General Forum

I'm relatively new here, so my apologies if this has been discussed to death already. As most of you undoubtedly know (it being the junk wax era and all), the 1990 and 1991 Topps Traded baseball sets were issued in both wax packs and the classic '80s style factory (box) set format. The wax issued cards were issued on a different card stock (similar to, but not exactly the same as the base set.) Considering that these are not just basic printing variations and that the cards are noticeably different when you flip them over (dark/grey stock instead of white), I was surprised to see that they aren't part of the database in any official capacity. I see there's a "Trivia" section attached to one of the sets mentioning these, but I expected to see them as separate entries in the database, as a related/parallel set perhaps. I know that, for example, COMC has these separated in their database.

I am one of the most OCD people on the planet. My extra 1990 Topps Traded commons live together, in peaceful unity, very mixed. If there had been a premium put on one or the other (back then or today), I would separate them. But, since they are all the same, they are all the same. :) 

Are you saying that 1990 Topps Traded wax-issued should be listed separate from 1990 Topps Traded factory-issued?  And then again with 1991?

Yes.

Unless you think these two images are insignifcantly different: 

https://img.comc.com/i/Baseball/1990/Topps-Traded---Base---Factory-Set-White-Back/124T/John-Tudor.jpg?id=0995c347-b916-4ec8-bf87-01bcc8c2734a&size=zoom&side=back

https://img.comc.com/i/Baseball/1990/Topps-Traded---Base---Wax-Pack-Grey-Back/124T/John-Tudor.jpg?id=3c4a9d42-d994-4c3a-a6b7-5374b89b9388&size=zoom&side=back

I agree with madding on this issue. My sets are put togetherbasedon the card stock. There are other examples of sets with different card stocks that are listed as parallels.

I think they should be seperated as well.  I actually did not know that the wax traded had the regular gray card stock, or don't remember.....when I think 'traded' I think white card stock.  So absolutely, there is a big difference.  Anyone interested in purchasing singles needs to know what they're purchasing, because they're not the same card.  Maybe they could be listed as 'gray back', or 'white back', as many cards from the 1956 Topps set are for instance.  

This issue created a problem I feel terrible about.  I thought that the different color back had to be a different card so I guessed they were Tiffany.  I traded several of the cards that way to someone incorrectly because of my assumption and lack of research.  I can see another person doing the same.  Good thing is now I do a little more research.

Got official word from Admin, and I have added the sets for the 1990 and 1991 Topps Traded sets - Pack (Gray Back) Versions. (I was able to verify the existence of both as I own examples of both versions of both years.)

I have already alerted Admin of a few gray backs that are scanned, but please, if you see any gray backs in the main sets (the main will be the factory set versions), please use the inaccuracies link to report it. There are several there, and I can almost guarantee I missed some. Let's see how quickly we can get the gray backs scanned in here! I'll do what I can to help.

Thank you for separating them. If there is a separate place for the darker logos in the 1991 base set, I think this is equally important. Man I love this site and how we love to get it right. Nice find!

I never realized that Topps Traded wax came in grey card stock.  In that case, I'd list them as variants within the same set in the same way that late-1950's and 1960 Topps cards are listed.  Some were white card stock, and some were grey card stock just like this.  They should not be listed as separate sets, unless you're willing to do the same for the late '50s sets because it is the same concept.  I do agree that there is a distinction that should be identified when buying, selling, and trading, which is why they should be identified as variants of the same set..