Toughest Topps Baseball Issues 1981-2006
 

Branching out a little in my collecting of Topps type cards and moving to the post 1980 baseball era. With the lack of centralized information and cessation of annual guides (which didn't always match listings or ID everything anyway), I'm trying to figure out the toughest obscurities of the post-Vintage, pre-Eisner era.

There's issued test sets, sets produced for third parties and then proofs/protoypes which never saw the retail light of day and I consider them vastly different things both in terms of untent and scarcity. I'm curious as to what folks think are the toughest 10-15 Topps cards or sets in each category (Test, Third Party and Prototype/Proof) during this period.

For this exercise I'm ignoring variations, parallels and intentional scarcities that are numbered (x of x, one of one's etc) and the like but including sub-brands like Bowman. I am aware of most of the 80's tougher issues but I'm sure I missed a few in my research.

As an example, 1989 Heads Up would be an issued test while 1992 Round Trippers would be a proof/protoype. A good third party example would be the early 90's Golden Spikes cards.

TIA and quite curious what you all may think!

Hi Dave,

I recently came upon this thread from 2013 about 1993 Stadium Club Executive Gold Edge cards:

https://www.freedomcardboard.com/for...e-gold.123256/

I have no idea if they are a legitimate Topps issue or not but I thought it might be the type of thing you are looking for.

Enjoy your website, please keep it up,

Mike

Interesting Mike, thanks for posting that link-it's exactly what I'm after. There's a number of "sets" like this and Topps has a history of doing these going back to Joe Garagiola's 1973 Topps-looking business card, if not even earlier.

1988 and 1989 Topps Mets/Yankees Double-Headers.

They were those little frames that had the rookie card on one side and the current year side on the other. There are a few 1988's that surfaced on ebay in the past year, I didn't even know they existed until last year.

There are 1989-1990 Double Header sets with all teams that were mass released, the Mets/Yankees ones were released to just a few candy stores in Brooklyn as a test.

Dave-- for me these were the toughest Topps sets of the 80s to assemble

80 Coins
82 Blackless
84 Encased or Head In The Box
85 Minis ( blank backs harder than regular backs)
88 Cloth
89 Big Head Suckers
88 Mets/ Yankee Stand Up Prototypes
89 Mets/ Yankees Stan ups

For 90-94 ( after that I just did base sets, updates and Heritage

90 President Bush card
90 Mylar Stickers (6)
90 Golden Spike Fernandez
91 Golden Spike Kelly
91 Garagiola business card
92 Golden Spike Nevin
93 Golden Spike Dreifort
93 Rockies and Marlins inaugural issues
94 Bilingual set
93 and 94 Black Gold uncertified redemption cards

Tkankfully Al Richter (Hi Al!) alerted me to the 88's and I nabbed on a couple of years ago. A good example of what the guides missed on those.

Thanks Al:

A 1980 coin is probably not going to happen, although I've come close once or twice but that was years ago. I generally collect a type of anything sold in a Topps retail pack (including tests) and just add proofs/protoypes as I find them without worrying about the latter stuff being complete. Never say never though as I've found and won rarities over the years I never thought would pop up or fall into my lap. I think I have all but an 85 mini from the first list otherwise and I may even have one of those around here

I waver on the Bush card as it seems like some shenanigans may have led to a handful being inserted in packs but do hope to nail one of those someday. I think I have the latter day Garagiola card but am still pulling stuff out of deep closet storage, I definitely have the one from the 70's. That last Black Gold entry, is that the insert redemption card?

The 93 and 94 Black Gold cards had A,B,C,D,A/B, C/D and A/B/C/D checklists. You could redeem the checklist cards for the cards listed on them, but the checklist you got back had "Certified" on it. Most checklist cards you see on eBay are certified. Unredeemed non certified cards are harder to find and if you want a master set you need one of each. Plus some of the uncertified checklists are pricey

Ah, got it. A wrinkle (and now two types to collect for that insert!)

Al,

Do you have the 1988 Cloth Nelson Simmons? I would love to see a scan of the card.

Alan,

That was my mistake about the card on the Brooks Robinson thread.

I was using a faulty checklist. It's been confirmed to me that that card doesn't exist.

Sorry about that,

Mike

Here's a previous thread on 1989 Topps Gold Border cards.

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=191504

Thanks-I didnlt see these in either Standard Catalog or Beckett Almanac. Did they ever get sussed out as to intent/origin?

Geez Mike, you and Alan had me in a state of panic:)

The only other info I've been able to find is from some old threads from other forums.

https://forums.collectors.com/discus...ify-other-item

This one claims that bmw cards was the first to sell them on Ebay and they were originally purchased from a former Topps employee.

Mike,

Thanks for the clarification. I guess that means my Orioles team set is complete with Jim Dwyer and Mike Hart.

Attachment 437594

1991 Topps (C Sheet) Bold 40th Anniversary Logo cards.

I've only heard of Jose Canseco and one other card surfacing from the C sheet with the bold logo.

Sorry 1980 Coins The Original Presentation Board that I have

Do you have a photo?

I’ve found partial bolds on C* sheet cards but never a full, distinct Bold 40th card. Just higher saturation red in that area.

There is an image on Tanner Jones' Canseco website:

https://tanmanbaseballfan.com/my-hav...age_number_0=1

Looking at the card, I think it might be possible that it is higher ink saturation, as you suggest.

Hmmm....BMW is a reliable source. Thanks for the link!

Nice Coins!!

While this 2006 Topps blue parallel set is numbered to 10, it really should be numbered to one as Topps sent out only one of these ten sets.

I don't collect many modern cards at all, but I picked up this card years ago in the auction mentioned in the link below...even to this day I have yet to see any copies from this set not numbered 7/10, so I guess none of the other sets were snuck out of Topps' back door. I wonder what Topps did with the other 9 sets?


Here is what the recipient of the 7/10 set tells about the set in a listing.


https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...0-145-only-one

Neat item. Mark me down as one of the previously clueless collectors

1980 Topps Pepsi has to be up there in difficulty for the prototype sets.

Oooooh, yes indeed.

Joshua-

I've got this one, and I believe that Bob has a different version of the same:

https://external-content.duckduckgo....peg&f=1&nofb=1

The 81 Topps Coke set does not compare with the difficulty of the 80 Pepsi set, unless you try to put together the 11 card Yankee part. The last 3 below are not that tough but the other 8 are really tough

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...ps0cx6uh4s.jpg
https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...res/img380.jpg
https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...res/img379.jpg

And here are all 3 of the 80 Coins

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...s/img023-1.jpg

I have a 2004 Topps Updates Brad Fullmer in my Fullmer PC, which is unnumbered. Same colored border. Have yet to see another of him.

That is the original Presentation Board for the 1980 Prototype Coins that I bought at a Flea Market in NJ

I would think 1998 Topps SportsCubz has to be way high. Not sure if a current set exists, the only one possible was broken up as I remember.

1985 minis have always been a favorite of mine. Tan blanks would be crazy hard to build a set of as there were only 3 sheets found from my understanding, the white backs are way more common. The red only version is also likely a single sheet.

The full size 1985 Fuch and Acme proofs are not known to exist in quantity to make a set so it is impossible. Those came to auction in 2015. I have examples, but the only currently for sale is priced at a crazy 10k on eBay.

I bought one of the Sportcubz when the set was broken up. Even as an unissued test set I would guess more than one sheet was produced but not aware of others surfacing

My 85 Mini blank back set is a mix of tan and white but agree tans seem rare. I have about 1/2 the set in red back but got most from a single seller and have only seen a couple on eBay since. I also have a couple with smeared backs

1992 Topps Round Trippers, unreleased, there seems to be 1 or 2 of each player out there.

1997 Topps Pro Shooters marbles, I read they had a very limited release only in eastern Canada but who knows. Not rare but can be tough to find certain players.

I think there are 2 SportsCubz sets out there and then various parts of a couple more, not positive but believe that was the case awhile ago. I am still getting up to speed on some of this stuff, even just for my own cataloguing purposes so thanks to all weighing in.

Happily I own a Round Tripper and have a also marble and checklist, which are easier by quite a bit (especially the marbles) but the checklist is very tough in top condition (I strive more toward Ex or Ex-Mt stuff). My RT and Marble are Mets, as is my Sportscube; I try to collect Mets team sets or singles where I can with the really rare stuff. I need a couple more Mets marbles I believe (or have I lost mine?!). It's so hard to track some of these without the old Standard Catalog or Beckett Almanacs still being published.

1984 Topps Encased / Head in Box Prototypes
 

I bought two sheets of these about 20 years ago and cut them up maybe 10 years ago. Recently I sent some to PSA, and they are the only copies PSA as ever graded.

I've heard that only 100 or so sheets escaped the plant. I bought mine from some old dude in Long Island (can't remember the eBay account).

https://d28lcup14p4e72.cloudfront.ne...opps_1%201.jpg
https://d28lcup14p4e72.cloudfront.ne...opps_1%202.jpg
https://d28lcup14p4e72.cloudfront.ne...84_Topps_1.jpg
https://d28lcup14p4e72.cloudfront.ne...opps_1%203.jpg

Love the Schmidt! Great card.

Some others to add:

2000 Topps Pre-Production White Border

1994 Topps A and B sheet players with A or B code present in copyright

1992 Topps Frank Cashen

1992 Topps Debut ‘91 Todd Van Poppel Prototype (if exists)

1991 Topps Instant Win X Cards

1991 Topps Double-Sided Proofs

1990 Topps Traded Mylar Prism Stickers

I had a couple of 1998 Sportzcubz sets that I broke up. This past summer I finally broke down and sold my BGS graded set to a private collector. I totaled my truck and needed to sell to help pay for another truck. I still have a raw McGwire for my Cardinals team set!

https://i.postimg.cc/vZLSVcCq/001-19...te-Set-BGS.jpg

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...res/img067.jpg
https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...res/img068.jpg
https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...res/img252.jpg
https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...pse2fc939c.jpg

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...res/img081.jpg
https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...unds&crop=fill

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...ps285cea35.jpg