I have the 68 ryan and the 77 rose...definitely condition sensitive considering the paper and the fact that kids would glue them to albums....just something they did in their culture. we had 9 pocket binders, they had glue.

I'm under the impression that Venezuelans weren't distributed in traditional wax packs with gum. Rather, they were issued with albums and glue. Not sure it is necessarily cultural, but simply how they were distributed.

pretty sure, but not 100%, that they didn't come glued in the albums. they didn't come in "wax" packs either, rather a crude type of "envelope". again, in no way an expert.

but I think the jist of it was to buy the "packs" and then buy the album and glue them to the album yourself to complete the set.

again, confident, but not 100%...

edited to add:

I would like to know more about the 72 stamps though. the 72 ryan stamp has eluded me for years...where as the 68 rook did take a while, but haven't even seen the 72 in person or heard of someone actually owning one...seen a pic and reminds me of 59 topps a lil...

I've been working on the 1967 Major League set for going on three years now and I can attest to it's difficulty. Some cards are just impossible. I missed out on one of the tough ones on eBay some months back and I seriously wonder if I'll ever see another example. I have managed to put together 35 of 150 so far. Great set, but tough.

As far as the culture goes the tradition of mfg albums to paste cards into goes back to the prewar issues of all sports and nonsports. I collect boxing and soccer cards too and the Latin American cards from candy issuers and many tobacco companies are made with albums. We simply don't do that here. The few albums I can think of like Leaf were made with slots to tip in the cards. The only glue in albums I can think of were a few topps special issues like the bazooka stickers or the FB 4 on 1 from 1969.

From my experiences, the toughest by far is the 1959 Creme backs followed by the 1959 Gray backs, 1968, and the 1960. After that, I have found them relatively easy and available. Here are a few of my favorites (the 59 is a gray back):

http://i1345.photobucket.com/albums/...ps734c15c2.jpg

Not a bad scan... It actually looks like that.
http://i1345.photobucket.com/albums/...ps520925ab.jpg

The Venezuelan is on the right. The other is a poorly trimmed U.S. issue I have to upgrade at some point...
http://i1345.photobucket.com/albums/...psfec94f8c.jpg

Was Ashburn issued in any of the Venezuelan sets?
 

Hi Gents:

Was Ashburn issued in any of the sets from Venezuela? If so what years?

Any available?

Please advise.

Thanks,

Fred

No Ashburn's.

As far as issue, they definitely came in wax packs with gum. I know people who lived in Caracas and remember opening packs of them.

No full wrapper or unopened pack has ever surfaced, but finding remnants of the pack on the cards is not overly uncommon.

Albums were only issued for '64, '66 & '67.

A lot of questions emerge about distribution:

1.) I've handled many Topps Venezuelan cards over the past ten years and have never come across wax staining.

2.) Unless they borrowed U.S. packaging, it seems very unlikely that at least a wrapper or panel of a display box has not survived. That makes me think the traditional 24 pack wax box may have not been employed here. Perhaps cello packs?

3.) Why were albums released for some sets and not others?

4.) Were packs limited only to Venezuelan major cities?

5.) Could finding "remnants of the pack" be confused with scrapbook residue?

This has never been mentioned in a Topps/Venezuelan post, but it seems obvious to me that the 1967 issue was pirated without any participation or approval from Topps. These cards were clearly made other cards and not plates produced by Topps. The images are not nearly as sharp and often borders of other cards are slightly misaligned when they are positioned side by side with any specific card. What do you think? ...Craig