75 Topps Minis - observations and a question

[savedfrommyspokes]

15-20 years ago I had no problems putting together a raw decently centered NM-MT 75 mini set. I went through 5k+ cards to put this set together. At the time it seemed to me there were no shortage of these cards available in higher grade and centered. In recent years, I do not see to many of these 75 minis in higher grade or centered condition while the regular 75s are far more plentiful now.

I have always heard rumors that both Larry Frisch cards and Charlie Conlon both had significant accumulations of unopened 75 mini cases. My guess is many of these cards were released into the market 15 to 20 years ago creating a surplus at that time.

[Jim65]

We had Minis in NJ. I didn't even realize until I found my old stash in my parents basement in late 1980's, and had about 1000 cards and about half were Minis.

[G1911]

The SF Bay Area was one of the distribution points, I’m unclear if all of California was. My 13 year old father bought a dozen boxes or so boxes to hide away when it became known these were a test issue and not available everywhere. The cards are a dime a dozen for the commons at shows out here, seemingly more of them than the regular cards.

The cutting is atrocious, and I too have found the size varies more than it normally does on Topps issues.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by savedfrommyspokes

15-20 years ago I had no problems putting together a raw decently centered NM-MT 75 mini set. I went through 5k+ cards to put this set together. At the time it seemed to me there were no shortage of these cards available in higher grade and centered. In recent years, I do not see to many of these 75 minis in higher grade or centered condition while the regular 75s are far more plentiful now.

I have always heard rumors that both Larry Frisch cards and Charlie Conlon both had significant accumulations of unopened 75 mini cases. My guess is many of these cards were released into the market 15 to 20 years ago creating a surplus at that time.

Conlon bought out his local Michigan jobber in 1975 and had almost 30 cases left when he died. I might have the SCD (Krause) article that got into the details of that and I'll post it if I find it. Here is some more info for the time being, with the case counts for wax and cello. Not sure about Raks, maybe they were Frtisch's originally?

https://sportscollectorsdigest.com/cards/pssst-wanna-buy-an-unopened-case-of-1975-topps-minis

[Harliduck]

I'll chime in for Washington state...as a kid we had no idea the regular larger sized existed. All mini's here. Seeing my first "large" card was a shock.

Ironically I now only have the regular large card complete set (bought it complete a decade or so ago). I still have a chunk of my childhood mini's but they are pretty loved. One day I would like to put the mini set together or buy one outright.

[runbrett]

We had lots of collectors in my Chicago neighborhood and none of us knew anything about minis until mid-summer when a kid brought some back from Michigan. Never saw any after that either.

[ALR-bishop]

The only variant I have with my 75 Mini set, Sands With The Heavenly Grace

[Tom S.]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

The only variant I have with my 75 Mini set, Sands With The Heavenly Grace

Much better description than the "Golden Shower variant" IMO

[darkhorse9]

I lived in Nebraska in 1975 and summered in Michigan so I got my fill of both sizes throughout in real time. I really didn't think too much about why they were different sizes. They just were. Since the cards came out all in one series I figured they were changing the size of the cards starting the following year and just went ahead and got a start on it. I was thrilled when the 1976 cards were the regular size.

My set currently resides just fine in standard 9 pocket pages in a binder. I've never panicked much over centering unless it was a real visual distraction. As for size cuts, can't say I remember that being an issue but there were always abnormalities in cutting around that time so it comes as no shock.