O-Pee-Chee & The Topps Connection (Questions)

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

Larry's latest post reminded me I wanted to see if I have a handle on the OPC Topps connected inserts/supplemental sets issued in the 60's and 70's. I only show the following:

1960 Tattoo
1967 Pinups
1969 Deckle
1973 Team Checklists
1974 Team Checklists

This does not seem right to me. Would there not have been inserts issued in 1965 (1st year of OPC branded Topps cards) and 1966? And it seems like there should have been '68 game cards and the scratch offs in '70 and '71 at a minimum?

I believe the '71 wrapper advertises an "extra story booklet" so maybe there was a year lag? in OPC inserts vs. Topps? Was Topps burning off extras from the US a year later? The '70 wrapper also indicates an "extra" within but I cannot read the print on the scan I found online. This would possibly mean the Pinups came in '68, Game Gards in '69, Deckles in '70 and Scratch Offs in '71. Any OPC experts out there know?

1952 through 1964 presumably saw Topps cards baseball simply repackaged for Canadian sale (excluding certain known "gray back" or similar type cards). It's likely these were retailed in Toronto and Montreal metro areas but I am only certain of Toronto. It is unclear to me if the 61-64 packs would have had the main inserts for the year.

For that matter, the '60 Tattoos are the only supplemental OPC set I can ID (thanks to Larry-I have no external reference). Is that because it was just a wrapper and gum, with no cards?

Is there a comprehensive guide to OPC cards available?

And, can we get people to post their OPC wrappers from '65 thru '75?

Thanks!

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Posted By: Bob

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Posted By: Anthony N.

Here's '71
The insert noted was a scratchoff, which was found in '70 packs.
In '71 starting with the 3rd series Topps included coins, don't know if OPC did.

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Posted By: John Moran

Another version of the 71 OPC wrapper

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Posted By: John Moran

1970 OPC wrapper

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

Wow-great scans!

Anthony, I think the holder is wrong on the 71 you posted, the wrapper says booklets, the flip scratch off. Is it possible in '71 OPC packs any of the three could have been included, depending upon series?

OK, time for mt to bone up on OPC!

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Posted By: John Moran

1964 OPC wrapper, "borrowed" from ebay

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Posted By: Anonymous

Oopps, Dave, you're right of course.
But I recall getting the story booklets in '70 Topps as well as scratchoffs and posters.
Didn't realize until I picked up a pack that the story books came in their own packaging as well.

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Posted By: Bob

1966, 1967, 1968, 1969 (wrapper), 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1975 OPC packs.

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

From the above postings, it would appear the following inserts are possible in the OPC packs:

1965 Metal Coin (a year later than Topps) UPDATE-ALL STARS ONLY (per G. Rainsley)
1966 Rub Off (Presumably same as '66 Topps and not a '65 Transfer)
1967 No Mention
1968 Pin Up (a year later than Topps)
1969 OPC Deckle
1970 Unknown Insert
1971 Story Booklet (a year later than Topps); Unknown Insert
1972 No insert (Same as Topps)
1973 Not Shown but SCD Big Book has a Blue Checklist issued
1974 Team Checklist (presumably Red Border)

The Old London coins were made by the same producers as 64 and 71 Topps coins-Space Magic-according to SCD Big Book. They sure look like they were the work of the same firm but I can't believe they were in OPC packs.

I did not realize how the O-Pee-Chee logo evolved from the Topps on the pack fronts: '65, '66 and '67 above all say Topps on front (presumably '66 and '67 have the same OPC side panel as the '65), the '68 has neither then from '69 forward O-Pee-Chee is on the front of the packs. The '68 Wrapper is not like the US Topps ones either.

Did the 64 or earlier packs have any OPC details on them?

Any more varieties out there?

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Posted By: Grant Rainsley

Dave, I stand to be corrected, but I believe the '64 Topps coins inserted in '65 OPC packs were only the All-Star coins, which would account for why I have bags of them and none of the regular series. And a side note about boxes, I have seen boxes from both '63 and '64 marked OPC, even though they were Topps cards.

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Posted By: Bob

I have a 1963 OPC wrapper that I still need to scan in.

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

Grant-good one, I will amend the list above. I suspect Topps would sell off excess inserts thru OPC packs, depending upon what was left.

I saw an OPC ref on a 64 wrapper side panel and I suspect they go back a few years from there. It seems if Topps cardboard stock variations from the early to mid 50's were sold in Canada, it may have been without OPC identification on the packaging.

Did Canada pass a tariff law in the mid 60's? I seem to recall seeing that somewhere. I would love to find a definitive reference on OPC somehow. There is scant available information from what I have seen. The Topps UK "A&BC" connection has been documented to some degree, but not OPC.

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Posted By: larry

hi
just my 2 cents if it helps
seen wrappers back to 63
and then nothing before until 1955 wax box opc 6 cards for 5c
with the opc stamping on bottom

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

Thnaks-Larry-very helpful. I'm going to poke around for some Non Sport wrappers from 55-62 and see whazzup with them.

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Posted By: Jim VB

Dave, I've got one from 1957 Basketball.

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

Jim-nice wrapper! That one must be quite scarce.

It appears they just printed the OPC info under the standard Topps info on the side panel. I would have to assume this occurred for any product Topps ever sold/licensed in Canada.

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Posted By: Jim VB

I know little or nothing about wrappers and have never really collected them. I won an auction for this set about 15-20 years ago and filed it away in a binder. About a year ago I was flipping through and found the wrapper was in a plastic sheet behind the back page.

What do you guess it's worth? I've checked ebay a couple of times and have never seen one. There's not as much historical info on wrappers as there is on cards.

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

Murphy's guide had a 57 BKB Topps wrapper at $1,400 in 2002. Not sure if it being OPC adds much to that (it could, just dunno) but sometimes when things are that scarce, a scarcer variant doesn't get any additional bump. You could ask in the BKB forum here-maybe someone knows. That's a killer wrapper.

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Posted By: Jim VB

OK. You've got my attention. As I said, I know nothing about wrappers, but that price surprises me. I think I posted it on the basketball card board a little over a year ago and got exactly zero responses. But I'll try again. Thank you.

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

Woops minor typo- $1,200 off by $200. Still, not bad for a freebie. I am making some inquiries and will post if I find anything out.

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Posted By: Jim VB

I gratefully accept a $200 typo in this case. I was more concerned that perhaps you had a decimal point in the wrong place. Besides that number ($1200 or $1400) is 5-6 years old. I'm sure it's much higher today?

[bobsbbcards]

Old thread, but here's a scan of a 1964 Topps/OPC wrapper.

[ALR-bishop]

....is baaaack

[Cliff Bowman]

Originally Posted by bobsbbcards

Old thread, but here's a scan of a 1964 Topps/OPC wrapper.

This is probably a stupid question, but did the 1964 OPC packs contain just regular 1964 Topps cards?

[MW1]

Yes, they did. But more of the cards (not all) have the typical O-Pee-Chee cuts on the right and left edges.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by MW1

Yes, they did. But more of the cards (not all) have the typical O-Pee-Chee cuts on the right and left edges.

Do you know if OPC has issued regular Topps cards in their packs in other years? A few years ago I purchased a grouping of 69 and 70 OPC cards from a seller in Canada, and included were some regular 69 Topps cards. All of the cards included in the lot were from the higher series and most all had the typical OPC cuts, even though they were "regular" Topps cards. While I have come across some cuts like this with 69s, this is certainly not the norm.

Could these higher numbered 69 Topps cards been issued in Canada via OPC? It was the following year that the sets began to expand greatly in size....so were the "regular" 64s as well as the 69 Topps cards I found part of tests for future OPC expansions?

[MW1]

From 1965 to the present, I've never seen any but I'm not 100% certain.