What is the 1986 "Test Set"?

[Ducko]

I have heard of the 1986 "Test Set" several times but have never understood exactly what it is. Is it the 1986 album set? Different somehow?

I see an auction here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/WACKY-PACKAGES-1986-TEST-STICKER-SET-77-/170028024126?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item279675c13e

and am wondering what the 44 stickers are that are "different" from the 77?


Could someone enlighten me? Thanks!

[Playskull]

It's sometimes called a "test" set because the 1986 Wackys never made it to stores.  It was be believed, years ago, that these were rare.  But tons & tons of them have since turned up.  It's sort of the same deal as the 1979 Series 1 uncut sheets. The price this seller is asking for is much too high.  The only reason putting a complete set together is a little bit of a pain is because (I think) an unopened box of these will only contain either the 1st half OR the 2nd half of the titles in the set, but not every title.  I've never heard of one half of the set being more scarce than the other half, but maybe someone else can shed some light on that.

[crackedjerk]

I think years ago that one half of the titles (and half if slightly misleading as there are a "set" of 33 and one of 44) were considered harder to get than the other half.  However, I believe that it is now largely considered that neither half is really harder than the other.  It seems that a box will either have exclusively the 33 titles or the 44 titles. 

[Ducko]

Thanks, guys -- I thought this was the case but wanted to double-check with the experts.

Early this year I bought about 30 unopened packs of them and it was still really hard to get all the die-cut variations (I think I had to buy another 5 packs to finally get the Mud variation!). I had a lot of fun opening these. I was amazed at how wide a range of printed quality there was, from blurry/overprinted to ultra-sharp. I made my master set very carefully (took forever) by picking the best cards out of sometimes 6 or 7 dupes. Tedious but really nice to have now. Heck, I did the same thing with all the ANS sets.

Intriguing though was the fact that I believe I found two other die-cut variations (I discussed this briefly with Dr. Popper via PM when I first joined the forum last week). I need to get these out and take some snapshots and pass it by everyone to see what you think. To me they are as significant as the Bananacin variation (big enough and consistent enough). In fact, at first I thought these were part of the 5 variations listed on wackypackages.org and was annoyed when they weren't (I thought I was done!).

P.S.  One thing that struck me funny with that auction was the simple fact that if they really were so rare, how come he had 7 sets up for sale?

[Dr Popper]

Thanks, guys -- I thought this was the case but wanted to double-check with the experts.

Early this year I bought about 30 unopened packs of them and it was still really hard to get all the die-cut variations (I think I had to buy another 5 packs to finally get the Mud variation!). I had a lot of fun opening these. I was amazed at how wide a range of printed quality there was, from blurry/overprinted to ultra-sharp. I made my master set very carefully (took forever) by picking the best cards out of sometimes 6 or 7 dupes. Tedious but really nice to have now. Heck, I did the same thing with all the ANS sets.

Intriguing though was the fact that I believe I found two other die-cut variations (I discussed this briefly with Dr. Popper via PM when I first joined the forum last week). I need to get these out and take some snapshots and pass it by everyone to see what you think. To me they are as significant as the Bananacin variation (big enough and consistent enough). In fact, at first I thought these were part of the 5 variations listed on wackypackages.org and was annoyed when they weren't (I thought I was done!).

P.S.  One thing that struck me funny with that auction was the simple fact that if they really were so rare, how come he had 7 sets up for sale?

There are also 5 titles in the 86' set with die-cut pattern variations if you collect that sort of thing.

[sco(o)t]

I think years ago that one half of the titles (and half if slightly misleading as there are a "set" of 33 and one of 44) were considered harder to get than the other half.  However, I believe that it is now largely considered that neither half is really harder than the other.  It seems that a box will either have exclusively the 33 titles or the 44 titles. 

Yep, this is as I remember. It took two different boxes to complete a set, one with 33 and another with 44 titles. As I remember, there was not a way to tell the differences between boxes until breaking packs open. When boxes first started becoming available (back in my old Prodigy days, he recalls as he places his walker to the side and drops his dentures into a glass), it was thought the 33 title box to be somewhat scarce, but a year later there were plenty available. At one point, one of the novelty mail order catalogs was even selling sets of these (wish I could remember which one).

Seems like I had at least 8 sets back then and was part of the group effort looking for the cut variations. There was much debate on several other variations besides the "sanctioned 5" but the group dismissed several other candidates as appearing to be individual one-off cut variations rather than the die being different. This was simply based on comparisons of 60 or so copies of the same title stickers. Back then, before JPEGs and posting pictures on web sites became extremely easy, these comparison were done by get-togethers (yes, in person) of several people with a bunch of the cards, and mailing photographs to each other, etc. If no other examples of a suspected varation could be found and it was a very slight difference, it was discarded as a die variation but often kept in a collection as a one-off example. I can remember there being two such hotly debated titles, but can't remember which ones. Some, like MUD, FEARSTONE,  and SCHNOZMOPOLITAN are obviously different die patterns as one variation of each has an angled corner and one a 90 degree corner. BANANACIN always seemed the weakest of the variations to my eyes. There were enough of each type found, however, to deem it a true variation. It would be interesting to see examples of other suspected variations posted here to eyeball. I will have to dig through some of my ancient notes to see if I can recall what the 2 or 3 debated titles were. 

[bandaches]

Yep, this is as I remember. It took two different boxes to complete a set, one with 33 and another with 44 titles. As I remember, there was not a way to tell the differences between boxes until breaking packs open. When boxes first started becoming available (back in my old Prodigy days, he recalls as he places his walker to the side and drops his dentures into a glass), it was thought the 33 title box to be somewhat scarce, but a year later there were plenty available. At one point, one of the novelty mail order catalogs was even selling sets of these (wish I could remember which one).

Seems like I had at least 8 sets back then and was part of the group effort looking for the cut variations. There was much debate on several other variations besides the "sanctioned 5" but the group dismissed several other candidates as appearing to be individual one-off cut variations rather than the die being different. This was simply based on comparisons of 60 or so copies of the same title stickers. Back then, before JPEGs and posting pictures on web sites became extremely easy, these comparison were done by get-togethers (yes, in person) of several people with a bunch of the cards, and mailing photographs to each other, etc. If no other examples of a suspected varation could be found and it was a very slight difference, it was discarded as a die variation but often kept in a collection as a one-off example. I can remember there being two such hotly debated titles, but can't remember which ones. Some, like MUD, FEARSTONE,  and SCHNOZMOPOLITAN are obviously different die patterns as one variation of each has an angled corner and one a 90 degree corner. BANANACIN always seemed the weakest of the variations to my eyes. There were enough of each type found, however, to deem it a true variation. It would be interesting to see examples of other suspected variations posted here to eyeball. I will have to dig through some of my ancient notes to see if I can recall what the 2 or 3 debated titles were. 

Hey dude,

I recall some of these debates but also don't recall which titles were being debated.  Playbug is the 5th diecut variation title.  Also, I only found variations in the "44" box, never in any 33 boxes.  Since the number of one title can be very easily seen through the back of a pack, it was easy to tell which box you had.  Also, I have heard there have been some "mix" boxes found containing some 33's and some 44's especially from Marchant cards but I am hearing he was making boxes from stashes of packs purposely created mix boxes(I never was able to substantiate this).

[Ducko]

Awesome. In person? Imagine that!

What I recall for the "iffy" ones I found (and I will have to verify when I dig them out soon(tm)):

* Winstun - several cards had the die-cut around the cigs like |---| and several where it was distinctly |---\ the difference being almost 1/8 of an inch

* The Gadzooka Four - I have two variations when laid out where the die-cut is clearly about 1/8 of an inch off all the way around, so you could make the "puzzle" with the four stickers but only if they were from the matching variation. If you mixed them, the die-cuts would not match when they are laid next to each other


I'll dig these out and figure out how to take some snapshots without having a scanner and we can see if they are worthy of further inspection. I ended up with about 12 of each sticker and because I bought sets of packs from different people they were from multiple sources.

It was great fun opening packs fresh when they were 20+ years old! And it was SO NICE not to have gum or wax stains!!!

[Fanatical_and_Sickly]

There was much debate on several other variations besides the "sanctioned 5" but the group dismissed several other candidates as appearing to be individual one-off cut variations rather than the die being different. .... Some, like MUD, FEARSTONE,  and SCHNOZMOPOLITAN are obviously different die patterns as one variation of each has an angled corner and one a 90 degree corner. BANANACIN always seemed the weakest of the variations to my eyes.  

Something I noticed a few years back, was that the main 4 variations:  Mud, Fearstone, Playbug and Schnoz, comprise the upper right corner of the uncut sheet.
My speculation is that the die cut press/mold/whatever it's called, got dropped at some point totally screwing up the upper right corner and requiring new dies to be made.
Bananacin is in the middle of the sheet, unlikely to have been harmed, which fits with your take that there really isn't a difference on that title.

[sco(o)t]

Something I noticed a few years back, was that the main 4 variations:  Mud, Fearstone, Playbug and Schnoz, comprise the upper right corner of the uncut sheet.
My speculation is that the die cut press/mold/whatever it's called, got dropped at some point totally screwing up the upper right corner and requiring new dies to be made.
Bananacin is in the middle of the sheet, unlikely to have been harmed, which fits with your take that there really isn't a difference on that title.

Interesting...  I wonder when they printed and cut a run if there is typically only one die used at a time or if there are multiple machines running in parallel.

[sco(o)t]

Awesome. In person? Imagine that!

What I recall for the "iffy" ones I found (and I will have to verify when I dig them out soon(tm)):

* Winstun - several cards had the die-cut around the cigs like |---| and several where it was distinctly |---\ the difference being almost 1/8 of an inch

* The Gadzooka Four - I have two variations when laid out where the die-cut is clearly about 1/8 of an inch off all the way around, so you could make the "puzzle" with the four stickers but only if they were from the matching variation. If you mixed them, the die-cuts would not match when they are laid next to each other

I'll dig these out and figure out how to take some snapshots without having a scanner and we can see if they are worthy of further inspection. I ended up with about 12 of each sticker and because I bought sets of packs from different people they were from multiple sources.

It was great fun opening packs fresh when they were 20+ years old! And it was SO NICE not to have gum or wax stains!!!

Cool... without seeing it, I would suspect the puzzle cuts to be an example where the "cutter" or die was just offset differently for some runs rather than others. Not necessarily a die cut variation due to the shape of the die, and not a one-off issue, but sounds like a variation, of a kind,  for sure.

I checked my Windstun and it appears to be of the first of your two examples. Will be cool to see these.

[landoquakes]

I think Bandaches is correct about Marchant Cards. For a long time one could get a box of 33 or 44 from them for about @4 when they were on sale, then they were mixed and I "think" that is what they are selling through thier site. I'm thinking that Marchant must have bought the entire run at some point. They must to have sold hundreds of boxes of these things over the past 12 years.