Venezuelan Mail Day!!
 

Exciting mail day for me. Last week I came across a lot of 1968 Venezuelan Topps on eBay, that included a league leaders card w/ Yaz, cards of a couple of other HOFers and several Red Sox. The cards are in really rough shape, but I set a snipe, and won them for significantly less. 31 cards for $51 delivered! I know they're beaters, but when have you ever heard of Venezuelans for less than 2 bucks apiece?

Out of the 31, I'm keeping 16 and I plan to sell or trade the other 15. Below are scans of the 16 I'm keeping. 15 of them will eventually be subbed to PSA (all but the Petrocelli). Enjoy!

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/...20Ven%20LL.jpg

Yaz's face is a little rough, but having this copy is better than having no copy at all, right?? Plus can't beat the price.

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/...7/Ven%20AS.jpg

Speaking of Yaz, these 2 all star cards count for my Yaz collection. The backs are 2 pieces of a 10 piece Yaz puzzle. Below is a photo of my completed puzzle from the American 68 Topps set. Venezuelan puzzle is the same when complete.

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/...TYazpuzz-1.jpg

OK, back to my very legal immigrants:

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/...ell%20Dick.jpg

^ 2 HOFers ^ About half the cards have some degree of paper loss on back. The Stargell has the worst back of the bunch.

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/...mer%20Bell.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/...er%20Veale.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/...%20Rookies.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/...co%20Cleon.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/...ins%20Rico.jpg

Thanks for looking. Venezuelans are tough enough that, beaters or not, I'm very happy with this purchase.

Congratulations; I'd say you hit a home run there.

Venezuelan
 

Those are some nice looking Venezuelan cards. I especially like the Batting Leaders Frank Robinson card ;)

I have a few of the Brooks, but are in pretty rough shape and most have some type of paper loss on the back. Would one day like to upgrade and shoot for some graded in maybe a 4-6 range in condition.

Mark, a 4 or 5 Venezuelan is equivalent to a 9 for its regular Topps counterpart. Mine will all grade 1 or "authentic," but I'm happy.

Venezuelan
 

Dan,

You're correct; the Venezuelan's are some tough ones on condition. Like I said I do have some Brooks examples currently and those would likely be labeled "authentic", maybe a 1, and I am happy with them that's for sure. For the years I don't have I'd pretty much take them in any shape. As a single player collector you probably understand that even if you have a nice or decent card already you still would want to upgrade to one that's in better shape. That's how I am with the Venezuelan issues. The only problem is it may never materialize and that's alright.