1977 Twinkies Proof?
 

I recently won in an ebay auction 17 different 3 card 1977 Twinkie panels. On the front the black ink is missing. Is this the blackless proof or is it some type of print error that was back doored?

Also, I don't recall seeing any Twinkies cards in 3 card panel form. Besides this recent auction has anyone else seen this?

Likely a progressive color proof.

These were likely printers errors that were back doored by an employee and cut from a larger sheet. From a fellow expert on these they were from the "fourth sheet" configuration if you search previous posts on the subject.

Agree with Mark here.

Thank you all for the feedback....I could have argued this either way (proof vs. backdoor). In another recent auction, I picked up these 1979 panels which were offered as proofs due to the five "crosses" each on the front/back and brown print on the back. Whatever either of these panels are (proofs/back door), they have obvious differences.

Larry,

The 3 card panels may have come from the same source as the original 1975 Hostess Twinkies brown back panels without stains. The original 1975 Hostess Twinkie cards were printed on sheets and various sheets with smudges or imperfections on them were discarded, removed from the trash and sold to a dealer. The dealer purchased the smudged sheets, cut down the sheets into 2, 3, 4 and other sized panels to make it easier to store and ship. His cards were pristine i.e. no oil spots. He told me at the time the printer was experimenting with other color inks in successive years including pink.

Just a guess though. Nice cards.

After nearly fifty years of being very aware of Butch Hobson I am shocked to see his real name is Clell Lavern :eek:.

Here is a sheet of 1977 Twinkies. No pic of the back of the sheet. I purchased the sheet a number of years ago.

Odd that the spacing is completely different....maybe it is a proof where they were experimenting with layout

Wasn’t Tiant on one of the larger Hostess products and not on the single serving Twinkies package?

Tiant was available in three sizes 4 1/2 x 4 1/8 .. 3 x 3 1/2 and 6 x 4. The first one is the Suzy Q product and was on the same sheet as the standard Twinkies cards. All cards ending in 9 or 0 are that size on that sheet for the first 60 cards. The other two sizes are Ho Ho and (I believe) Ding Dong, but that last one I've not confirmed. Those are on other sheets

There were four different sheets used for Hostess products that year.

That's a "cupcake" sheet. it contains cards 31 - 135

Mark,

Good catch.