Something Borrowed?

Something old, something new today kids, one of which may be borrowed and one of which is blue.

Back in February I blogged on the 1974 Baseball Puzzles, lamenting that I had never seen a 25 cent variety of the wrapper (29 cents is the more common one, at least IMHO) but one popped up on Ebay recently and it is indeed identical in all respects to the other except in price:



One other, potentially more disturbing tidbit is that the 1980 Superstar Stickers may not be what the Standard Catalog says they are. Bob Lemke's blog explains it here and we'll see if they take a big mulligan in 2011.

Compare, though the Bench/Wills Sticker fonts:



to those of this product's (click to blow it up):


(Courtesy Al Richter and Bob Fisk)

Very, very close. We'll see if Mr. Lemke can track down the source of the Superstar Stickers. Otherwise, it just may turn out to be a red herring. (UPDATE 12/22/09-I am informed the Puffy Stickers, once thought fake, are likely a legitimate Topps mock up. More on that as it happens.)

How Puzzling

Topps had a bit of a last gasp with their baseball test issues in 1973-74 and one of the best ones is a set of twelve baseball player puzzles issued in 1974. Since I am having some scanner issues (again) I thought today would be a good day to show some scans I stole off of Ebay over the years featuring this set.

While they are described as coming in both 25 cent and 29 cent packs (really an envelope), the latter is the only one I can recall seeing. If anyone has a scan of the 25 cent variety, send it along and I'll post it.



These have a glued flap on the back, so when you find an envelope that has been opened, it will be torn to some degree.

They came in a plain white box, not uncommon for test issues of this era and I presume each held a half-dozen:



Topps may have been testing price points as well as the puzzles. This will be a Tom Terrific themed post, as the "wrapper" is different than his actual puzzle and therefore worth showing (OK, he was my favorite player as a kid):



These are pretty hefty at 4 3/4" x 7 1/2" and they have some thickness too. In case you are wondering (and I know you are) each puzzle has 40 pieces and each puzzle has the same die cuts. These are among the easier Topps test issues to locate (although that is a relative statement) and one seems to show up as much as another. It is also fairly common to find the wrapper with the puzzle.

You can see all twelve puzzles in proof form on this killer pair (hard to see but it's six puzzles per side:



I bid on but lost the above proofs. I think they would make a fabulous display piece!