I had been stoic and resolute in my decision to forsake any & all "junk wax" from the 1980s and 1990s in my collecting - outside of cards I actually liked and the team I collect, of course. This policy has been tested at times, particularly because these cards are so easy and affordable to find, and because there are
actually some designs from that are truly legendary - or at least that ring dim bells of nostalgia in my brain.
I think it was 1982 Topps that was the final set I collected as a teenager; after that I was off collecting punk and new wave 45s, and left baseball cards in the dust until resurrecting the hobby in middle age. As one does! Yet now that I've had some time to marinate on it - and because I really like to look of these sets - I've started setting aside any 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1984 Topps baseball cards that come my way. I'm even going so far as to occasionally buy small lots of them online, although with these sets having 700+ and even 800+ cards in them, my want list is, uh, still rather extensive.
This past week I went into my "trade box" - the box where I keep anything and everything I might want to trade to folks out there, and pulled back a small handful of cards, most of them from the junk wax era. It's almost like getting 10 new cards in the mail. Look at 'em! They're beautiful! How about a Mike Mussina rookie card, hunh?
It's 1981 Topps that I love the most of the junk wax era sets. You might not even lump this set in with the various Score and Upper Deck monstrosities of the 80s and 90s. Here are a couple of trade box rescues:
And there's no reason whatsoever to not collect this 1987 Topps card:
Here's the rest of what I pulled back - like I said, not all of it from the 80s and 90s. I just thought it might look better in my collection than in a trade box, you know?
(this last card is a "1986 Season Highlights" Sportflics card that shows photos of Don Sutton, Mike Schmidt and someone named Jim Deshaies - the latter of whom struck out his first 8 batters in a game, which is pretty cool.)
1981 is NOT junk wax.
ReplyDeleteI will always remember Jim Deshaies solely for his Chris Berman nickname, "Two Silhouettes On The".
It's good to broaden your horizons, though, as Brett Alan said, 1981 is not junk wax. In my opinion, junk wax is 1987-1992.
ReplyDeleteThat's fair. I've always dated the junk wax era to the arrival of Donruss and Fleer. And then yeah - after that it REALLY got out of hand. But I'm probably wrong in my assessment.
ReplyDeleteBefore too long "junk wax" will start to include the 70s.
ReplyDeleteIt goes like..
ReplyDelete- "pre-war"
- "vintage"
- (that period without a commonly-used term for it)
- "junk wax"
- "modern"
Yeah but what's "(that period without a commonly-used term for it)". I say 1973-1982. After that, junk wax until about 2000 or so. Maybe that's just me.
DeleteMy co-worker just sold ten wax boxes ranging from 1981 to 1984 to a card shop for $3,000. That's some junk wax I'd gladly add to my collection.
ReplyDeleteDo you still have your 45's? I've enjoyed picking up the occasional record here and there. Don't have many 45's though. Just a handful I've grabbed at the flea market for a buck or two.
I tend to peg "junk wax" as 1987-1993, give or take a few years forward or back. The term is catchy but I don't necessarily give it much airtime, because a lot of my earliest card purchases as a young collector were "junk wax" since it was so cheap and accessible. I'll always be indebted to it for helping me break into the hobby.
ReplyDeleteJunk wax is 1987-93. Every Fairfield repack has 24 1987-93 cards for one card from the early '80s.
ReplyDeleteJim Deshaies is from where I live. I've interviewed him 3 or 4 times (including once in Montreal's Olympic Stadium). Great guy. He's now known as the color man for Cubs broadcasts.
I agree with others that junk wax started in the late 80s, once Upper Deck, Score, and others (not named Fleer or Donruss) started cranking out cards.
ReplyDeleteAs for the end if the "vintage" period? 1973 is as good a time as any to define the end. That was the last year Topps issued cards in 7 series. Beginning in 1974, all cards came out at the start of the year.