[toppcat]

If you take all of the public statements made by Topps over the years, into the 1970's and probably well into the 90's or even a bit later, I would wager at least half of them were either incorrect or outright lies. As I found out when researching my book, their PR department basically would say whatever suited them at any given time. The real story (mostly) is found in actual documentation, such as trade journals, jobber correspondence and retailer promotions. Topps had no idea about their own history for decades.

Now as to nomencalture, how about:

19th Century = self explanatory
Pre War = before WW1
Mid War = between the world wars
Post War = 1946 to 1980
Expansion = 1981 to 1992 (although "expansion" could confuse folks as no teams were added in the time frame, maybe "boom"?)
Modern = 1993 to 2005
Post Modern = 2006-Present

I think anything produced through 1980 is considered "vintage" by the majority of collectors but your experience may vary. Also, more and more it seems "modern" refers to a time period after the 1980's. It's meaningless but a fun little exercise to compartmentalize it all. In my book I subdivided what was really just a nine year period (1948-47) into about five categories, so anything is possible.