Random Topps questions...

[jchcollins]

I'll try to make a long story short, but in essence - since recently deciding I wanted to find a cheaper vintage project, and landing on going after the '62 Green Tints and regular variations in the 2nd series again - some of this led me to doing some research on those, the Topps "contract printers" (Zabel and possibly Stecher-Traung of Rochester, NY for the '62 Greenies...) and well next thing I knew I was just down a rabbit hole of other Topps questions. Can anyone (Dave H. maybe?) answer any of the following random questions?

*From what I can gather, Topps closed up the production shop in Brooklyn in 1965, moved to Duryea, PA - and then first made cards there in 1966. Is this correct? I know from other posts and videos for sure that at least '67 Topps cards were made in Duryea, but for some reason they didn't get around to changing the address on Topps baseball wrappers until the 1970 packs came out. Any clue why this was? Did Topps perhaps maintain an official front office in the old space in Brooklyn until then and not fully move everything over until 1970? Or were they just slow to change the wrapper address?

*Back to the "overstock printer" issues from and Zabel and others: I'm assuming the answer here is no, but is there a way to tell a "Brooklyn" or "Duryea" card today vs. one that perhaps Zabel made in Philadelphia, or some other printer made somewhere else? Assuming also that the overflow printers just made the sheets and then either shipped them back to Topps in Brooklyn or later Duryea to cut them?

The whole process of this kind of stuff and the questions it evokes fascinates me. If only some of these cards could talk...

[toppcat]

I'll give it the ol' college try...

Stecher-Traung may not be the correct firm as it turns out for 1962, Other possibilities are here but my understanding is the second series "do over" run was from upstate NY. Great Lakes Press may have been the printer for these. S-T apparently printed some of the 1952's though! http://www.thetoppsarchives.com/2019...hographic.html

Duryea was up and running by Feb. 1966 and the baseball cards that year seem to be the first thing they produced. They started showing Duryea on some, but not all products in mid-1969. Not sure when that ended, if it ever did but most non-confectionary products for a long time were shown with Brooklyn as mfgr (I suspect for non-card items like toys and pins). There may have been tax implications with Brooklyn vs. Duryea but not 100% sure.

Topps did not print cards in Brooklyn after Duryea opened but they did keep their executive offices there until those moved to Manhattan around 1994 or so. They had around 125 people in Brooklyn still after the Duryea move, many of them executives. What moved to Duryea was production.

Some Zabel printing info exists but not much. Hard to tell what was printed where otherwise and don't forget, card backs were printed first then sent to the printer that was doing the fronts. After that the sheets were sent to Topps for cutting and packing.

The whole process was very convoluted and if you factor in design, testing, proofing, etc, it's almost dizzying. But definitely interesting!

[jchcollins]

Thanks Dave. Very interesting indeed. I had known the answers to some of these before but just couldn't recall. I have since seen where a Topps Comic Cover Stickers wrapper from 1969 says Duryea, as well as later series baseball wrappers - some say "B'KLYN" and some say Duryea. Thanks for the heads up too about the alternate manufacturer possibility for the green tints. I know it doesn't matter, but it just adds to the intrigue I guess to know.

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by toppcat

I'll give it the ol' college try...

.... and don't forget, card backs were printed first then sent to the printer that was doing the fronts. After that the sheets were sent to Topps for cutting and packing.

The whole process was very convoluted and if you factor in design, testing, proofing, etc, it's almost dizzying. But definitely interesting!

I am surprised more wrong back cards don't pop up. Good info