Topps Venezuelans

[tdawg]

Greetings!
I tend to be lurker here, but coming out of the shadows to post something that I think is extremely rare…
At first glance, these appear to be just normal, low grade 1962 Post Cereal cards. But a closer look shows each card have a purplish stamp of 1-15, 1-35 and 1-75.
These are actually post cereal cards that I obtained in Caracas, Venezuela, as an 8-year-old child (lived there from 1961-1970). The “purplish stamps” are the prices of the cereal boxes at the time… 1 Bolivar, 15 centavos, 1 Bolivar 35 centavos, 1 Bolivar 75 centavos. I have no idea why the prices were so different… I wasn’t the one paying ;-) Just the one wanting the cards.
The conversion rate at the time was approximately 4 B’s to the dollar, so the cereal boxes cost about 30 to 45 cents in U.S. currency.
I can say with reasonable accuracy that the cereal was bought at the CADA market in Las Mercedes which is where my family usually bought groceries. I can also say with reasonable certainty that the cereal was imported from the U.S…. so basically the same boxes that kids were buying in the U.S. at the time. Would be interesting to find someone who worked for Post Cereal back in the day to provide info on cereal that was exported. My guess is the cereal wound up in many other countries as well…
I also remember buying Jello boxes with cards on them (I assume also imported), but don’t have any Jello cards with price marking on them…
And yes, I have a nice collection of Venezuelan Topps from back then… Bought wax packs in 62, 64, 66 and 68. Not exactly sure why I didn’t buy the 67’s, although I suspect it had something to do with the inferior quality of Venezuelan stuff at the time. And, no…. I don’t have any wax wrappers… Threw them in the garbage like most everyone else did…