Question about a Ryan RC 'Variation'
 

Has anyone ever heard of a 'Milton Bradley Variation' of the 1968 Topps Mets Rookies card?

I asked the seller to add a scan of the back of the card, but I see nothing- aside from the flip signifying that variation.

Thanks for the help,
Raymond



http://www.ebay.com/itm/291586249735...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

yes. the are 2 indicating factors on the mb version.

1st usually a white line along koosman's side which is present. the white line is from the football card that was next to it on the sheet. these were issued in a Milton Bradley board game in which football, baseball and car cards were included.

2nd is a slightly different tone of yellow on the back.

there are actually 4 variations and the hardest to find is in this order:

1 - topps venezuelan
2 - o-pee-chee
3 - topps - milton bradley
4 - topps


if you would like to see each one, lemme know!

A little more info: Milton Bradley cards came with a board game and featured about 80 baseball, 40 football, and 20 hot rod cards. They have a brighter yellow back than the standard brown/yellow backs of the 1968 set.

FYI, PSA has recently stopped recognizing the Milton Bradley variation (I had a checklist being graded). If you want a graded one, better get one soon. SGC has not graded them for a while.

are you sure?

i would find this very hard to believe as the mb game is a legitimatized, proven and completely different method of distribution.

a reg 9 was just converted to a mb9 about 3 months ago....

edit: and still in the online submission drop down screen where as the 1966 sporting news nolan ryan pre-rookie is not.

email dated Wed., Oct 28, 2015, from Michael Resendez, PSA Customer Service:
"However, pretty recently PSA has actually stopped recognizing the Milton Bradley variation of most cards"

The email said "most cards"- maybe not all. I know they won't grade a 1968 checklist. About a year ago I tried to get a MB Aaron graded by SGC and they wouldn't. I haven't checked since then.

completely legit, as I've got a few responses from Michael.

ok, that probably does make sense on "most cards".

i would be very shocked to see them stop labeling the aaron/ryan considering the premium they command.

and i know a lot of folks that would be severely pissed as well.
if they did though, i would be very curious as to what the values of the slabbed ones did and if they increased or leveled off at reg issued topps card prices.


as for them stopping on most cards, i know a ton of frustrated collectors that have sent in cards and have them turn out to be the other one, ultimately causing a clustf@ck for both psa and said customers.

and wonder what they do w/ the 62' green tints?

The 62 green tints are a variation. The 68 Milton Bradleys are not a variation. The MBs are a separate issue, not a variation of the regular 68 Topps set.

Whether or not PSA or other TPAs acknowledge MBs as a separate issue from the regular 68 Topps set is up to them. I don't know the latest on that. I guess I don't care. If PSA has stopped grading them it doesn't mean that MBs don't exist. It doesn't make MBs any less scarce. It doesn't make high end MBs any less tough to find.

So yes, MBs are real and they are much tougher to find than regular Topps cards. I will quote myself, "I feel that the 1968 Milton Bradley cards are an absolute gem of an issue."

MBs
 

I have a set of the MBs and Greenies . I am not a graded collector and so do not care a great deal about whether the minions at PSA can sufficiently differentiate between these variants and their counterparts to grade them separately...although their recognition does impact hobby value overall.

I tend to view the Greenies and MBs as similar since I think the Greenies were also created in a separate print run by a second printer, much like the MBs were created in a separate printing process for a separate project. But I get why they are different from most Topps variations

Part of the problem with the MBs for graders is that, like the greenies, it is hard for a grader not familiar with them to tell what they have unless they have both versions in front of them at the same time. Plus some sellers and collectors think the cards in the later 1968 series are MB cards because the backs are similar. I could see how inexperienced grader minions could screw up the designations with some frequencies.

The MB checklist itself is complicated because it was a DP and there are two distinct versions of it...which would further complicate things for the grader minions

Carlton's great article from SCD

http://www.sportscollectorsdigest.co...on-bradley-set

Because most still view the Cox and Brinkman as variations to the regular 68 set I was compelled to get one set of them for my MB set and one for my 68 set. It is an illness of sorts :)

Mb cl
 

Here are the two versions of the MB checklist. It would be further complicated for grader minions in that there are more than one version of the regular CL too :). The CL is discussed in Carlton's article in the above link

http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/...ps463034c6.jpg