Topps Series Release Date Question

[toppcat]

Topps had two methods for mixing things up series-wise from what I have seen--take this as a generalization as I don't have time right now to check that each theory is bulletproof.

In the early days (58-60, maybe a little later) they would print a 110 card first series but the corresponding checklist was 1-88. Next sheet had 88 cards and the checklist for that series went to #176 even though 198 cards had been printed. So there could be mixing due to this as you moved up the ladder to the next series.

The other method was used in higher count packs such as Raks where they would mix series sometimes from separate print runs (say 5th/6th/7th). I believe high number wax in the late 60's would sometimes have 6th and 7th series cards together and there are other examples. Sometimes even years would get mixed--it happened in '53 where 52 highs were sold with them (possibly in the undated packs--unsure though) and I think this happened at least once in the 60's.

The end result is that there were never more than 6 disparate sheets printed in a given year, even though there were 7 series. This had to be part of the marketing plan in that you would "seed" the next series in a little bit, helped along by the fact the next series checklist was seemingly always double printed on the prior sheet so the kiddies could see what was coming next. This checklist double printing wreaked havoc with nice, divisible by 11 numbers I call this the "Theory of Checklist Relativity!" Look at the '67 highs: 534 to 609=76 cards but #531 (7th Series Checklist) was printed on the high # sheet (and also the semi high sheet) as well , giving us 77 in the series, divisible by 11 (length of a row). This is why there are so many checklist variations as many were printed on two, if not three different sheets.