Asterisks

[deweyinthehall]

As I've been making my way through the Topps sets of the 1970s and 1980s, I began wondering what the purpose of the asterisks on the reverse could possibly be.

From 1978 to 1984, all cards have a single asterisk. Since they ALL have it, it begs the question of what was it there for?

In 1977 and 1976, there are 2 sheets with 1, 2 sheets with 2 and 1 sheet with none.

In 1975 and 1974, 3 sheets each have 1, and 2 have 2.

Does anyone know what they were meant for?

I had initially thought they were used to ID which half of the full 264 card sheet each particular card had been cut from. But, that doesn't stand up to observation.

Thanks!

[G1911]

To your last point, in some non-baseball sets it is definitely to denote which half sheet the card was on (like 1977 Star Wars, creating a variation on almost all of the cards).

[Cliff Bowman]

The 1973 Blue Team Checklists and the 1974 Green Team Checklists each can be found with one asterisk or two asterisks. Why? I don't know. I spent a small fortune completing both sets in each variation, mainly on the '73s.