Release timing for early Topps Venezuelan cards

[Spike]

Thanks, Dave, forgot about the tobacco connections through Topps' older incarnations. There's probably a larger business context to what they licensed or sold in the Caribbean that would make these pieces fit together better. It's not a puzzle easily assembled by working backwards from a catalog of baseball sets!

Others mentioned that high-series 1950s cards have turned up in Venezuela, hinting that Topps sent leftover stock there after American baseball seasons. If that's the case, it's also tempting as a reason for locals to only print and sell the early series, which wouldn't reach their own candy stores. Not the whole story, certainly, but at least possible.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by Spike

Others mentioned that high-series 1950s cards have turned up in Venezuela, hinting that Topps sent leftover stock there after American baseball seasons. If that's the case, it's also tempting as a reason for locals to only print and sell the early series, which wouldn't reach their own candy stores. Not the whole story, certainly, but at least possible.

Ya know, I never thought of that and it's a good point. In additon to Josh John Rumierz is the guy on these since he lived there for a while and he mentioned to me at the National he thought a couple of sets such as 60 or 62 could have been released over two years, thus saving printing of sets in 61 or 63. You could put out a first series in say the spring of one year, right around the end of the Caribbean World Series, and then in the fall issue series two in such a scenario. The six week series cycle Topps used in the US may not have applied in Venezuela.

[Orioles1954]

A couple of more questions...

1.) Were these cards printed by a vendor in Venezuela or were they shipped down?

2.) I've never seen a Topps Venezuelan wrapper. Were these issued as kits with an album (and possibly paste) or as a traditional pack?

[Spike]

1. My understanding's that a local printer did these sets. I've seen the name Benco, at least for 1962, and C. A. Lithoven for 1968: http://blog.deanscards.com/2011/02/v...all-cards.html.

2. Packs of 4 cards, I think, and pre-printed albums starting in 1964. (Collectors might've created their own, of course.)

[Orioles1954]

Has a Topps Venezuelan wrapper or display box ever surfaced?