Still Looking For Bench and Matlack 1975 Kellogg's Cards

 As I work on completing some sets, of course I need Mays, Clemente, Ryan, etc.  But in 1975 I need Bench and Matlack  Oh, I probably have at least five of each, but they are all cracked immensely.

As a Kellogg's card hoarder, I promise to give them a good home if you can find a way to trade them to me.

Since I am only attending the National on Sunday, I doubt that I will find these cards.

I don't mind cracked cards, but I do need some un-cracked ones for sets I am working on this year.

Do I have stuff to trade?  Yes.  Obviously nothing from my want list as seen on the right.  

Do you want a 1981 set?  How about 1980?  I could work those into a deal since I have extras of those.  

Do you collect basketball cards?  I've got lots of 2000-01 Fleer Ultra 1-200 sets that I don't want.  

Still Looking - Does Anyone in Dallas Know How I Can Find More of the Benanti Collection Xograph Cards?

 I see a few cards on COMC.com and sometimes on ebay that are from the Benanti Collection.  When Beckett graded them they were labeled as such.  I picked up a bunch of these when Beckett Auctions was working with the Benanti family to sell the items.

A Beckett employee let me know that the family had more items for sale, but they didn't continue with Beckett Auctions.  Has anyone seen more of these cards anywhere?

I liked that they offered cards that were one-of-a-king proof cards.  Here are a few that I own.

Here are the mainstream cards of the two proofs from above.  Since I have nothing better to do, I found that the signature location changed from the proof to the released card.  The change was an improvement for the Gehrig card, but I am not convinced that the Williams card is better with the change.

I assume that there are others that have changed, but I haven't seen that many of the proofs.

Opening a 1979 Kellogg's Factory Set - Someone Opened It Before I Did

 Another set that I bought recently that was not sealed.  So, I decided to look through it today.  Many of the cards were still connected, but most of them loosely.

Here is what I saw when pulling the cards out.  It was obvious that the cards were not disturbed much by whoever opened the set.  Sadly, the Parker and Carlton were both badly cracked.  The bright colors on the cards were nice to see.

I kept a few of them together because they were firmly connected.  Only the Bruce Sutter was cracked.

Add these nine cards to the list of those cracked in this set.  10 / 60 were cracked.  I was lucky with the 1978s, but this group of 10 included better players including two HOFers - Sutter and Carlton.

Besides having nice colors, the cards are quite flat.  

The Ups and Downs of Kellogg's Factory Sets - I Was So Close

If I get a factory set that is sealed I keep it that way.  If I get one that is opened, it is really just a set in the original wrapper and/or box.  I keep the original packaging, but there really is now way to call it a factory set.

I am trying to collect a factory set from each year.  I don't expect to be able to get any of them before 1976 since (a) I rarely see them and (b) the price would be well beyond what I'd be able to afford.  

A few weeks ago I picked up two sets that were being sold as opened sets.  I don't know if I've ever seen a 1975 Kellogg's set in the original wrapper, so I picked it up since the price led to little risk on my part.   A 1975 set in the original wrapper - no shipping box was included.  

Sure, I was hoping for a nice Nolan Ryan and Pete Rose, but I was more interested in getting nice cards of Johnny Bench and Jon Matlack since I cannot find them in nice condition.

The wrapper looked okay,  I am finally seeing a 1975 set in the wrapper.  

The cards were fairly flat by Kellogg's standards.  One two of the cards were connected enough to keep them that way.

Corners and backs were good.  The cards were the corrected versions, but the Catfish Hunter seemed to be the wrong version.

Ryan and Rose were fully cracked.  EVERY card was fully cracked, some of them with a good portion of the coating coming off.  If this were a cheaper set, it might be worth trying to just peal the coating off of each card - they'd probably look better that way.    

One positive - I at least got to see this set for the first time ever.  Just like the one-card packs, I never see this set available online.

The second set got me different results - a 1978 set.  I already have a  sealed set so checking out this one was a bit more fun and less disappointing.  Here is the wrapper.  

Most of the cards were connected, at least lightly.  This panel was fairly secure, so I kept it together but the Dent card is the only cracked one.  A few other pairs were connected enough to keep them as well.  The ones connected lightly I got to separate, which was something I never did as a kid since we never had the money to send away for the set.

The cards were fairly flat too.

Amazingly, none of the 13 cracked cards were Hall of Famers.  There are three pairs below that are connected and two of the cards are not cracked.

I will need to keep looking for sealed factory sets from 1970 - 1975.  That should keep me busy for another 20 years.

Unopened Kellogg's One Card Packs - Are 1971s the Best Ones?

 I just picked up a 1971 Kellogg's baseball card in its original wrapper.  A nice Tony Perez.  I haven't made a list of which ones I need to complete the set yet because I probably only have 12 of these cards.

Sorry, I didn't scan the Perez yet.  Here is a 1971 Football card in its original wrapper.

I've seen the 1971s for sale frequently, but they are usually out of my price range.  A quick check of ebay shows that there are more than a few dozen of the 1971s available now.  That is not the case with every year.

I don't see any 1975s available in the one-card pack.  I have probably only seen them listed a few times.  In fact I still own only one 1975 in the wrapper and I can't even remember who it is.

Does anyone ever see 1975s in the original packs?  More about factory sets from these two years next time.  

Another Canadian Kellogg's Item -- 1992 All-Stars

 I stumbled onto the 1992 Canadian version of these Kellogg's cards before finding their USA counterparts.  Since then, I've seen the USA version of the set more than any other Kellogg's cards of any kind.  

The USA version was included in Corn Flakes boxes and it states that on the cards and the display.  The Canadian version was tossed into Froster Flakes boxes and the display shown above reflects that.  

I would still never choose to buy Corn Flakes over Frosted Flakes unless the prize was really good in the Corn Flakes box.

School is Out But Learning More About Kellogg's Basketball Cards From Canada is Just Beginning

In the past I had gotten a Kellogg's basketball card from Canada.  Now I have the whole set of five.  The 1996 cards were produced by Kellogg's.  I rarely see them available online.  That doesn't mean that they are rare or valuable.  Since they are so cheap, maybe no one bothers to sell them online.

Here are the Toronto Raptors issued with this set -

1 - Wille Anderson

2 - Damon Stoudamire

3 - Alvin Robertson

4 - Tony Massenburg

5 - Tracy Murray

Most of these guys didn't have long stays in Toronto although all had long NBA careers.

Back to baseball next time with a few things I learned about factory sets.