General Forum

So as I log my insert sets, I need to ask.  I have a few Rediscover Topps cards that I pulled out of 2017 packs.  For the sake of this post, I will use a 1989 Topps Dave Stewart card.  Is there a checklist for these?  The site says it is a work in progress, so does that mean there is no way to know how many there are?  Can you complete a set of Rediscover Topps?

Also, a theoretical question.  Should these be booked as an insert set to 2017, which is obviously the way we do it, or would they be better labeled a 1989 Topps Parrellel.  The card I have in question, the Dave Stewart, is just a 1989 Topps card at the end of the day, right?  So if that is the case, all someone did was stamp it and put it in a modern pack.  Technically, I have a 1989 Topps Dave Stewart that someone put a mark on.  Should it just be a variant of the 1989 set then, or should it be a 1989 parrellel?  I am not sure one answer is better than another, so I will just put it in with the 2017 collection, but it feels wrong since this is just a 1989 Topps car with a mark.

Buybacks should be with the set they were inserted in. It can't possibly be listed with a set from 1989 because the buyback was not available in 1989. The Database has a long-standing tradition of listing cards where they were found in packs, even if it's from a different year. Look at the modern SP Authentic hockey sets, the updates from previous years are listed with SP, not which set is being updated.

A complete set is probably not realistic, and nobody knows how many and what cards were stamped. (Some people have even pulled DONRUSS cards with a Topps stamp!) The best way to do it is to document them as they are found, with the understanding that there could be thousands upon thousands of different options.

I don't do baseball but I have pulled several buybacks in my topics. 4 if my memory is correct. One of them was signed and hand numbered to 3 copies, of one of my top 5 favorite players. That was a good day.

For the people I've seen collecting buybacks, the most popular way to do it is to do a numerical set- one buyback of every card number, regardless of what year the original card was issued or when it was stamped. I know several bloggers are doing this, at least three. Some people are also collecting them based on whatever host set it is stamped. Bloggers Night Owl is doing 1975 and Shoebox Legends is doing 1990. Others chase players or teams. Surprisingly I have NOT seen anyone building a one buyback per year set, possibly because it would be too easy to accomplish.

Buybacks do not appear to exist for any sets pre-1957. The older cards would not fit into the modern packs as the cards are smaller now.

Excellent reply Billy! I completely agree with that.

I can agree with that logic too.

I have a '65 Topps #164 Al Spangler that I received as a bonus in a trade and it is logged with the 2014 Topps Heritage - 1965 Buybacks, BUT I store it with and consider a part of my '65 Topps Astros team set. I have the original non-buyback, too, and they both co-exist together in my binder.