1979 and 1983 Color Variations

 I have a few sets in factory boxes that are not sealed, so I checked them out recently.  In general, I've seen 1983s with clean, white borders and others that are somewhat faded.  I figured that the issue was cards being left out on a shelf for years.  Now, I am not so sure.

Here are some photos from the set.  I am not the original owner, so I don't know enough about this one.

My first thought was that the cards were put back into the box at some point.  Maybe not, since many were still attached like the Stieb and Sutter cards.   Stieb has the nice, clean white coloring and Sutter doesn't. 

The next two photos show cards that are still attached, so not a lot was done with this set.

I separated them into the two different colors.  Maybe this explains why I have such a variety in the set.

Yes, I should have taken pictures of the backs.  Maybe I will add those later.

1979s

I've been aware of the two totally different colors used in the 1979 set.  There is a red team name on thinner card stock and a orange-like color on thicker card stock.  It looks like both were possible with factory sets.

Here are pictures two of the factory sets that I have that are not sealed.  The red set is on the left in all pictures.

Like the 1983s, the one version has clean, white borders.  That is the red version on the left.  The Kellogg's script is also more bold.  I don't think that the image below (from my camera, instead of scanned) reflects how much the orange set card is NOT clean and white.  It looks much dirtier in my hand.  As you can see, the entire photo just isn't as clear.

The back has similar issues.  It is much more blue and white with the red set on the left.  

I've read that they printed the factory sets in two different places, but I don't know anything else about this.  Other than going to find stories in old hobby magazines, I don't have a way to get answers from the source since Kellogg's isn't really in the card business.

Finally - I Am Updating a WantList - 1979 Kellogg's Unopened

 I picked up a few cards recently and the highlight was these two 1979 unopened packs.

The unopened packs that I see available least are as follows - 

1. 1975

2. 1979

Many of you probably assume 1971s would be the least likely to be seen.  That isn't the case, probably because anyone who has these 1971s puts them up for sale since they fetch a high price.  If there a people with Jack Clark and Terry Puhl packs from 1979, they probably have them buried in a junk box.

I am working on variations for all of the sets, which is why there two were needed.  I haven't checked for variations lately, but I still am looking for lots of 1971s and a few from other years.

Opening Some Damaged 1980 Kellogg's Card Packs - Are There Many Packs That are Not Damaged?

The 1979 and 1980 Kellogg's wrappers were flimsy and it shows with most of the packs that I've found.  The ones shown today are extreme examples, but most that I've seen have at least lots of discoloration.  Packs from 1970 - 1978 don't show similar discoloration frequently.  

The Mike Schmidt card and wrapper are quite different from the other ones.  The wrapper remained clean around the card, so the discoloration is obvious.  

The 1980 wrappers don't stay together well.  The two pieces of the Schmidt card just separated without me trying to open the pack.  I've seen that frequently.  

Since the wrapper was not compromised before it separated, the card is clean on both sides and has great color.

This George Brett card looks okay on the front after being opened this week (46 years later), but there is a stain on the left side of the card.  Otherwise, colors are nice.

The back of the card has lots of staining.  When the wrapper isn't sealed this is what happens.

The Pete Rose card is probably the most indicative of cards that I've opened.  It shows discoloration on the left side.  These cards were sitting upright in a monster box.  The left side of the card was facing upward and the seal was separated on the top.  

Here is a pack that is separating all the way around.  I might as well remove it from the wrapper since it is not intact at all.

Since I collect unopened packs, it is quite disappointing to not be able to find 1979 ad 1980 cards in clean packs.

Who Opened These Kellogg's Cards and Saved Them in the Wrapper? Great idea

I've had these packs for a long time.  All were opened by someone else.  I finally decided to write about them and how they survived.  Two of the packs (Blyleven, Sauer) were missing enough wrapper that the card was sticking out a bit.  The Griffey pack was opened on the right side but there also was a slice in the wrapper from top to bottom on the front.

The Griffey was as I expected.  The slice across the front also impacted the card, which is now cracked from that.  What impressed me about the others was the amazing color of the cards.  They really do jump out as being new, even though some are from 1970.

 

I would expect similar results from packs from 1970 - 1978.  Wrappers from 1979 and 1980 didn't seal all of the time, so I would not expect the results to be the same.  I might post some 1980 packs soon.

Finding Unopened Packs - The Struggle Continues with Kellogg's Baseball Cards

 

I am still looking for the following unopened packs.  I've resorted to selling duplicates so that maybe I can purchase a few of these.  Let me know if you have any of these.

1970-71 - many needs, not the focus now

1972 - Tom Seaver, Pete Rose, Bob Gibson, Willie Mays

1973 - Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver

1974 - many needed

1976 - Claudell Washington, Clay Carroll, Greg Luzinski, Rod Carew, Pete Rose, Ted Simmons

1977 - Lyman Bostock, Ron Cey, Mark FIdrych, Sixto Lezcano, Jerry Koosman

1979 - I need those in the first printing with the registered symbol in the scarf

--- Bruce Sutter, Ted Simmons, Ross Grimsley, Terry Puhl, Jack Clark

A few of these might be a challenge.  I do have a lot of extras to trade including an entire extra set of 1978 cards in their individual packages.

Some of my favorites.

How Do Grading Companies Evaluate Unopened Packs?

 I've been struggling to find unopened packs at affordable prices.  I accumulated a bunch of extras but since I haven't had any luck trading, I've decided to try to sell some of the extra ones on ebay and maybe buy a few that I need. 

So far, so good.  I picked up one 1971 Football unopened pack.  Of course, that is one set that I will not likely ever complete since every pack with cost more than $20.  

I plan to keep the cards in the wrappers, even if the wrappers are not perfect.  

Does anyone know what criteria are used to grade a pack?  Do they look at the card at all or just the pack - color, borders, etc.?

What would make it worth it to grade a pack?  I cannot imagine that there would be a lot of interest in a common player in the pack, even if it graded as a 10.  

With higher grading prices the last few years, will any of these cards get graded other than the big $ ones?

Where are the Unopened Kellogg's Packs Hiding?

 

Like everyone else my age, when I dug through the box I grabbed the card and ripped it out of the package.  Somehow, not everyone did so.

Once COVID hit, lots more cards came to market.  Collections hidden in basements for years were sorted and sold.  This didn't seem to help me with Kellogg's cards.  I haven't made a dent in my unopened cards in a long time.

1975 Unopened packs?  I have only three of them.  

I am still working on 1971 and 1979 master sets, but I haven't put much effort into that lately.  

I am working on upgraded some cracked cards, since I tend to see the same cards that are more likely to be cracked.  

2025 National Updates From Friday

 I spent about five hours at the show on Friday.  I am sure I missed items, but here are some things that I did see. I bought three cards including a 1975 Kellogg's Johnny Bench.

Many of the tables had display cases of cards only, so it was easy to pass by those after a quick look.  It was disappointing how few tables had oddball and other cards.  

Sets - I saw a graded 1971 Kellogg's baseball set for sale, no factory sets of any kind and a few curled sets.  

Packs - I saw two of the 1970 six-card packs, one with Bench on top.  Both were expensive and badly curled.

One-card packs - I saw three of these at one table.  The guy said he had sold one earlier.

Individual cards were around, but only a few had bulk.  Most of the stacks I saw were at tables with the standard high prices, so I didn't look closely at them.

There are Still Kellogg's Cards That I Haven't Seen - Here is Something

 

This showed up today.  Kellogg's distributed this basketball set of five cards in Canada during the 1995-96 season.  I have four of the cards in their individual packs.  This is the first time I've seen a pack that contains all five cards.  

I am not surprised about the pack with the entire set since the hockey packs with Lemieux and Hull were also distributed individually and as a set.  

Still Trying to Complete Unopened Kellogg's Sets

 

I haven't had too much luck with getting unopened Kellogg's cards since COVID either.  The Kellogg's cards shot up in price and the packs even more so.  I am not really working on the 1970-71 sets since those are out of reach.  Maybe when I get the other ones done I will look into this.

Card collectors will probably respond that the expensive ones will just get more expensive if I wait.  I get that, but I am not concerned about that since I am close to having all of the 1970-71 cards that have been opened.  I am mostly just looking for 1971 variations and 1970 shorter prints / stars at this point.

I have lots of extra unopened to trade.  Here are the ones that I need.

1972 - Seaver, Rose

1973 - Ryan, Seaver

1974 - I need more than half of the set

1976 - Washington (I can trade Gullett) Carroll, Luzinski, Carew, Simmons

1977 Bostock, Cey, Fidrych, Lezcano, Koosman

Surprisingly, I have all of the 1975s.  Since those never show up, I bought them as a set.  I probably have only gotten three or four 1975s unopened ever before buying the set.  They just don't seem to exist.

I also have some extra unopened 1994 Clementes and a few different Japanese Kellogg's cards from 2025-10 that I'd be willing to trade for packs that I need.

Impossible dream collection - I was trying to get a 1970 unopened pack with each player showing on the top.  When packs were under $50 I was getting some of these.

Denny's 3-D Cards

 It looks like Denny's issued cards from 1991-1997.   I didn't do a lot of research, but TCDB.com showed that.  I have some cards from some of the sets, but I don't know where they are.

I picked up a set of the 1996 cards because they are 3-D cards.  I will need to check which other ones are 3-D.  

The cards fronts and backs don't match well in my opinion.  The fronts look amazing.  They seem quite advanced for 1996. The back remind me of all of the over-produced cards from the 1990s.  Pinnacle produced these cards in 1996 and 1997 and the backs are quite a disappointment after seeing the front.

I will check out the player selection from other years in the future.  The 1996 player selection is quite good.  The 28-card set includes -

Greg Maddux, Cal Ripken Jr., Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Ryne Sandberg, Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs, Mark McGwire and more.  Eight of the top 13 home run hitters from 1995 are included, so the set doesn't have many pitchers.  Home run leaders not included were - Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Larry Walker, Jim Edmonds and Gary Gaetti. 

I am going to see what other years I might have.  If I like them I will try to get the sets.

These sets seem to be cheap, so they must be over-produced like other 1990s sets.

Still Collecting Kellogg's Cards - I've Not Been Getting Much Lately

I haven't learned too much new about Kellogg's cards in a long time.  To make things worse, I haven't purchased too much lately either since prices are high on the stuff that I want.

I am still struggling to finish my unopened sets from 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976 and 1977.   I did finish the 1979 set recently.  

I didn't get to the National this year.  I hope to have time to go next year since it is near my house.

I did pick up a few Roberto Clemente Leyendas cards from 1991.  I would be willing to trade them if I can get things from my wantlist.

I am not having much luck with the Japanese Kellogg's cards.  Is anyone finding these?

Has anyone seen more of the Benanti Collection, like the proof above, show up anywhere?

I would love to add more cereal boxes, but they are also a bit out of my price range.

It seems like the 1990s hockey set featuring Lemieux and Hull is easy to find.  I can still pick them up easily and affordably.

Sunday at the National - Kellogg's Cards

 I was only able to get to the National today even though it is 20 miles from my house.  Next year I will hope to get to the show during the last two days when it is five hours away from home.

I stayed 4 1/2 hours and this is what I saw.  Sure, I missed out on some good stuff since the show had been going on since Wednesday.

It seemed like many of the dealers who I see at the National, as well as at the other big Chicago shows, have the same Kellogg's cards as they had in the past.  

I picked up a partial set of 1976 Kellogg's cards.  It is only missing Carter and Bench.  As usual, I cannot get a Bench from 1975 or 1976.  Why did I buy this when I've already gotten a few of these.  Yes, the first step is admitting you have a problem.  

I rarely double-check my set needs before going to the show, but I did so today.  I needed the 1980 Carews because most of mine are discolored on the back, probably due to the wrappers separating into two pieces.  

I need the Munsons and Blyleven for sets.  I need the 1974 Palmer and 1977 Fingers as upgrades since I usually see these cards with major cracks.  

I couldn't resist some 1972 commons when they are $1.  1973 Pirates are difficult for me to find as well.  

The Babe Ruth card is cracked but the price was right and it is Babe Ruth.  

I don't need the Nolan Ryans, but I can hopefully use them to trade for the 1974 Ryans that I need.

I need the Bill Singer for my 1970 sets.  I didn't need a reason the buy the Santo card.

What else did I see/did I not see on Sunday?  

Sets

I saw a few 1970 Kellogg's baseball sets, with one being curled in plastic sheets.  I saw one 1971 football set and no other sets older than 1976.  

There were a few 1976-77 sets and a handful of them fro 1979-83.  I didn't notice any newer ones.  Prices were not cheap, which is why they were still available on Sunday.

Factory Sets

I saw some from 1979 and 1981.  Not many of them around either.  

Singles

I didn't find anyone who had lots of Kellogg's cards in their bargain boxes.  I also only looked at a limited number of those boxes.  I did see Kellogg's cards sprinkled around the show at more tables than usual.  That at least led to more conversations with dealers than I usually have.  That made the show fun for me.  

I hoped to find more cards that I needed for sets, but many of the biggest stars from each set (Mays, Clemente, Ryan, etc) were priced higher than I was willing to pay.  Not many of them were even around.

Miscellaneous

I saw no 1994 Clemente cards at all.  That doesn't seem odd, except when comparing it to the 1968 Topps 3-D card that I saw two of together.  FYI - the dealer had three of them and he sold one.   The same dealer had a few other of the 1968 3-D cards.  

I didn't see any advertising products or full cereal boxes.  One dealer had the nicest cards cut from boxes and the color was the best I'd ever seen for these cards.  

What did I miss on the other days?  Did I miss anything today?

Kellogg's Cards That are Graded and Cracked - Now What?

 I mentioned these cards before but I had more questions about them.  

Summary - I picked up a lot that contained 1975 Kellogg's, one of the most likely of their sets to have cracked cards.  These two PSA 10 cards are severely cracked.

Here are the questions.

1.  Do people just take these cards out of the case since they are not looking too good?

2.  If someone takes the card out of the case, do you notify the grading company that it has been removed from the case?

I wonder about this because I've read comments from people online about their Kellogg's cards cracking after being graded.  If someone has a PSA 10 of a 1975 Topps Bill North, they probably are never going to take it out of the case.  Maybe not true of the cards above.

There are many PSA-graded 1975 Topps with very low populations.  Could those numbers be even lower if many of them are now cracked and/or removed from the holder?

I haven't decided the fate of these two cards yet.

Kellogg's Cards From Japan - Do They Exist From 2009 - YES!!!!!!!

https://thiscardiscool.blogspot.com/2015/03/a-look-at-and-checklists-for-kelloggs.html 

I've been looking for any example of Kellogg's cards from Japan issued in 2009.  I have yet to see any.  I have some from each of the other years, but none from 2009.  Does anyone have any information about this set?

I see a listing on ebay for one, but it doesn't seem to be anything other than an SP Authentic card.  

I found them on ebay.  Search for Japanese cereal cards baseball.  I am not sure I will pay that much for them since they are from the back of the box.  If they had all six it might make my decision easier.  

Here are some pictures.  Five are available from the same person - Kosuke Fukudome was not listed.

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.