1982 Topps Blackless

[bswhiten]

Thanks for the info Steve. Any idea when hobby publications first wrote about the printing error? I heard that Baseball Card Magazine had an article about the no black ink variation in 82/83?

Were some of these other print defects common in the set? I have two Babcock's that have red dots/smearing on them. Curious if others are the same or different. The Corbett is the only one I have in the set that doesn’t complete the brown line on the border.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by bswhiten

Thanks for the info Steve. Any idea when hobby publications first wrote about the printing error? I heard that Baseball Card Magazine had an article about the no black ink variation in 82/83?

Were some of these other print defects common in the set? I have two Babcock's that have red dots/smearing on them. Curious if others are the same or different. The Corbett is the only one I have in the set that doesn’t complete the brown line on the border.

I haven't really looked at loads of 82s. I bought all three sets that year instead of trying to make them up myself.

But, as a close second, I have looked at loads of 1981 Topps. I bought something like 20,000 of them at a store closing auction.
Years later I went through them looking for differences. *
Some were really prone to ink spatter, and way more than half had some sort of consistent difference, usually trivial spots etc that had been fixed.
I doubt Topps did things much differently in 82.
I made a list, I still need to find it and get it typed up so it's more understandable.


*I was, and am still considering doing a catalog that lists all that stuff, possibly with images if digital, or loose-leaf if it's printed, so people can just get the part of the catalog they really want. Since I had so many, 81T was going to be the test for the format etc.

[bswhiten]

Sounds like that would be an awesome resource to variation collectors Steve. I would be curious if the splatters and missing ink were similar on the regular 82 vs. blackless too.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by bswhiten

Sounds like that would be an awesome resource to variation collectors Steve. I would be curious if the splatters and missing ink were similar on the regular 82 vs. blackless too.

It probably will be for most Topps issues.

The spatter is probably related to the position on the sheet. I just haven't quite figured out the where and why - I haven't really worked on it.

The stray dots etc are also a Topps thing, a byproduct of Producing a lot of cards to be essentially given away. Plates wear out, and need to be replaced, Or, you run multiple presses. The mask can pick up dust etc, the same for the glass that holds the mask to the plate while It's exposed. Stuff happens to the plates (I have a really nice example of a plate scratch on a 1981 fleer)
I don't track transient stuff, but the things that are from a difference in the plate or ink or cardboard I do try to at least make a note of.

We see less of it on newer cards, the really modern presses produce the plates directly on the press from digital files, so there's a lot less of that stuff to go wrong. And probably some new stuff I just haven't seen.

[toppcat]

The Foster was a very hot card when the blackless cards were ID'd (possibly in CPU, can't quite recall) and Rose of course was going for the hits record in the early 80's. It was just as big a craze as the 81 Fleer errors a year earlier.

[bswhiten]

Interesting info back from Fred on Blackless cards. If anyone has any of these early 80's ads, articles, price guides that reference "No Black Ink" or "Blackless" I would love to see them.


"Hi Ben,

As best I can recall, the term "No Black Ink" Errors was used by variation-and-error columnist Ralph Nozaki (spelling?) in BASEBALL HOBBY NEWS during the 1980's BEFORE (and after?) I coined what I considered to be a much better term "BLACKLESS" Variations. Nozaki did not consider the 1982 Topps Blackless to be real variations but instead deemed these cards as merely "printing errors" (as did other writers in various baseball card hobby publications back in the 1980's). I find it interesting that time as proven my belief that the 82T Blackless are very much notable and significantly valuable variations and NOT the virtually worthless "printing errors" that Nozaki and other hobby writers back then denounced these great cards as being.

Ads by "JMB Trading Cards" (during 1982 and/or 1983?) represented the first published use of my coined term "Blackless" for the 1982 Topps variations. Again as best I can recall, those ads offering a number of the 82T Blackless in BASEBALL HOBBY NEWS and SPORTS COLLECTORS DIGEST (and BASEBALL CARD NEWS?). Unfortunately I do not have handy the identity of the specific issues in which the ads appeared.

The scan that you sent me of the page from a price guide appears to be from a 1980's issue of the monthly baseball card price guide which (as best as I recall) was entitled CURRENT CARD PRICES. That price guide was edited and published by a fellow here on Long Island (New York), Richie S. At least back then the card prices in that guide were regarded by dealers and collectors (at least locally, if not much more widely) to much more accurately reflect actual market prices at the time than the Beckett monthly baseball card guide.

- Fred/crystalentia(eBay)"

[ALR-bishop]

Fred really did battle with Nozaki and Lemke over what he perceived the value and classification that should be accorded to Blackless. Although I collected the set because Lemke did list it in SCD, I do not think they are variations.

Nozaki is involved in a project to update the Gilkeson variations publications. Here is the link to that effort in another thread. You may be able to contact Nozaki through that site. Also, in looking I have kept various treatises I received from Fred over the years on Blackless, Blueless, Autloless, Blacklessing. If you want to pm me a mailing address I can send you copies ( too much to scan and post)

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=277792

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by bswhiten

Interesting info back from Fred on Blackless cards. If anyone has any of these early 80's ads, articles, price guides that reference "No Black Ink" or "Blackless" I would love to see them.


"Hi Ben,

As best I can recall, the term "No Black Ink" Errors was used by variation-and-error columnist Ralph Nozaki (spelling?) in BASEBALL HOBBY NEWS during the 1980's BEFORE (and after?) I coined what I considered to be a much better term "BLACKLESS" Variations. Nozaki did not consider the 1982 Topps Blackless to be real variations but instead deemed these cards as merely "printing errors" (as did other writers in various baseball card hobby publications back in the 1980's). I find it interesting that time as proven my belief that the 82T Blackless are very much notable and significantly valuable variations and NOT the virtually worthless "printing errors" that Nozaki and other hobby writers back then denounced these great cards as being.

Ads by "JMB Trading Cards" (during 1982 and/or 1983?) represented the first published use of my coined term "Blackless" for the 1982 Topps variations. Again as best I can recall, those ads offering a number of the 82T Blackless in BASEBALL HOBBY NEWS and SPORTS COLLECTORS DIGEST (and BASEBALL CARD NEWS?). Unfortunately I do not have handy the identity of the specific issues in which the ads appeared.

The scan that you sent me of the page from a price guide appears to be from a 1980's issue of the monthly baseball card price guide which (as best as I recall) was entitled CURRENT CARD PRICES. That price guide was edited and published by a fellow here on Long Island (New York), Richie S. At least back then the card prices in that guide were regarded by dealers and collectors (at least locally, if not much more widely) to much more accurately reflect actual market prices at the time than the Beckett monthly baseball card guide.

- Fred/crystalentia(eBay)"

I actually did a lot of the pricing for the first couple years of CCP, guess I was accurate. Richie used to say I wasn't always LOL