1980-81 Topps Hockey Forum

Just wondering for collectors for this set does it matter to you if the card is scratched off or not?

For this set it matters to me. Mine is all unscratched. With that said, I have debated on whether to get another set that is scratched. Could almost see the pairs paged next to each other. Not a priority though....

I personally think it matters, I do not own many and inputing them now so trying to decide how to add since 6 are scratched, Wait a second those that are scratched are OPC. Oh well. Since they will be trade bait I wanted to make sure.

It matters. Non-scratched cards have theorically a higher value and often sell for higher price. I have a similar situation with 1992 Topps Match The Stat game cards. I searched the best way to deal with that and I finally listed them all as "VG - Scratched", but IHMO scratched / non-scratched cards can also somewhat parallel versions in the database.

In this particular set's case, the "scratched" versions reveal the player's name.  Their name is not printed on the back, so without a checklist, it can be difficult to know who's card you're holding - if you don't recognize their face or jersey number.

Unless you use the card number and a checklist :)

Most collectors seem to prefer the unscratched version. I don't really care, and the one I got a duplicate of was luckily one scratched/one nonscratched so I kept both. 

Not sure what Topps was doing but their 1980-81 set in both hockey and basketball are the most annoying sets they ever did.

The OPC set for this year was never covered, only the Topps set.  I prefer to have them covered vs scratched.

I would prefer unscratched as a collector. I believe I read once where a scratched card cannot be labeled/listed/graded as Near Mint - Mint do to the fact that it has be scratched. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Thanks!

Mike

I have left my Kings from this set unscratched.  I wrote the player's name on a card sleeve with the card enclosed.  This helps me with identfying the player's name.