1976 Topps Glossy Proofs

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

I have been making a diligent effort to go through a dozen year's worth of old articles, ads and auctions I have saved over the years so I can update my files and databases. Every once in a while I pull out a doozy.

First of all, bear in mind these were offered by the Alan Hager Group in 1994. Having said that, he had a group of cards running from #429 to #565 which he described as "1976 TOPPS GLOSSY Test Issue-These are Test Issue with white back cards, an enamel front with a white stat." That is a verbatim quote and there are no photos in the ad. Having said that, has anyone heard of these before or have a scan?

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Posted By: Randy Trierweiler

Hi Dave, I am very skeptical of this one. I follow every rare Topps issue as well, looking for Cardinals. I dealt with the Hager group.....once. He liked to call everything a proof or test issue. Many were just blankbacked cards, but many were legit. This one smells funny to me. Randy

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Posted By: Paul

I'm not familiar with that story, but believe it or not I have three from 1975. They have high gloss on the front and snow white backs. I bought them long ago at a convention as "proofs." They obviously aren't ordinary proofs in the sense that they aren't a step along the way to the final product, due to the stock and the glossy finish. But maybe Topps used them in some way in the process of finalizing the cards.

I will try to dig them up and post them, but I'm not sure how well the glossiness will show in a scan.

By the way, they have curled pretty badly over the years.

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Posted By: Paul S

By the way, they have curled pretty badly over the years.

Sounds like some of the same stuff the 3D-s are made from.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

Topps' 1970s color separation proofs were usually blank backed and on bright white stock, as opposed to the gray of the regular card. Though the ones I've seen weren't extra glossy. So blank backed and bright white stock is consistent with many of Topps' proofs.

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Posted By: Paul

On mine, the coating is not anywhere near as thick as on a Kellog's card. It is a thin gloss that has hairline cracks in it, similar to a T207. I'll try to scan them later this week, but I'm not sure how the scans will come out due to the curl.

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Posted By: J Levine

David and all,
Somewhere I too have a few color seperation proofs of Phillies. I know I have one from 1975 with a gloss front and blank white back that is oversized with print marks and color marks on the edges. I do know that I have a 1978 and 1979 example as well...both blank backs with a light gloss on front and were advertised as "color proofs."

Joshua

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

Hey Josh-good to hear from you!

I have some 1978 color separations and I don't think that is what Hager was talking about (more a hunch than anything else). The "white stat" remark seems like it refers to the front of the card. Hager always had a lot of proofs-not sure who he knew at Topps but he had a ton back in the day.

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Posted By: Paul

I've finally dug up my 1975 glossy proofs. Here is a scan of the Denny Doyle. I picked this one because it has the most cracking in the gloss. It still doesn't show up too well but you can see some of the cracking. I've also posted a scan of the white back.