1986 Topps Complete Set Missing Cards
 

Years ago I bought a factory sealed 1986 Topps complete set, which I just opened and put into a binder. Going through the set I discovered that it was missing 11 cards, mostly commons:

38 Glenn Hoffman
127 Jack Howell
330 Rick Sutcliffe
348 Cliff Johnson
372 Ben Oglivie
383 Chris Brown
581 Bruce Hurst
603 Bill Laskey
647 Mel Hall
659 Checklist 529-600
734 Marty Barrett

This set was 100% still factory sealed until a few hours ago. Were missing cards a known problem with factory sealed sets from Topps in the 80s? I still have to go through 87-89 and I’m wondering if I should expect the same. Thanks all!

With the exception of my Topps Heritage sets 2001 to 2021 which are all in binders, all my Topps regular sets post 1992 are still in the boxes in which they came. I will likely never know if they suffer the same problem. That must have been pretty vexing

I bought a case of 1993 Fleer Final Edition sets a year or so back. Of the 20 sets, at least 5 were missing and/or had extra cards. The collation and packing process is clearly imperfect.

Yes, Topps sets in the '80s were known to sometimes have missing/duplicate cards in them. I never understood the premium on unopened factory sets because of that. I'd much rather have a hand collated set that a) you could open the set and see for yourself any prominent cards, b) any grossly miscut or otherwise poor cards would probably be weeded out and c) you can actually look at and touch the cards without worrying about breaking some seal.

I always assume '80s Topps factory sets are not complete. I have no idea when they got their act together and significantly bumped up the chances that you'd actually get the full set.

Were the cards in order in the box?

Chris if you need em i will send to you .......I may have a few of em......not all for sure but if i run across a number you need i will send to you ......just send me your address . That sucks thinking it was 100%..........now i myself am wondering if the very few factory sets i have are complete.

Then you have the 136/132 '81 Topps Traded sealed set I busted last year. Everything was there, plus an extra Fernando, Ainge, and two commons.

Apparently '80s factory sets from Topps are barely more than an extremely well collated vending box sometimes

The cards were not in order - they were completely random. Several years ago I bought a sealed Topps complete set run from 1986 - 2009. I would not recommend doing this. So far 86 is the only one that is missing cards (I haven't gone through 1989 - 1991 yet), but the more frustrating problem is the condition of the 1997 - 2001 sets. Many of the cards in those factory sealed sets were stuck together and when they were separated they peeled and chipped to varying degrees. The 2001 set was completely worthless - the cards were destroyed trying to separate them or could not be separated at all. To your point, definitely better off buying hand collected sets.

Thank you, Robert. Very generous offer. If you have the cards handy and don't have to dig for them I would gladly accept. But I don't want you to go through any trouble. I'll shoot you a PM.

I remember getting a complete Upper Deck factory set one year back in the early 90s and when I looked through it, it was missing a bunch of cards. Had duplicates of about 100 different cards that took their place.

Will look on Friday buddy I think and hope I can help. Need nothing in return my friend

If you are still in need, I have the following cards for you:

38 Glenn Hoffman
127 Jack Howell
372 Ben Oglivie
603 Bill Laskey
659 Checklist 529-600

Let me know and I can throw them in a PWE and have them off right away.

Thanks, Joe. That’s a very kind offer. I’ll shoot you a PM

I had a factory 86 Topps set that was unsealed years ago, seemed untouched until I organized it...not that long ago...had 4 cards missing. I just figured through the years someone took them out...maybe they had been missing the entire time.

A couple months ago I bought 88-90 Score factory sealed sets (88 was not) and the 89 set was missing two cards. I paid like 5 bucks for the set, and then 2 bucks for the missing cards! Kinda funny really...

The worse was last year...I actually bought a sealed 88 Donruss set for my binders. As everyone knows, those sets come with "packages" of 50 or so making up the set. Super frustrating...after opening each package there were like 4 or 5 cards with wrinkles in them due to being wrapped so tight! Fricken 5 dollar set and it wasn't mint. I was able to replace them from my boxes of junk wax I stashed...I guess just for this reason...and wasted valuable minutes of my life making sure my 88 Donruss set was mint. Wow.