1959 Topps color / toning variations
 

Has anyone else noticed this? I'm asking particularly about the yellow cards, but the variations exist among some of the other colors too.

I was noticing that in comparison with some of the other '59 cards I have, that the Wille Mays #50 I just picked up (in about VG-EX shape) is a tad bit "duller" in terms of the bright color pop that you normally see on '59 Topps. It's not a showstopper considering what I paid for the card, and on the whole it still looks nice - but I'm just curious. In looking around at other '59's on ebay - I see this here and there with the yellow cards as well. PSA and the other grading companies do not seem to take off for it - there were some 7's and even what looked to be one 8 with the same type of slightly duller yellow that my Mays has up online. I've also seen this in the past with the red cards - for example in looking at some '59 Mantles - some have that gorgeous deep cherry red, and some have a slightly duller red - which is not immediately noticeable as ugly, but just different. Also with this one, I don't see any of the big 3 slabbing companies penalizing much for this.

The borders on my Mays are perhaps a tad more off-white than normal for '59 Topps, but they look considerably duller when compared to some of my cards from other sets. ('56 Topps, '61 Topps...) Again, I think the card is ok - it just looks better in bright light and not so hot color-wise if you are holding it in the shadows.

Thoughts? Does this kind of thing bother you as a collector?

Thanks,
-John

The duller less bright cards are faded from sitting out on display 99.9% of the time. As an example you won't see it as often in the 61 Topps because they do not fade as easily.

If you have any specific questions or cards I would be glad to help.

EDIT: As a collector of print errors it bothers me a lot and I avoid them only because it is one of my pet peeves.

Thanks. The sitting out on display makes sense, but I was not sure if maybe it was a factory issue in some cases as well.

If you search this site for 58 Hank Aaron Blue front cards I have put up some examples of faded cards, some things to look for and a dull yellow is a huge red flag that the card did not leave the factory that way.

Variants
 

If some ink color runs low during a run you can get differences. The 82 Blackless cards can be found with black, no black and in between gray. In the 89 and 85 sets have all number of color variances in the team or name banners. I think colors may vary some series to series in a set. There are some legendary color difference backgrounds in the 52 set. Pick any card and search it closely for a month on eBay and my guess is you will find some differences somewhere :)

I noticed the 1959 hank Aaron ( also yellow ) has a weird little knotch on the top yellow border on some card and not on the others . As far as the color goes I've seen faded yellow bright yellow and the variation to me would be almost a golden yellow

Agree 100% on both points.

I noticed that one of my 59s was duller in color/finish and started comparing it to the Venezuelan cards issued in 59... turns out that the card in question was a 59 Venezuelan card.

Here is one of Dave's (toppcat) blog posts concerning the 59 Venezuelans:

http://toppsarchives.blogspot.com/se...zuelan%20Topps

This is the card in question in a "non-color enhanced" scan. Still looks pretty nice on the whole, but it is one of the duller ones and yes I would agree with "golden" yellow vs. some that you see that are the brighter ones.

Yes, I have noticed that about the Venezuelan cards. Unfortunately this Mays is T.C.G, U.S.A.

The "TCG, USA" does not disqualify this card from being a Venezuelan issue.....from Dave's blog post: "Two different countries of origin are referenced and some cards can be found with a PRINTED IN USA line while other states IMPRESO EN VENEZUELA POR BENCO C.A."

In other words, these 59 Venezuelan cards can have either of these origin statements.

In looking at the front scan, it appears the Mays is almost "too" bright to be a Venezuelan. If you could, please post a scan of the back also.

Colors can vary greatly from card to card. I call this the tint to the color. I have seen what I call slime ball sellers look through for an example 20 1991 Topps Wade Boggs cards and find the 2 with the most color variation and list them on eBay as a real variation for a huge premium.

By dull for faded cards the color looks less glossy kind of like the regular Topps compared to the Venezuelan cards only one or more colors will be lighter colored also. Hope this makes sense, it is easy to explain in person with a few examples in hand.

Interesting. I had been under the impression all of them had the "Hecho en Venezuela" line on the back if they were indeed Venezuelan. I once had a Venezuelan '59 Mantle and that's what it had.

How do you tell the difference in a Venezuelan '59 that says "Printed in U.S.A." vs. a regular US one? If it's just the nuance of color, then I'm afraid I don't know. Per your request, here is pic of the back. I will say that in my own opinion, the back of this card is darker / more brownish than it appears in this scan, but who knows. If anyone wants to tell me this is Venezuelan (and maybe worth like 10x what I paid for it...) that would be great. :)

1959
 

See in particular post 6


http://net54baseball.com/showthread....lan+1959+spahn

Does not appear your Mays is a Venezuelan.....Josh has a picture of his Mays cards posted on the PSA registry: http://www.psacard.com/psasetregistr...aspx?s=183698#

In this case both of his Mays cards (no matter the back color) have the "Hecho en Venezuela" tag.

Thanks all for the info.

I have to find my notes but don't believe the two varieties of indicia on the 59 Venezuelan's are interchangeable. Either a card has one or the other, there's no variation with it. It's possible the card stock may determine the indicia but again I have to find my notes. To make it worse, I think the team cards don't have anything identifying them.