A question for the REAL old-timers!

[topcat61]

Interesting question. I think it depends on the era in which collector's were collecting cards. Our Hobby Founders probably noticed a lot more than the kids did when it came to error cards.

It's difficult to say for sure who picked up on say, the 1957 Topps Gene Baker error other than the printer. As a printer myself, I know just how many quality-control checks I'd have to do on a sheet and it was at least 6 to make sure I got every color matched up to the key. On the 1952 Topps, the red/black backs were two separate print runs each of the first series and the colors denote this.

I have a sneaking suspicion that rival gum/card companies and the ball players themselves were grabbing card packs in the 40's and 50's just by the amount of Personal Privacy law suits and contract violations there were.

[swarmee]

Are multiple card stock variations available in the same packs? I doubt it, because most of the sets like that were printed in different series, and by different printing houses. So pre-1974, all Topps packs were in series of about 80-100 cards each.

If you wanted to do a study, there are now a preponderance of wax pack ripping videos on YouTube like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6bu-0N6IQg

Just search "Vintage Breaks" and the year and manufacturer to see if there are any videos of packs being broken. Some sets have hundreds of opened packs stored on the net. People that want to try and identify pack sequencing can also watch these videos and learn how they were packed. The company is opening up vintage packs daily on their YouTube or Facebook channel if you want to watch regularly. Although they've now branched out into very new cards as well, so it's not just vintage anymore.