Author Topic: Original Series OPC Wrappers  (Read 1238 times)

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Offline Paul_Maul

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Original Series OPC Wrappers
« on: April 29, 2023, 05:27:19 PM »
When it comes to the OPC original series, the only packs I have seen are 2nd series and 4th series. Brian L. reports seeing 3rd series packs as well. The purpose of this post is to speculate on which wrappers were used for which series.

The known 2nd series packs all have the red wrapper with Fink. (Fink was likely used because Quacker had already been C&D’d). The known 4th series packs use both this same wrapper and a blue version of the same wrapper. Brian stated that the 3rd series packs also used this same red wrapper.

In the last ten years or so two other wrappers were discovered. It is not known which series packs they were used for.

The first is the same red “Fink” wrapper, but containing the extra line of text “Printed in USA”:



There has been some speculation that this wrapper was used for at least some 1st series packs. This makes sense because Topps could reasonably have printed some wrappers for OPC at the beginning of the OPC wacky run.

The other new wrapper is a blue one in which Chef Girl ar Dee has replaced Fink.



There was originally speculation that this was used for the 3rd series (since 3rd series packs hadn’t been seen by most). But now it seems much more likely to me that this wrapper was used for a later run of 4th series packs. Fink was C&D’d (and doesn’t appear in the reissues). That would be a reason to replace it on the wrapper. And since Chef Girl is a 4th series title, it only makes sense it would be used for 4th series packs.

So until further evidence arrives, I’m going with the hypothesis that 1st series packs used the red Fink wrapper, and the earliest ones had the “Printed in USA” version. 2nd and 3rd series packs all used the red Fink wrapper (without the extra line). And there are three versions of the 4th series pack: red and blue with Fink, and blue with Chef Girl.

Thoughts?
« Last Edit: April 29, 2023, 05:32:46 PM by Paul_Maul »

Offline RawGoo

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Re: Original Series OPC Wrappers
« Reply #1 on: April 30, 2023, 07:33:13 AM »
That sound very logical to me.

Offline Fanatical_and_Sickly

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Re: Original Series OPC Wrappers
« Reply #2 on: April 30, 2023, 11:31:49 AM »
very cool to see those wrappers.

that's good reasoning on the end use of the wrappers and timeline

the Printed in USA is a bit of a wild card, that could have been used for any of them, but being made and used first makes sense.

the use of Fink in the OPCs is likely what got it noticed enough for a C&D to be issued.
and replacing Fink with a 4th series title for the release of the 4th series is totally apropos.

Offline Paul_Maul

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Re: Original Series OPC Wrappers
« Reply #3 on: April 30, 2023, 01:02:00 PM »
very cool to see those wrappers.

that's good reasoning on the end use of the wrappers and timeline

the Printed in USA is a bit of a wild card, that could have been used for any of them, but being made and used first makes sense.

the use of Fink in the OPCs is likely what got it noticed enough for a C&D to be issued.
and replacing Fink with a 4th series title for the release of the 4th series is totally apropos.

The 4th series red and blue OPC packs with Fink have been fairly prevalent over the years, and I don’t think any packs with Chef Girl have ever surfaced. But that could just be because of a particular find. Overall, it’s quite surprising that so little OPC unopened material has surfaced. I know several sports collectors who deal with a lot of OPC stuff and I always ask them to keep an eye out in case some wackys are sitting around somewhere in rural Canada and no one knows that anyone cares. Crazy that an unopened 1st series pack has never been found.

Offline bandaches

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Re: Original Series OPC Wrappers
« Reply #4 on: April 30, 2023, 02:07:30 PM »
This sounds very logical to me.  Perhaps the "USA tag" was feared to be a turnoff for Canada sales so they removed it.  I don't believe they would have added that tag for red wrappers and then it didn't carry to the blocks on the blue wrappers so USA tag was either very early or very late but nothing in between.
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Offline drono

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Re: Original Series OPC Wrappers
« Reply #5 on: May 01, 2023, 01:04:09 PM »
They also didn't code the wrappers to give us a clue either.  Maybe they wanted it to be a mystery.

Offline ToadallyDude

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Re: Original Series OPC Wrappers
« Reply #6 on: July 05, 2023, 03:43:06 PM »
These are SO cool to see!  It's so rare than any brand new items are discovered from the original 70s Wackys!  Has anyone created an updated list of all known items now that there's been so many small editions like this since the Wacky Packages Gallery?

 

anything