Author Topic: Printing plates  (Read 1477 times)

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Offline Lavirus

  • Posts: 855
Printing plates
« on: January 04, 2025, 05:42:39 PM »
Which series has printing plates as chases, and which had printing plates put on eBay by Topps? I have the following listed but don't remember the source for them:

ANS 10
ANS11
2014
2015
Flashback II
MLB
50th Anniversary
Go To The Movies
Old School 2
Old School 3
Old School 4

Offline Joe G.

  • Posts: 1781
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #1 on: January 04, 2025, 07:29:05 PM »
Mitch, I believe the retail sets had ‘em as inserts and for Old School they were sold by Toppe vault on eBay. 

Offline Lavirus

  • Posts: 855
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2025, 04:21:06 PM »
Do the Old School plates look the same, with the Topps sticker on the back?

Offline Joe G.

  • Posts: 1781
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2025, 04:31:52 PM »
Mitch, here’s a comparison of two I have.  One’s Wacky 50th and an Old School.






Offline Alexeirex

  • Posts: 1256
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2025, 10:44:44 AM »
Well, I learned something new!
A

Offline RawGoo

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Re: Printing plates
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2025, 12:14:06 PM »
I don't remember the Old School titles being offered by Topps Vault.  I probably would have bought one!

Offline FourRoses

  • Posts: 732
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #6 on: January 07, 2025, 03:12:26 PM »
I pulled a flashback plate from a vertical box after a few packs (single digit amount). It was a wonderful pull because I didn't have any idea those were even a possibility.

Offline lucidjc

  • Posts: 1469
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #7 on: January 07, 2025, 03:29:01 PM »
I wrote a small story about finding a Flashback 2 Plate. Anyone interested can find it.

Offline lucidjc

  • Posts: 1469
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #8 on: January 07, 2025, 03:40:57 PM »
I found it for ya.

OK, I was thinking of starting my own topic on this but here seems a great place to lay it all out. This goes back maybe 4 or 5 months ago. I own a metal detector and before my spinal cord injury I was an avid searcher. Not many days would go by before I would get the itch to dig something out of the ground that someone had lost. In 35+ years of looking I have found many nice things, gold and silver jewelry, hundreds of silver coins...even a large cent from 1828, my oldest coin found. People would call me on the phone and ask me if I could come over and help find lost things, wedding bands and what not, most of the time if the item was actually lost in that area I would find it. I only go out a few times a year anymore, its all my body can handle, but I enjoy it.

OK, lets Flashback to Flashback  2 2008. I do remember buying a gravity feed and some loose packs (maybe 50 to 60) I had ordered 3 24 pack boxes from a local card shop, I bought all these cards on the same day. Over the next few days to weeks I opened a few, just about 10-15 packs in I pulled a Gold, I was very excited, it was my first big wacky score. I put the rest of the packs in a box sealed it but never wrote on the box what was in it. A few months ago I was cleaning out a part of my garage that had stacks of boxes from before my injury (may 2012). I was confused as to what was in the sealed (with packing tape) boxes...the open ones I could see, duh. So I placed all the boxes with tape off to the side. I stacked them next to a shelf/table that I do work on. I started opening the boxes and found that all but 1 of the boxes were filled with books (i like books). I get to the last box, I open it to see all these Beautiful green Flashback 2 unopened packs.(if you have any flashback 2 wrappers check them out they are the coolest wacky wrapper of modern times) I take out a few packs and open them looked and laughed then said now what am I going to do with these loose stickers...so I stuck em. Meanwhile back at the table after I sealed up the box and wrote the contents on it, I looked over and saw my metal detector. Thinking, did I ever take the batteries out at the end of the season? So I pushed the button and on it came. As soon as it cycled through its opening boot it started beeping. It beeps when the coil (the end that detects) is near metal. I thought it might have been the nails in the table but moving the coil away from where it was closer to the box it got louder instead of stopping. Of course I'm thinking what could be causing this very loud target? I ran the machine over the box a few times always getting the same large hit! So I dump the box out, all 100+ packs and start going over each one. About half way through I find the HOT PACK with a PRINTING PLATE in it.

The pack remains UNOPENED...

Why on earth I didn't do this years ago, I have no idea...but thinking about it, I guess I'm just not a pack searcher...Funny how things happen.  ENJOY



Jim

Offline lucidjc

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Re: Printing plates
« Reply #9 on: January 07, 2025, 03:41:55 PM »
The pack with the plate remains "unopened".

Offline vahsurfer

  • Posts: 1698
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #10 on: January 07, 2025, 03:42:53 PM »
I would like to purchase one of these if they become available.

Richard
#StayWacky

Offline JailOJohn

  • Posts: 794
  • Sticking Wackys on Furniture since 1973...
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #11 on: January 07, 2025, 08:07:28 PM »
Just curious…how heavy did the metal plates make the packs feel? Couldnt store gropers have detected the plates and bought those packs?

Offline lucidjc

  • Posts: 1469
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #12 on: January 08, 2025, 03:02:10 PM »
Not saying they didn't cause they did but, at the crazy odds those pulls were, you would have to finger a lot of packs. You can tell fairly easy the plate is in the pack by the bendability of the pack. It was a lot harder to tell the Old School sketches in packs but doable. I did open an OLDS pack with a plate that was a complete surprise.

Offline Joe G.

  • Posts: 1781
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #13 on: January 08, 2025, 05:38:35 PM »
Doh!  James did you just say you pulled an Olds plate from a pack??  Well I guess I misspoke when I said “for Old School they were sold by the Topps vault.”  So which Olds series had plates as an insert?  I know that for Olds 3 and 4 they sold them on eBay as I bought ‘em but not sure about the other sets. 

Not saying they didn't cause they did but, at the crazy odds those pulls were, you would have to finger a lot of packs. You can tell fairly easy the plate is in the pack by the bendability of the pack. It was a lot harder to tell the Old School sketches in packs but doable. I did open an OLDS pack with a plate that was a complete surprise.
« Last Edit: January 09, 2025, 11:44:55 AM by Joe G. »

Offline drono

  • Posts: 1487
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #14 on: January 09, 2025, 11:38:38 AM »
Meanwhile back at the table after I sealed up the box and wrote the contents on it, I looked over and saw my metal detector. Thinking, did I ever take the batteries out at the end of the season? So I pushed the button and on it came. As soon as it cycled through its opening boot it started beeping. It beeps when the coil (the end that detects) is near metal. I thought it might have been the nails in the table but moving the coil away from where it was closer to the box it got louder instead of stopping. Of course I'm thinking what could be causing this very loud target? I ran the machine over the box a few times always getting the same large hit! So I dump the box out, all 100+ packs and start going over each one. About half way through I find the HOT PACK with a PRINTING PLATE in it.

I used a powerful magnet to look through ANS packs to find the ones that had the magnets in them.  As long as printing plates are ferrous, then a magnet could be used for them too.

However, has anyone ever considered using a CAT scan machine to look at unopened packs?  I suppose it applies mostly to sports cards, but there are some high-end "hobbyists" who are doing just that.

https://sportscollectorsdigest.com/news/are-hobbyists-using-cat-scan-machines-to-gain-an-unfair-advantage

Offline Plastered Peanut

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Re: Printing plates
« Reply #15 on: January 10, 2025, 09:41:15 PM »
I used a powerful magnet to look through ANS packs to find the ones that had the magnets in them.

LOL.   I used a 7/8 x 1/4 x 1/4 magnet.
Send me your borderless wackys!

Offline JailOJohn

  • Posts: 794
  • Sticking Wackys on Furniture since 1973...
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #16 on: January 11, 2025, 08:46:44 AM »
Did the magnets work? I would assume so…I once heard a guy who brought a digital scake to weigh packs, cuz the magnets or otjrr inserts weighed .5 grams more

Offline drono

  • Posts: 1487
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #17 on: January 11, 2025, 01:54:30 PM »
Did the magnets work?

They definitely worked on the packs with magnets.  For the printing plates, it would depend if they're ferrous.  I didn't find any, and I don't have any to check.

Offline Joe G.

  • Posts: 1781
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #18 on: January 11, 2025, 04:26:28 PM »
Just checked on an ANS 2014 plate and no, the magnet didn’t stick.

They definitely worked on the packs with magnets.  For the printing plates, it would depend if they're ferrous.  I didn't find any, and I don't have any to check.

Offline BustedFinger

  • Just a simple collector. No books, no websites, no arguments!
  • Posts: 1508
  • I wonder where this text will appear?
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #19 on: January 12, 2025, 05:48:47 AM »
Did the magnets work? I would assume so…I once heard a guy who brought a digital scake to weigh packs, cuz the magnets or otjrr inserts weighed .5 grams more
When magnets were first released in ANS2, you could also "feel" the magnets in the packs because they were always positioned against the back of the pack.  Here is a little article I wrote up about it:

When Topps released the second series of All New Wacky Packages or “All New Series 2” in 2005, the series included static cling chase cards that were found in approximately 1 in every 4 packs.  The static clings were designed to be peeled off and stuck to glass surfaces.  The clings were not die-cut and when peeled off their backing they were rectangular in shape, being the full size of the card.

A few months after the initial release of the series, the static cling inserts were replaced by magnets.  The magnets were die-cut and could be punched out from the card and stuck to a metal surface.

The magnetic chase cards were always inserted as the last card in the pack against the back of the pack.  It didn’t take long for pack searchers to figure out that you could easily detect which packs had magnets in them by simply taking a small strong magnet and touching it to the back of the pack.  If the magnet stuck to the pack, there was a magnetic chase card inside.  If the magnet slid off, then you knew that there was not a magnet in the pack.

In addition to using a magnet to detect the magnetic cards, it was also discovered that you could feel the die-cut of the magnet by simply rubbing your fingers over the surface of the back of the pack.  With these two methods, it was very easy to find the magnets in unopened packs.

Another aspect of this second method of feeling for the die-cut of the magnet is that it was possible to figure out exactly which magnet title was in the pack!  That is because the shape of the die-cut for each title is unique.  The method for doing this is to do something similar to a gravestone rubbing of the back of the pack.  All you need is a piece of paper and a lead pencil.  You lay the piece of paper over the back of the pack and then rub the pencil lead, at a shallow angle, gently against the back of the pack.  As you rub the pencil, the shape of the magnet’s diecut becomes visible in the rubbing.  Then it is a matter of determining which title the diecut shape belongs to.  Some of them are easy such as Glutton, Cram, and Ratz because their diecut shapes are unique.  Some of the others have very similar diecuts such as Ajerx, Quacker Oats, and Hawaiian Punks making it more difficult to determine.  But each one truly does have a unique shape that can be determined by looking closely at the height, width, and subtle variations in the corners of the shape.


 
Giving "The Hobby" the finger since 1999!

Offline JailOJohn

  • Posts: 794
  • Sticking Wackys on Furniture since 1973...
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #20 on: January 12, 2025, 06:37:56 AM »
But surprise spoilers aside, the magnets were cooler than the clings or tatoos. I have also made my own magnets using Flashback stickers and a sheet of magnetic paper. They are more substantial and keep me from getting in trouble for sticking Wackys all over the refrigerator…

Offline FourRoses

  • Posts: 732
Re: Printing plates
« Reply #21 on: January 16, 2025, 08:17:20 AM »
Just curious…how heavy did the metal plates make the packs feel? Couldnt store gropers have detected the plates and bought those packs?

Good question. When I opened mine, not knowing plates were a possible inclusion, the pack felt like it had a few extra cards in it not to mention it was quite stiff. It just felt off.

 

anything