Butylated Hydroxytoluene

It's been a while, but I am still here and still going strong in the hobby. I have been more active on YouTube than on my blog, but want to get back into blogging because this is such an awesome community and I have known many of you for a decade or more.

I am also active on Twitter and participate regularly in a Sunday giveaway thread. I give away cards there and claim cards and other items. I have seen a few books being offered up lately and I recently claimed a couple of Topps wax wrappers.

The first one is from 1979. How cool is that? Love the yellow with the blue. Love the old school Topps logo. 

There are a couple different variations of the 1979 wrapper in regards to the offer on the back. Let's turn this sideways and get a better look.

Initially the 1978 copyright date through me off a little because this is a 1979 Topps wrapper. Maybe they produced this particular wrapper in 1978 in preparation for the 1979 Topps being sold early that year. Good for Topps on being working ahead back in the late 1970's.

We also get the ingredient list for the gum.

The offer is for all 26 Team Checklist Cards. 50 cents and 1 wrapper would get you all 26 cards, which seams like a pretty good deal. Too bad the offer expired on 12/31/79.

In the same Twitter, or I guess I should say, X, giveaway I got a 1980 Topps wrapper as well. Similar to the 1974 and 1976 designs, this 1980 wrapper would be the start of 11 years of very similar wrapper designs at least for the front of a regular wax pack. The major difference each year would just be the colors (typically they were blue, green or red) with wrappers after 1982 having the actual year on the front of the pack as well.

 I love the 25 cent price tag on the pack. I'm old and both of these packs are from before I was born, so they are super old. I was born in 1981, so just a year later, but still. I didn't start buying packs until 1988 I think and I want to say they were probably 40 cents each. I think by 1990 they were 50 cents each. I could be wrong. Let me know.

Okay. Let's rotate the wrapper and take a look at the information that would have been on the back.

By 1980 Topps was no longer working ahead as they have a 1980 copyright date as opposed to the 1979 pack that had a 1978 copyright date. Again, we get the ingredients for the gum, which includes "BHT (TO MAINTAIN FRESHNESS). So I had to look it up and BHT stands for Butylated Hydroxytoluene, which is an antioxidant so it does help foods stay fresher longer.

The offer on the back is again for the Team Checklist Cards. Still 50 cents and 1 wrapper. I am perplexed by the picture. Were the 26 Team Checklist Cards sent in sheets and you had to cut them out? If you were collecting at this time and know, please comment below to let me know. 

I have a nice Topps wrapper collection. I currently have 1974 - 1977, 1979 - 1983, and 1985 - 1991 so I am just missing 1978 and 1984. I'm just collecting one wrapper from each year and not focusing on getting all of the different variations. 

Do you collect wrappers?

If you happen to have an extra 1978 or 1984 Topps wax wrapper, let me know.