1977 Star Wars, Topps Mexico. This set is notorious for poor condition, for several reasons. The first is that there were
only 2 cards in each pack, one touching the gum and the other touching the wax wrapper. The second is the gum itself. The
gum, in grape and banana flavors, destroyed the card it was touching if any moisture at all got to it. The third and worst
reason is that (several collectors have repeated this same story to me) the cards were made in Mexico and shipped to the U.S.
on a boat. The only boat with these cards on it, sunk at the docks. The cards were recovered, but a large percentage of them
were water damaged. A fourth reason, is that it was the custom in Mexico to paste trading cards in albums, and many were
later removed to sell to collectors - so you will find remnants of glue and paper stuck to the back of a lot of these (if
they aren't still mounted in scrapbooks or albums). Finally, the quality control was poor to begin with, so a higher number
of the cards than usual are off-centered, mis-cut, or out of focus. To top all of that off, the distribution of the cards was
horrible - many packs have two of the same card and many boxes have only a few cards repeated many times. The boxes themselves
were smaller than the U.S. boxes, since the packs only had 2 cards in them. I have heard that sportscard collectors have
an equally tough time with the 1977 Topps Mexico Football set.
On 5/17/08 I opened 25 packs, and pulled the (4) cards in the scan with the header card. The header card is the first I have
ever seen, so I suspect that they generally discarded these (assuming they were on the sheet with every set cut). I ended
up pulling one more later which I sold to another collector, so there are at least two of the header cards confirmed
to have been pulled from packs.
The PSA graded examples came almost exclusively from packs. I opened between 100 and 200 packs (at close to $10.00 per pack)
to get these. Also pictured is a set of all three wrapper types still on unopened Mexican packs, another set unfolded,
and the original box. The packs all contain two Star Wars series one cards (many times two of the same card) and a stick
of moldy, now-green gum. Thanks to Dennis McClintock, the wrappers say: "COULD GET GRAPE OR BANANA FLAVORED GUM" and "2
BRAIN TEASER PUZZLES". This is followed by information on the company, ingredients of the gum, and at the bottom it
says "BATTLE OF THE GALAXIES".
1977 Topps Mexico
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1977 Topps Mexico
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1977 Topps Mexico
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1977 Topps Mexico
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1977 Topps Mexico
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1977 Topps Mexico
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1977 Topps Mexico
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1977 Topps Mexico
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1977 Topps Mexico
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1977 Topps Mexico
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1977 Topps Mexico
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1977 Topps Mexico
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1977 Topps Mexico
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1977 Topps Mexico
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1977 Topps Mexico
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1977 Topps Mexico
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