[shierydana]

Hi everyone,

I ripped several packs from this set, and have a few questions.

1) are the retro cards the ones with the blue border/back?
2) how can I tell the difference between the gold cards and the metal/metal X cards (and what is the difference between metal and metal X)?

I'm slowly adding the cards from these pack to my org for trading.

Thanks!

Dana

[stastny26avs]

There used to be a great thread on the differences but I could not locate it with a quick search. I didn't look real good though.

Yes, the retro's are the blue bordered ones, they look like 1979-80 OPC.

Gold give off somewhat of a shine and the pic is "level" looking with the background.

Metals are a tad dark looking, kind of silverish shine. Pic of the player appears "raised" from the background.

Metal X are more Chrome Refractor looking and have like a tire tread looking appearance or "mountain tops" people called them.

Hope this helps some, these were very difficult when first released!

[nemesis77777]

I had trouble with this too. Pretty much whats been said - the Metal X's shine is like rainbowy, if that makes sense.

[mswatson]

I've been working on this set since they came out, and it's pretty easy to tell them apart when you know what to look for.

Retro - blue border on front, back has information contained within a frame that looks like a skate.

Gold - a refractor type. Look at the OPC logo on the front of the card. If it's got a white border, it's a gold card. If you can't tell if it's white, it's not, the white is as white as printer paper. Card will be perfectly flat.

Metal - a bit thicker card, often with a slight curve to the card, actually feels a bit like it has a metal coating. Reflective but not refractive, and the OPC logo border is silver (mirror finish).

Metal-X - like the Metal card, but refractive. May or may not have the "mountain peaks" background that Stastny26avs mentions above - if they are there, it's a definite give-away for a Metal-X, if not, check the logo, a refractor card with an OPC logo bordered in silver (mirror) is a Metal-X.

The most common mistake I see is calling an update Metal-X a Gold. The update Golds (numbered 601-800) were inserted 1/hobby box, and are considerably more difficult to come by. I'm still looking for about 95 of them...

[Optimus_Prime]

[hckydv7]

Gold is what they would call Rainbow parallels in later years--- is a paper card.
The Metal ones are just chrome cards-- printed by the same company that prints the Topps Chrome products.

[shierydana]

Wow. Thanks, guys! This helps tremendously!!!

[wickabee]

A big helper is the "O-Pee-Chee" logo itself. The white bordered logo is Gold, the metallic bordered logo is Metal, and the Metal with Xes/Diamond pattern is Metal X.