Possible Topps photo proofs?
 

Hello everyone, a friend of mine recently obtained a large collection and discovered these items in a binder. Could they possibly be Topps proofs, or are they simply matching photos?

Not sure if it's related, but years ago (1982 or 1983) Renata Galasso's catalog advertised Topps' photos - specifically, I can still recall the image used for Jim Essian's 1982 card because the photo up for offer included a number of players behind him who for some reason were airbrushed out of the image when it was placed on the card - to my 14 year old self it looked like pure wizardry.

Perhaps this person acquired these from Galasso?

Thats a solid lead I can check in to!

Check the back. Topps sold a bunch of photo match photos on ebay using the Topps Vault ID. They originally would have come with a holo sticker and COA, but the COA could have been separated.

I have a handful for Garvey cards.

Since they are not negatives, who knows how many of each photo could have been developed. For that matter, Vault sold image negatives as well that could possibly be developed of that kind of thing is done retail anymore.

Blank backs

I agree about the early 80's. I have similar Topps photos possibly to use for baseball cards. Unsure if I purchased these cards from Renata Galasso or Topps through their wrapper advertisement. But it was a random grouping of cards for one price and the cards I received are;
1980’s Topps unused photo for baseball cards – 10 (3½ x 5) – Winfield, D. LaRoche, T. Pena, G. Alexander, K. Hickey, R. Dotson, B. Clark, R. Baumgarten, G. Zahn (2 different)

Here is front and back of flyer sent by Renata Galasso

Yep - this is exactly the ad I remember!

Thank you!

My (limited) understanding of the process is that anything from Topps would have its holo on back unless it went out before the Vault program, in which case it would be tough to authenticate.

As far as the actual photo used to make the card, there is a difference between a photo that has the same image as the card and a photo that was actually used as the base for the card. There could be multiples of the former, but only one of the latter. One way to tell in the analog era when photos were still retouched by hand before being made into cards is to look for paint or ink on the photos that matches the edits on the card. For example, this is the actual photo Topps used in 1975 to make Pat Riley's card:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...rt%20Riley.jpg

And the card:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...0Riley%201.jpg

You can see the paint applied to the photo to black out some extraneous imagery on the left side. The photo's pigments have faded over time (a problem with 1970s color stock) but not the editing. It has a Topps Vault holo and serial # on back.