I have a question for O-Pee-Chee experts. I'm wondering in how sheets were laid out for OPC cards when they were cut in the factor. For example, I read this article [http://www.seanet.com/~brucemo/card_articles/86f.htm] on 86-87 Fleer basketball, where the author argues that all of the cards for that set which were on the right-hand side of the sheet were damaged in the factory, which in turn causes prices for high-grade copies of the cards to be tremendous. Take a few minutes to read the article, it's interesting.
I'm just wondering in what order OPC cards were laid out in factory sheets. Was it different for every set? Was it the same for all the 396 sets, and different for the ones with a lesser count? Was there a particular side of the sheets that saw more damage? Does anyone know anything about this, regarding not just OPC, but also Parkhurst?
Jeremy,
I had this conversation with the past OPC owner and paraphrasing his response to me.... there was no rhyme or reason to the positioning of
the cards, just as long as they all got on the sheet.
One could assume that the side where employees came in contact with the sheet to load it into the slitter or cutting machine would have the most chance for damage. Even after they were cut and put in these boxes to be loaded for making packs, you can see how much damage could be had from these few different processes.
OPC cuts are another thing to contend with because the blades were often dull and not sharpened regularly, plus the machine that advanced and packaged the cards would put those little gripper marks in the sides as you can see the metal conveyor belt, yikes!
Is there anyway we can find out the sheet layout for sets from specific years? Is it just simply coming across an uncut sheet? Or are the cards laid out in any order on every sheet, even from the same set?
Very interesting to see the machinery used and also the 69-70 sheets. Thanks Jeremy and Dan!
A question I've had for years- Some series 2 69-70 opc and some 70-71 opc have clean edges, usually accompanied with a blueish green tinge. These cards are usually described as "vending" by those who sell them, but even if they are vending, they couldn't have been cut with the same machinery as the cards that exhibit the rough edges we all know and love.
Was part of the print run cut in a different facility? Were these cards not cut in the years they were produced? It seems the next time smooth edges appeared was in 73-74, in which sellers also describe smooth edged, usually light backed cards, as "vending".
Any theories out there or hard facts??
This message has been edited by frozencaribou on Oct 11, 2007 5:59 PM This message has been edited by frozencaribou on Oct 11, 2007 5:58 PM
