Topps Venezuelans

[a761506]

At the National, I was able to see a 1968 Venezuelan album for the first time ever, and it was partially filled with NM looking cards which had been glued in.

What was most interesting about the album was the distribution of the cards between the 4 series. 1st series cards 1-109 are the most plentiful, while 2nd series 110-198 aren't far behind (this album was about 65-75% completed in series 1-2)... but by the 3rd series, it became obvious there were significantly fewer cards (3rd series completion 25-30%), and by the 4th series, they were nearly extinct (4th series completion 15-20%). It made me wonder whether the 3rd and 4th series cards were so rare that packs could barely even be found to buy, which I think is indeed the case as opposed to lack of interest... I just don't think Venezuelan baseball card collectors just stopped collecting as a group when the 3rd series hit, I just don't think they printed nearly as many. This correlation is true within my own collection as well, there is no doubt in my mind the 3rd and 4th series cards had a more-limited production and probably not nearly enough were produced to meet demand.

The Ryan rookie card is still very rare relative to other non-Venezuelan cards, but Maris (330), Banks (355) and the All-Star cards of Aaron, Yaz, Morgan, Carew & B. Robinson are extremely rare.

Also of note, John Rumierez, who traveled and lived in Venezuela during the 1980's and was a big collector of these cards, is under the impression that card 152, World Series with Yaz, was never produced with the correct back, it can only be found with the checklist on the back. I also agree with this, but would love to be proven wrong. In the album, the Marichal checklist, which has the 152 back, has been glued into album spot 152, while the Yaz WS card with the checklist back was glued into spot 107, which is the number of the checklist.

What's also interesting is the ad on the back cover of the album... the product is Corona brand orange-flavored chewing gum. Corona looks to be both a candy manufacturer and a candy shop which presumably sold packs of the cards. It's distinctly possible they were responsible for the printing and distribution of the albums. This album has a similar look to it as the 64, 66 and 67 albums.