71 Collecting and Issues on NM Cards

[D. Bergin]

Not an expert of this year, but this was one of the years Topps made uncut sheets available to the general public, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's a lot of sheet cut 1971's floating out there.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Not an expert of this year, but this was one of the years Topps made uncut sheets available to the general public, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's a lot of sheet cut 1971's floating out there.

Bought heavy in 70, 71 and 72 and every once in a while you got a card slightly taller than the rest in the pack. But it was infrequent.

[JollyElm]

I have no hard facts or anything of that nature, but that set is the poster child for alteration. Whether it's the 'Charcoal Merchants' (as I call them) blacking the cards out, or card doctors cutting away the white, to be safe I would unhesitatingly consider any 'short' card that I encounter to be altered. You may be wrong here and there, but you'll certainly be better off in the end by avoiding all of that bad cardboard.

[Exhibitman]

I've been collecting 1971s since, well, 1971, and there are a lot of trimmed cards out there.

[TCannon56to71]

I should have said this initially. I am getting whole lots of mostly "short" cards from 100% feedback sellers on ebay. That's the tough thing. I have had success from a few people. TheVintageGuy out of Ohio has sent me nice cards, so that's one seller I trust. But yeah it's tough out here in these 1971 streets on ebay. I bought 20 short print high numbers in high grade, and every one has a weird short edge, mostly top edge. It sucks. I went back today after getting feedback and looked closely at the long description from the seller. Seller says "claimed grade (NM in these cases) does not refer to any marks that may be on backs of card or CARD SIZE". So he must know? It makes me want to give negative feedback, but I have never done that before. I probably won't.

[Frankish]

Originally Posted by TCannon56to71

I went back today after getting feedback and looked closely at the long description from the seller. Seller says "claimed grade (NM in these cases) does not refer to any marks that may be on backs of card or CARD SIZE". So he must know?.

Yeah, that sounds suspicious. I mean the seller made a disclosure, sure, but it's just a more sophisticated version of those sellers that found a 51 Mays in the old lady next door's attic, looks real to them but buyer must decide for himself...without ever actually seeing or handling the card in person.

Anyway, are you still looking? And how tight are you condition? I have a pretty nice 71 set I'm thinking of breaking up. Most of the cards were bought raw as "NM" but many are not. One thing I can say for sure is the none of the cards have been altered...all bought from original collectors. If any are short, they were packed that way. Anyway, if you're looking, I could pull out the high numbers and check condition. If not, no biggie.

Cheers!

[Tere1071]

There was a previous discussion regarding cards that came out of the vending boxes that were found to be slightly shorter than those that came from retail packs. Could that be true of the 71s?

Phil aka Tere 1071

Working on my 71 Topps Baseball set
(13 needed to complete)