General Forum

I gave up with trying to figure out Topps cards around 1995. Now they have 5or 6 different shades of blue green or what ever color. Too confusing for me. Or maybe I'm just too old at 61. 

All you have to do is look at a price guide nowadays. Takes about 3 or 4 pages to cover cards from 1948 Bowman to the 90's (about 50 years) and the entire magazine for the last 20 years. No wonder you can't ID them on sight.

I agree with all of that. Topps is my game, and I've got 1951 through 1991 down pat. After that, it's a blur. And I don't even collect the offshoots, just the base sets. 

I've started to be able to identify numerous older sets, too. And become more and more enamored of the idea of having a complete super vintage set, or even just team set. I wonder if I'll ever dump about 30,000 cards and focus on pre-1960 cards. Topps will eventually lose people. But maybe they know what the kids want...

v3

For base Topps, I know right away when I see a card from 1978-1994 and then it's just random years after that. Some that stand out to me now are 1996, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2011 & recently 2014 and 2015 joined the list. But with the cards after 1992, I still need to check the back to make sure they aren't a newer reprint. Those damn reprint insert cards have been driving me crazy for about 8 years now.

For the other major brands over the decades, I can usually identify anything pre-97 and much of the post-2003 cards. The years in-between just depend on the brand as to how fast I can identify them.