Correct, the slabbed Rose is NOT a Venezuelan.

On a semi-related note, WTF happened to this thread??

Thanks for the input on the Rose card, I sent the seller a message letting him/her know that PSA screwed up the label.

Regarding the bolded, I started collecting Venezuelans this year, and have thought about contributing to this thread. I have a bunch currently out with PSA, but will try to post pics soon of the cards I have in my possession.

That also happened to me around the end of May.

You can still have items mailed DHL, but the cost is considerably more (about twice as much(?) )

So the seller replied with "Who am I to doubt PSA?". Not surprising. Is there anything else I can do.....report it to Ebay?

Nope. If you owned the card, you could send it to PSA and they’d fix it for free. But since you don’t, your hands are tied.

My “WTF happened” comment was about the political talk. Please DO share as many pics of Venezuelan cards as you’d like!

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.

Awesome post Josh. Really interesting to hear your thoughts on the distribution/availability of the different series from 1968. Cool pics too, I've never seen a Venezuelan album in person, hope I get a chance to at some point.

2 Mislabeled 1960 Venezuela Topps Mantle's hit eBay
 

These cards are clearly US issues. Gross incompetence by PSA. Venezuela Topps version has no front gloss, different color beige on front, muted ink colors on back and a distinct sandstone texture on back. They cannot be mistaken with the US card. Screws the pop report good too.

Contacted seller, eBay ID: cg0184, we'll see if they do the right thing, pull it and send back to PSA for correction.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/202751429120
https://www.ebay.com/itm/193034720790

Yeesh, that's four mislabeled cards in the past two months ('62 HR Leaders, '64 Pete Rose, and the two '60 Mantle/Boyer).

I haven't been collecting Venezuelas that long....How often do you all see mislabeled cards pop up? I.e. PSA/SGC/BGS slabs of US cards labeled as Venezuelan.

That's nothing compared to PSA graded 1972 Venezuelans, the vast majority of them are the counterfeits from the early 2000's. The PSA Mazeroski is counterfeit and the ungraded Mazeroski is legit. These two aren't easy to see the differences in the font, the biggest difference is the R in PIRATAS. The photo is clearer in the legit Mazeroski and the green is always lighter on the legit 72's.

Here is a much better example, compare the font in the name on the counterfeit Killebrew in the PSA case to the font in the name on the ungraded legit Killebrew, and also compare the 7's in 171.

We should be thankful that the counterfeiters almost never get it right.

I started collecting Venezuelans this year, here are some of my favorite/best cards that I have in hand (have a bunch out with PSA as well).

https://i.imgur.com/PAsMwt1.jpg?3

https://i.imgur.com/5aFX1Te.jpg?3

https://i.imgur.com/MxQGpjt.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/3dQ9jZf.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/JgZwyxo.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/yyZ0iRL.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/L9uM1PO.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/qN6ebP5.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/bfJrmsc.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/qS99TV4.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/6lQnw01.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/v7L6s6t.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/iPNFv27.jpg?1

Very nice. Are you collecting sets or players ?

Just collecting hall of famers and all stars at the moment. Trying to collect some from each set. At some point I'll probably narrow my focus, but for now just buying what I like. Having lots of fun collecting Venezuelans though, I love everything about them.....the condition issues, the history and mystery surrounding them, etc. The Koufax Retirado is currently #1 on my want list.

Great collection!

Great cards! Love the Rival All Stars & Boyer.

I got hooked on these a few years ago and can’t stop.







Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

en passant
 

Bobby Cox rook

68’s backs
 

I received some 68’s today and one of them has a really orange back compared to the normal brown/orange back. It’s also very glossy on the back but the front looks normal. Anyone else seen these none of the other cards in my set have this back.
Rick

For some reason it’s not letting me add picture just says error sorry

New pick ups. Photo worked?
Rick

I was collecting the 67 VWL subset for a while but ultimately gave up. I love the backgrounds on them, which are very unusual in many cases.

Hi Rick, I had the same experience with my Tony Conigliaro. Much lighter orange back than everything else in my set, but it does have the Venezuelan copyright. Sorry, I can’t post a pic either.

A few recent pick ups. All have clean backs!

https://i.imgur.com/fQKtyJV.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/p9V1wQ8.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/g6vQfpi.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/e141jiY.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/NgLb9SV.jpg?1

I don't know about Rusty Staub, Twins Rookies, and Sandy Valdespino, but I found it interesting that the original owner of this 1968 Topps Venezuelan checklist needed Byron Browne and Curt Blefary, two of the notorious short prints from the set.

Those are some great cards! I recently had my Venz 64 Rose graded by PSA as well. Mine maybe presents a little nicer than yours on front, but the back of mine is shredded. Mine got a PSA 1.

It’s been a long time since I contributed scans to this thread and I’ve picked up a lot of Venz in that time. I should probably pick out some of the best and post them here.

Giving it a shot. These are some of the better 64's I've picked up in the last 9 months.

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...at%20front.jpghttps://caimages.collectors.com/psai...rs%20front.jpg
https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...ou%20front.jpghttps://caimages.collectors.com/psai...te%20front.jpg
https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...er%20front.jpghttps://caimages.collectors.com/psai...is%20front.jpg
https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...te%20front.jpghttps://caimages.collectors.com/psai...be%20front.jpg
https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...on%20front.jpghttps://caimages.collectors.com/psai...ud%20front.jpg

Yeah it's hard to see in the pic, but the Rose has 2 surface wrinkles (on top of the beat up corners).

Those 64's look great! Love the Alou rookie.

Thanks! Here are a few 1968 PSA 5's and a HOFer for that set.

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...as%20front.jpghttps://caimages.collectors.com/psai...es%20front.jpg
https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...6566712973.jpghttps://caimages.collectors.com/psai...as%20front.jpg
https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...da%20front.jpghttps://caimages.collectors.com/psai...ibson%20WS.jpg

I had a PSA bulk sub "pop" a couple of weeks ago. The sub included 21 Venz for my sets. The grades are below.

POOR 1 1964 Venezuela Topps 20 Bob Friend
POOR 1 1964 Venezuela Topps 22 Jerry Adair
GOOD+ 2.5 1964 Venezuela Topps 60 Frank Malzone
POOR 1 1964 Venezuela Topps 125 Pete Rose
GOOD 2 1964 Venezuela Topps 133 Jim Grant
EXCELLENT 5 1964 Venezuela Topps 138 World Series Game 3 L.A. Takes 3rd Straight
POOR 1 1964 Venezuela Topps 140 W.S. Summary the Dodgers Celebrate
POOR 1 1964 Venezuela Topps 151 Athletics Team
AUTHENTIC 1964 Venezuela Topps 213 Angels Team
FAIR 1.5 1964 Venezuela Topps 219 Young Aces A.Downing/J.Bouton
POOR 1 1964 Venezuela Topps 240 Bill White
POOR 1 1964 Venezuela Topps 246 Manny Mota
POOR 1 1964 Venezuela Topps 257 Giants Team
AUTHENTIC 1964 Venezuela Topps 262 Cardinals Rookies M.Shannon/H.Fanok
POOR 1 MK 1964 Venezuela Topps 287 Red Sox Rookies T.Conigliaro/B.Spanswick
POOR 1 1964 Venezuela Topps 306 Giant Gunners W.Mays/O.Cepeda
GOOD 2 1964 Venezuela Topps 324 Casey Stengel
VERY GOOD 3 1964 Venezuela Topps 343 Senators Team
VERY GOOD+ 3.5 1964 Venezuela Topps 353 Wally Moon
POOR 1 1968 Venezuela Topps 16 Indians Rookies L.Piniella/R.Scheinblum
GOOD 2 1968 Venezuela Topps 180 Curt Flood

The PSA 5 has already been traded in a 2 for 4 that really helps my set.
THE PSA 1 BILL WHITE IS FOR SALE, IF ANYBODY IS INTERESTED.

Here are scans of a few of the key cards listed above:

https://us.v-cdn.net/6027503/uploads...hnbl4oa9ab.jpghttps://us.v-cdn.net/6027503/uploads...gm6tjpkggs.jpg
https://us.v-cdn.net/6027503/uploads...de9y3i08tx.jpghttps://us.v-cdn.net/6027503/uploads...evaguo8xdt.jpg
https://us.v-cdn.net/6027503/uploads...lig2jpydd6.jpg
https://us.v-cdn.net/6027503/uploads...4uj15bmuo0.jpg

Just got this '77 Nolan Ryan sticker back from PSA, ended up getting a 2, which I'm super happy with.

https://i.imgur.com/XMXVhnj.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/E2AAQsi.jpg?1


And here are all of the Venezuelan grades from the bulk sub:

POOR 1 1967 Venezuela Topps 158 Luke Appling
GOOD 2 MK 1967 Venezuela Topps 159 Nap Lajoie
GOOD 2 1966 Venezuela Topps 120 Harmon Killebrew
GOOD 2 1967 Venezuela Topps 303 Willie McCovey
VERY GOOD 3 1964 Venezuela Topps 120 Don Drysdale
GOOD 2 1964 Venezuela Topps 150 Willie Mays
GOOD 2 1962 Venezuela Topps 28 Minnie Minoso
GOOD 2 1962 Venezuela Topps 190 Wally Moon No Cap
VERY GOOD 3 1962 Venezuela Topps 175 Frank Howard
GOOD 2 1977 Venezuelan League Stickers 137 Rod Carew
POOR 1 MC 1977 Venezuelan League Stickers 151 Steve Carlton
POOR 1 MC 1977 Venezuelan League Stickers 159 Tom Seaver
POOR 1 MC 1977 Venezuelan League Stickers 177 Willie McCovey
GOOD 2 MC 1977 Venezuelan League Stickers 160 Jim Palmer
POOR 1 MC 1977 Venezuelan League Stickers 147 Lou Brock
GOOD 2 1977 Venezuelan League Stickers 158 Nolan Ryan

Wow, I’m very jealous of your 64 Mays!

Thanks! Was going to say the same thing about your Pete Rose 64, don't usually see Venz with corners like that. Good stuff.

I enjoyed reading and catching up on this thread....it has been awhile. It does seem that more collectors are starting to enjoy the significant challenge of collecting Venies.

Grabbed this off ebay recently, my first auto'ed Venezuelan.

https://i.imgur.com/3DofSqa.jpg?3

https://i.imgur.com/H8gZOT1.jpg?1

Heads up to everyone, there's a new listing up on Ebay for a 67 Retirado Koufax, that was cracked from a PSA 1 case. It looks like there was a mark of paper loss on the front in the PSA case, and the mark has now been cleaned up... possibly "restored/conserved". Just a friendly heads up.

New listing:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1967-Topps-...y/372890615564

Listing in a PSA case:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-1967-T...-/274091340012

Koufax
 

Definitely looks like the same card but is it possible that the front “spot” could be extra paper that was taken off instead of being colored in or “restored”?
Rick

I believe
 

both sellers are members here.

Yeah I sent a message to the current seller, asking what happened with the front surface. He said it was additional paper on the front (as opposed to paper loss), and that the extra bit of paper stuck to the psa case when it was cracked.

I need opinions. To me it looks like 2 genuine and 2 reprints.

I concur

All four are legit. As a rule of thumb on 1972 Venezuelans, if there is any evidence of the card being glued into an album it is the real deal, if the back is clean with absolutely no evidence of ever being placed into an album it is one of those mid 2000's counterfeits. The cards on the left are the legit cards and the cards on the right are examples of the counterfeit cards. It's very easy to see the difference in font on the Sadecki in Action card, the Martinez and McAndrew cards are a little more difficult but the difference in font can be seen by comparing the names. The legit cards also have clearer photos. I don't know if the #105 Sadecki card was ever counterfeited.

Great info, thanks Cliff.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/164024739438

I've only been collecting Venezuelans for about a year, so I don't have a great idea of the market for the super high-end cards, but I was shocked by this price. Worth noting, the highest bidder has zero feedback.

I don’t have the best eye for this, but it looks trimmed to me. Would also explain why somebody wouldn’t have it graded for resale.

Yeah it certainly looks to be small, based on the amount of border showing. I don't own very many 68's, so don't know if that's common among that set.

I collect the 68s and that one doesn’t look right.

First thing I thought when I saw it
 

Even assuming it was legit - that is an unusually high price tag for that card in that condition (If not trimmed - probably a 2-4k card).

Looks like a fake to me too. 68’s have a gray stock and that picture makes it look like it has white paper stock. And really someone with zero feedback that’s the first card you bid on cries hanky panky. When it first came up I thought it looked short also.
He also has a 52 mantle for sale it’s at $8 for those of you that think it’s real like this card.
Rick

Someone trying to capitalize!
 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1968-Venezu...AAAOSwMY9eHhdf

Too bad - he's a good seller, but is pretty frequently overpriced - Sure he saw the one we have been talking about to price his. His looks a bit short l/r also - anyone have experience if that is common for the issue?