Gray Backs vs. White Backs (& Pop Reports)
 

From my many years in the hobby, and I'm thinking of '56 in particular, the gray vs. white back difference didn't mean much, perhaps a very slight 10% or so premium for the rarer of the back.

That said, with the new(er) obsession with pop reports/ scarcity, do you think this dynamic has/will change? If so, which card yrs might be impacted?

For example, the 1956 Topps Mantle White Back is almost 10 times more scarce than the gray. Maybe it's just me, but at the time I bought mine the back color was basically an after thought. Again, I'm most familar with '56 but I know there are other years relevant to this issue.

What do you think?

Series 2 56’s have already taken off, a few years ago. Try and find a reasonable price on a white stock Trucks, for example. White stock 2’s are tougher than gray stock 1’s, but there’s plenty of them all out there.

The narratives about them are mostly false; we know the sheet compositions, the cards with less sheet positions are proportionally tougher, but they are all in line with the print groups. There aren’t these special SP’s and many levels of toughness in the white backs as many buyers seem to think.

^^^ This...Trucks is on my Master Tigers Topps wantlist...grabbed a nice one at the National last year for $5....havent seen a decent one...let alone any shape one go for uner $100+++ in a few years.

Yet...1968 has clear white and beige? backs...but this is never spoken of??

66, 68, 69, 70, and others all have different stocks used for some of their series’. People don’t seem to care at all if it’s cream vs. white stock. I collect them, it’s fun to put some of the tougher back sets together when they cost the same as the easier back.

My 56 White Back want list is the usual suspects, a Trucks just isn’t worth the price to me, and isn’t that rare.

My 56 White Back want list is the usual suspects, a Trucks just isn’t worth the price to me, and isn’t that rare.

Reply With Quote - Try finding a decent one. You might change your tune. I've got a PSA 4 I've been trying to upgrade for several years. No luck. Same as Yost, Roselli, Jacobs, Thomas and Courtney. All PSA 4. No luck finding an upgrade w/o taking out a second on the house. They doubtless are out there, in limited quantities, but not cheap.

There are 6 Trucks white backs on eBay right now. It is not a rare card; my tune was factually correct. I don’t follow the registry competition.