1975 Topps Mini's Distribution

[Troy Kirk]

I also got the 1975 minis in northern California. At the time, I subscribed to the hobby magazines, and I knew pretty quickly that they were only distributed in certain areas. If I had some cash, I would have bought some extras back then, but I was just a kid with no money. 1975 minis were definitely an opportunity that hobby insiders knew about, so I'm not surprised Conlon took advantage of that, but I'm maybe a little surprised that more people didn't do what he did.

One other thing about 1975s is that the price went up to 15 cents a pack that year instead of 10 cents a pack for 1974s.

[bigfanNY]

In 75 the news that Topps had a test issue spread through the Hobby quickly aided by the fact that the Sports collectors Digest was in Michigan where the Majority of the test area was. My Dad and I bought a Wax case from a Detroit dealer at a NYC show that spring which we promptly opened up and made sets . At the time Topps said that Minis were 2% to 5% of production. And at that time a regular set was roughly $9.00 and a Mini set $25. As for the premium almost all of the Minis were gobbled up by collectors and were cared for vs the standard issue that was widely distributed and played with and enjoyed by kids like me (I was 14) Over Time with condition playing a key role almost as many nice Minis exist as regular issue Topps so supply and demand has eroded the premium.
A couple years later with 1977 cloth stickers the same thing happened collectors bought the majority of the cards and the hobby was over saturated. There are far less cloth stickers than regular issue but much more demand for regular issue. JMHO
Jonathan

[billyb]

It was my belief that Topps targeted the 75 mini's in just two states, Michigan and Washington, so it makes sense that in the bordering states of Michigan and Washington also were able to pick up some cases to sell, probably from dealers from the two states. Northern California and Ohio were probably the most recipient of the spillage of the stock.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by billyb

It was my belief that Topps targeted the 75 mini's in just two states, Michigan and Washington, so it makes sense that in the bordering states of Michigan and Washington also were able to pick up some cases to sell, probably from dealers from the two states. Northern California and Ohio were probably the most recipient of the spillage of the stock.

I think some small % of mini distribution can be attributed to which jobbers they used as well. I suspect they used their three main non-NY distribution centers to test 98% of the run and then had some small, controlled releases of it, much like a normal test issue.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by billyb

It was my belief that Topps targeted the 75 mini's in just two states, Michigan and Washington, so it makes sense that in the bordering states of Michigan and Washington also were able to pick up some cases to sell, probably from dealers from the two states. Northern California and Ohio were probably the most recipient of the spillage of the stock.

Western Mass is a long way from either for spillage.

Steve B

[brob28]

Originally Posted by billyb

It was my belief that Topps targeted the 75 mini's in just two states, Michigan and Washington, so it makes sense that in the bordering states of Michigan and Washington also were able to pick up some cases to sell, probably from dealers from the two states. Northern California and Ohio were probably the most recipient of the spillage of the stock.

I can confirm some of the "spillage" made its way to the northwest Chicago suburbs. I was 7 at the time and ended up with some.

[doug.goodman]

90 miles north of San Francisco, and 750 miles south of Seattle (with Oregon in the middle) the only 1975 cards available were minis.

Doug

[ALR-bishop]

Doug---is this like a scavenger hunt ?

[JollyElm]

I was at a show in a suburb of San Francisco on Saturday, and the dealers there mirrored what Doug said. They told me that all they had in 1975 were minis. The regular sized cards to them were the rarities, not the other way around.

On Long Island, we didn't have minis at all and the first time I ever saw one was some time in the 80's.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Doug---is this like a scavenger hunt ?

20 miles from Clear Lake...