Did Topps Tiffany Commonly Get Into Kids Hands?

[todeen]

Originally Posted by Mungo Hungo

I LOL at “elder statesmen of the hobby who can remember 1983 / 1984 / 1985.” Please, someone tell me this cannot be an accurate representation of “elder statesman” ….

I'm 37 years old. I was 5 when I started buying 1991 Topps. But I never saw Tiffany at a store; I still only see it on ebay. Someone who would be 50 this year would have been 9yo when 1984 Tiffany was released. So an elder statesman would have to be at least 60 yo to be in a position to have obtained these sets, or even older if they owned a card shop business in the early 80s and were able to order a case.

I knew about Tiffany in the mid-90s when I was 10yo because of Beckett Magazine Hot 20. Chipper Jones and KGJ Tiffany cards were usually on those lists.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by todeen

I'm 37 years old. I was 5 when I started buying 1991 Topps. But I never saw Tiffany at a store; I still only see it on ebay. Someone who would be 50 this year would have been 9yo when 1984 Tiffany was released. So an elder statesman would have to be at least 60 yo to be in a position to have obtained these sets, or even older if they owned a card shop business in the early 80s and were able to order a case.

I knew about Tiffany in the mid-90s when I was 10yo because of Beckett Magazine Hot 20. Chipper Jones and KGJ Tiffany cards were usually on those lists.

I've got almost a decade on you, Tim, although probably still not enough to qualify for the elder statesman title. I remember riding my bike down to Safeway to buy packs from the 1987 set.

And my friends and I were definitely aware of the Topps Tiffany product. If memory serves, you could buy individual Tiffany items from the local card shop "Mike's Dugout". My recollection from the time is that while I thought they looked cool, I was more interested in buying the less expensive regular Topps pieces.

As a completely random and unrelated aside, going down to Mike's Dugout (also on my bike), I still remember separating out my purchases to reduce my sales tax burden. If you purchased an item at 7 cents and above, you paid at least a penny of sales tax. At 6 cents and below, zero sales tax. I remember strategically spacing my purchases. Buy an item for 6 cents, pay for it. Look around a bit more. Buy another item for 6 cents, pay for it. Look around some more. Either Mike was wise to what I was doing, or he thought I was just a kid who couldn't make up his mind.

[todeen]

Originally Posted by raulus

I've got almost a decade on you, Tim, although probably still not enough to qualify for the elder statesman title. I remember riding my bike down to Safeway to buy packs from the 1987 set.



And my friends and I were definitely aware of the Topps Tiffany product. If memory serves, you could buy individual Tiffany items from the local card shop "Mike's Dugout". My recollection from the time is that while I thought they looked cool, I was more interested in buying the less expensive regular Topps pieces.



As a completely random and unrelated aside, going down to Mike's Dugout (also on my bike), I still remember separating out my purchases to reduce my sales tax burden. If you purchased an item at 7 cents and above, you paid at least a penny of sales tax. At 6 cents and below, zero sales tax. I remember strategically spacing my purchases. Buy an item for 6 cents, pay for it. Look around a bit more. Buy another item for 6 cents, pay for it. Look around some more. Either Mike was wise to what I was doing, or he thought I was just a kid who couldn't make up his mind.

I bought my packs at Buttrey's Grocery in Montana (eventually bought by Albertsons). I didn't even know card shops existed for 3-4 more years! At 5, I was aware enough when my mom said she was getting groceries that I would ask to tag along in order to get another pack.

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[mrmopar]

I seem to recall mail order catalogs (TCMA/Renata Galasso type sellers) offering Tiffany sets, but that they were grossly expensive compared to the regular set, so if you were a kid at the time, you probably weren't forking over the $ for one.

That is something I wondered when I found a flyer for the Penn Emblem patches of 1979. You could order any of the 100+ patches, but there was a 3 patch minimum order and at $2.50 per patch with 50 cents shipping, you were at $8 for the three. I don't remember what the pack price was for Topps in 1979, but I bet a full box was close to the same price and choosing between 36 packs ready for immediate consumption or 3 patches that you'd have to wait for to be delivered via mail....which would have won out?

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

I'm quite surprised how many of you hadn't seen or even heard of Tiffany until years after the fact. My first memory is of reading about them in one hobby rag or another, so I was already familiar with them when I first started seeing the odd sealed set being offered at small Canadian shows in the late 1980's. I also recall obtaining a handful of singles just by chance around the same time. They were likely part of cheap, larger lots of commons.

[Harliduck]

I was 14 in 84, and buying all the packs I could get my hands on...and a couple times a year would visit the card shop here in Washington (it was an hour away, which may have been a state away for a 14 year old)...and I had never heard of Tiffany sets. I don't remember when I first heard about them...but it certainly wasn't apart of my childhood. I would have definitely wanted them...