General Forum

 I have 3 stickers that need to be added due to each having a different back then what is out there.   I have: 

#3-187 Mattingly / Whitt   with a Tim Wallch back

# 92-246   Brenly / Horn  with an Andre Dawson back

#107-205   Whitson / Hall with a Jeffrety Leonard back.

  That said, if you look at the checklist,  some are noted as variations with letters  "a, b, c......"    while other multiples do not have this notation.    I have no idea which is correct.    I hope who ever can add these is also able to straighten out these discrepancies.

This is an example of one of those sets we were discussing in another thread - the sticker fronts with card backs. There is a school of thought to count the stickers as one set, and the backs (cards) as a insert/related set. Doing this would simplify the database immensely. However, it would not be helpful to the collectors of the "whole unit", especially those who enjoy collecting all variants of said "whole unit". Honestly, I don't know what's best for the hobby.

  The backs are listed as a separate set but it's the numbering of the sticker set that is bonkers.

In reply to Dan's reference regarding the 1986 Fleer Stickers [i believe]

Since I collect variants as well as stickers, following the 1986 entries are simple [except the 1 entry IDing the Famous Feats back by # [for ex FF back, 2, 14, 20 for the same Team Logo sticker etc., just take a look] The rest of the entries are IDed by an a, b, c. I'm not sure repeating the set using the FF as opposed to Team logo is necessarily the answer. If it was me, I would use the comments section,  or Release notes to explain the entry. So a little extra work,  could explain the set and any variants in a brief descriptions.

Just an idea...~BOB~

vrooomed is referring to my comments about Topps football/baseball stickers from the mid- to late- 1980s. The backs were cards with their own numbering. The fronts were stickers, some a single sticker and some two stickers, ALL with their own numbers. The checklists for these stickers are a big incomprehensible mess.  And I say again, there is no way to know the number of front and back combinations (variations). The number of backs versus the number of fronts are not mathematically divisible.

I believe the overall intention/purpose of this database is to catalouge the individual cards and individual stickers. Not any undefineable, unknowable number of combinations. If that were so, we could just simply add every mathematically possible combination to the checklist and add scans. In the case of the Fleer stickers we referenced, 22 backs and 44 fronts is 968 possible (but not probable) combinations. No need to prove the combinations actually exists since they are just a matter of individual, separate front and back scans. Heck, I could even carefully remove and reapply the stickers to create every possible combination. So, what would that accomplish? Isn't it more important to know/see the 22 backs and 44 fronts?

BOBSCARDZ wrote: In reply to Dan's reference regarding the 1986 Fleer Stickers [i believe] Since I collect variants as well as stickers, following the 1986 entries are simple [except the 1 entry IDing the Famous Feats back by # [for ex FF back, 2, 14, 20 for the same Team Logo sticker etc., just take a look] The rest of the entries are IDed by an a, b, c. I'm not sure repeating the set using the FF as opposed to Team logo is necessarily the answer. If it was me, I would use the comments section,  or Release notes to explain the entry. So a little extra work,  could explain the set and any variants in a brief descriptions. Just an idea...~BOB~

Yeah, this one, to me, falls into the same line of reasoning as the Topps Buyback cards.  There could, potentially, be a 2016 Topps Buyback stamped version of any baseball card Topps produced from 1951-2015.  There could, potentially, be every possible sticker/card combination for these Topps & Fleer stickers.  But they probably don't all exist.  No way of knowing.  So there doesn't really need to be a checklist for this set that can't truly be defined.  There is potential for a lot more cards than actually exist, and entering non-existent sticker/card combinations would create confusion and frustration.  Personally, I have a photo album on my computer that is specifically scans of cards that either 1) nobody has been able to help me identify, or 2) are variations like Topps Buyback that can't fall into a legitimate checklist.  I've even wondered if it would be feasible for Admin to create a section for each of us, where we can enter scans of cards we own that either don't have, or shouldn't have, a place in the database.  It would just show up in our own collections.  Not sure how to make something like that work, but I've often thought that would be a useful feature.

Just like NJDevils (and probably many others), my Topps football and baseball stickers/cards do not match any of the combinations (variations) listed in this database.

I have no idea how these can be fixed! Just for 1988 and '89 Topps MLB, I have about 10 different ones in my Ozzie Smith collection. Some have him as the back with 1 or 2 stickers on the front that are different for each card. Others are him as a sticker on the front (either as 1 full sticker or one with a second sticker of another player) with different backs from each other. It's SO confusing and there is no way to know exactly how many versions of these really exist!

I think there's a very simple solution. Each sticker and card are individually numbered. Treat them as such. In the case of the 1988 Topps football stickers. A "stickers" checklist numbered 1 through 285 with front scans for just the individual sticker. In the case of side-by-side stickers, add a Note2 "paired with #__".  And a "sticker backs (Super Star cards)" checklist numbered 1 through 67 for the cards. The back scans can be blanks, because in actuality the actual back of the stickers and cards are blank. And it is the inclusion of the back scans that has caused all this mess to begin with. And it doesn't really matter because just about any sticker could be attached to any card (and vice versa). FYI for the hyper-OCDers, 1988 Topps FB sticker/card mathematical combos is 11,591 (173 stickers x 67 cards). Very, very unlikely because of sheet layouts, but it illustrates that the actual number is very unknowable.

spazmatastic wrote: I have no idea how these can be fixed! Just for 1988 and '89 Topps MLB, I have about 10 different ones in my Ozzie Smith collection. Some have him as the back with 1 or 2 stickers on the front that are different for each card. Others are him as a sticker on the front (either as 1 full sticker or one with a second sticker of another player) with different backs from each other. It's SO confusing and there is no way to know exactly how many versions of these really exist!

I think T206 is a good comparison.  Most of the cards in that set have a variety of backs, depicting ads for different brands of cigarettes.  But we only list the cards according to front here.  I suppose a person could use the COMMENT feature when they add their card to their collection to describe which combination of sticker front/back they have for their own use.  I just ran into this when I came across an old T42 card of my own, which has tobacco brand variations.  After I upload the checklist for this set of birds, I will add my card with "Mecca back" as the comment so I know which one I have if I ever want to add another.

It's funny, I used to detest variations, but lately I'm starting to like them!