Question about 80s Topps yearbook stickers
 

Recently I purchased a 1987 box of Topps baseball stickers. Unlike previous years, this box was different and the "5 stickers per pack" were in wax packs, not paper packs like previous years. Did they make stickers in wax packs prior to 1987?

Thanks for any information.

Did you just purchase it off of ebay? I only ask because two sold in the last week or so.

Short answer to your direct question: 1987 was the first year that Topps packaged stickers like this.

Long answer: Topps produced stickers in the "paper" packs that we are very familiar with from 1981-1987. In 1983 and 1984, they also packaged them in narrow "boxes" that were sold out of display cases. In 1982, several paper packs were stuck together with a header in a "rack pack" style, but were still the basic paper packs. In 1987, the stickers came in 3 types: the paper packs we are familiar with, the wax packs that you bought, and then stickers with stiffer cardboard backing ("hardback" stickers) were in paper packs in a different box. The wax packs were a trial by Topps to determine whether or not they wanted to shift away from the paper packs. Apparently the answer was "yes," because in 1988 Topps ceased the paper packs and produced only the tighter wrapped packs. Interestingly, the 1988 packs were wrapped in really tight cellophane (like the Topps "Leaders" mini cards from 1986-1990), before returning to true wax paper in 1989 and 1990. The 1988, 1989, and 1990 packs come in a variety of configurations, including price on front, no price on front, 25 cent versions, 35 cent versions, versions with gum, versions without gum, etc. The box like you bought was used as that trial in 1987, and then in 1988, 1989, and 1990 before Topps just ceased selling them under the Topps banner and turned stickers over to Panini. In 1989 and 1990, Topps also tried a different shaped box still packed with wax packs, but those are significantly harder to find than the regular version like yours.

So in short form, 1987 was the first year for this type and it represented a shift for Topps.

Hope that helps.

Incidentally, any mod seeing this might want to move this from the BST to the chat forum just to get more eyes on.

kevin