Postwar Vintage vs Modern ?

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by G1911

The 1980 cutoff makes no sense to me outside of a calendar. I think there are 3 reasonable lines one could draw:

Pre-1974 - the end of Topps issues by series and the beginning of the 'modern' hobby starting to emerge where cards had some value outside of a few pre-war ones.

Pre-1981 - the end of the Topps monopoly.

Pre-1988/1989 - When mainstream generally-issued cards grew more advanced and objectively of higher quality (which doesn't mean overall better). 1989 Upper Deck is the famous peak of this shift, but 1988 Score was a big step up in quality over 87 Donruss/Fleer/Topps and does not get enough credit these days.

The 1980 cutoff is as you say, the last set of the Topps monopoly. It makes sense both from a calendar and hobby perspective.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

The 1980 cutoff is as you say, the last set of the Topps monopoly. It makes sense both from a calendar and hobby perspective.

1980 as the last year makes sense, not "pre-1980", which groups up through 1979, and counts the 1980 Topps set, when they still had a monopoly, as the first year of modern. It does not make sense from a hobby perspective.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by G1911

1980 as the last year makes sense, not "pre-1980", which groups up through 1979, and counts the 1980 Topps set, when they still had a monopoly, as the first year of modern. It does not make sense from a hobby perspective.

"1980 and earlier" is how I should have termed it. I would consider '80 itself vintage.

[gustomania]

Great conversation

I’m kinda like the idea of pre-81 for me (yes a little shift from earlier statements).

When I look at the Henderson, Ryan and others it feels vintage to me.