Possibly trimmed cards - thoughts?

[Marchillo]

Originally Posted by G1911

There were no factory sets in 1971, but some dealers in the 70’s sold complete sets (Fritsch, Galasso, etc.). Presumably he means he got one of these.

Topps cards in 2020 don’t even all measure the same size, open a pack and look carefully at the cards in a stack and you can see the difference. Plenty of legit over and undersize 1971’s. Impossible to issue any judgement without pics, but size isn’t the be all and end all of trimming.

my point is factory set implies direct from the factory in a sealed set - the sets you are talking about are hand collated - just wanted to make sure the OP was aware of that. And yes I agree cards are all over the place in terms of size - but I would be concerned if i received 4/4 shorter cards from the same person on ebay. But you are right it could be factory cuts.

[ASF123]

Thanks for the tips - I actually was just reading about how they didn't have factory sets in 1971. The seller's exact words were "My 71 and 72 cards were a Christmas present back in 72 and 73 as complete sets from the manufacturer." Not sure what to make of that, as memories can obviously be imperfect from that long ago. Could be referring to a vending box.

I've examined the cards some more, and I can't find any noticeable differences in feel or appearance (with or without magnification) between the vertical edges and the horizontal, which are presumably not trimmed as the cards are the standard height.

I'm attaching a few photos of the Clemente with another '72, to the extent that they may be helpful.

Thanks again, everyone.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Marchillo

my point is factory set implies direct from the factory in a sealed set - the sets you are talking about are hand collated - just wanted to make sure the OP was aware of that. And yes I agree cards are all over the place in terms of size - but I would be concerned if i received 4/4 shorter cards from the same person on ebay. But you are right it could be factory cuts.

Which is why the first seven words very explicitly and unequivocally state “there were no factory sets in 1971”, before filling in with what is probably being referenced by the seller.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by G1911

Which is why the first seven words very explicitly and unequivocally state “there were no factory sets in 1971”, before filling in with what is probably being referenced by the seller.

A complete set bought in 71-72 would almost certainly have come from a seller like Fritsch and assembled from vending. Cards from vending boxes are often a bit undersized.

[ASF123]

Thank you all for this very helpful and informative discussion. Based on everything I've learned, I've gotten pretty comfortable that the cards are legit, and so I canceled the return request. If that's a mistake, it's not an expensive one, and oh well - I've got some nice-looking cards in my collection. The Bench looks like it might be better than one that went for almost 50% more from Morris yesterday.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by steve B

A complete set bought in 71-72 would almost certainly have come from a seller like Fritsch and assembled from vending. Cards from vending boxes are often a bit undersized.

Very true, cards out of vending boxes from the mid 60s- mid 70s are indeed slightly short l/r...I have seen a fair number over the years. Several times in large lots with cards from the 60s/early 70s I have purchased, I ended up receiving 75-100 copies of the same card and all of them are short l/r....obviously no one invested a bunch of time to trim down a bunch of $1 common cards, they were factory cut this way.

I have always been curious as to how the cutting process differed from cutting cards for packs versus cutting cards for vending?

[cornhusker]

Possibly, vending cards were purposely cut a hair smaller to limit their getting hung up in the card vending machines.