Hall of Famers and a price that isn’t sky high have always appreciated the simple charms of the 1975 Topps football set. This week’s edition of Vintage Pack Facts in cooperation with VintageBreaks.com offers a look back at how these somewhat underrated cards made … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1974 Topps Football
Things were stressful as summer turned toward fall in 1974. Watergate. The war in Vietnam. Inflation. Moms, dads and older siblings were stressed. Kids looking for a little stability in life could still count on dropping a dime on the counter of their local drug store and getting a fresh back of cards, though. It had been that way as long as we … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1970 Topps Football
After a decade’s worth of competition for players and dollars, the NFL and AFL had buried the hatchet and begun the process of becoming one united pro football league as boxes of 1970 Topps football cards began hitting shelves in late summer. Topps continued to enjoy a monopoly, having won back the NFL license from Philadelphia Gum a few years earlier. The company … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1963 Fleer Football
A four-year run was about to end for Fleer Corporation. After partnering with the newly-launched American Football League at the start of the turbulent decade that was the 1960s, the gum maker created four relatively simple sets of trading cards featuring AFL players. It would all change in '64 when Philadelphia Gum jumped into the mix and made a deal for … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1958 Topps Football
It was a moment that made collectors of vintage cards a little weak in the knees. That 2006 episode of Antiques Road Show is buried somewhere in the broadcasting archives--or maybe lost to time--but the story lives on. A woman had come to the show (it had been videotaped in 2005) with 312 1958 Topps football cello packs that had somehow been salvaged from her … [Read more...]
