Thursday, January 29, 2009

1979 Fleer NFL Team Action Sticker Puzzle Uncut Sheet

To show what the 1979 puzzle on the back of the Fleer Team Action stickers looks like, its hard to beat an uncut sheet:


(Thanks to Fleer Sticker Project contributor Steve for this picture as well as the next one that follows)

Here is a look at the other side with the stickers:


As this uncut puzzle sheet occasionally comes up for auction, I have seen it with other stickers on the back as well:



I'm not sure how many of these puzzles would constitute a full uncut sheet. Given that these 3 partial sheets comprise 49 out of the 65 possible stickers, I'm guessing that there would be one more partial sheet with the remaining 16 stickers, so perhaps a full uncut sheet consisted of 4 complete puzzles.

In taking a look at the 16 remaining stickers that are not represented in the pictures above, a pattern appears. 9 of the remaining stickers have yellow borders (Colts Helmet, Browns Helmet, Broncos Helmet, Rams Helmet, Vikings Helmet, Saints Helmet, Giants Helmet, Raiders Helmet, and Seahawks Helmet) and 6 have green borders (Bengals Helmet, Eagles Helmet, Steelers Helmet, Chargers Helmet, 49ers Helmet, Buccaneers Helmet). This pattern matches the sheet directly above with the first 3 columns having 9 yellow and 6 green bordered stickers which then repeat themselves as you go across the sheet.

The one sticker unaccounted for is the blue bordered Falcons Helmet. Perhaps the sheet that I have not yet found a picture of has one column that has 2 blue bordered stickers, one of which is the Falcons, and another which is simply an extra printing of one of the other blue bordered stickers.

One of the interesting things about looking at these sheets is that they help explain why there are the 9 less common blue border variations. The 9 blue border variations are the Falcons helmet, Colts helmet, Bears helmet, Rams logo, Patriots helmet, Jets logo, Raiders logo, Eagles helmet, Steelers logo.

As you can see in the first sheet, the blue bordered Jets, Rams, Raiders and Steelers only appear once while the other stickers on the sheet appear 2 or 3 times. The same is true on the next sheet, where the Colts, Eagles, Bears, and Patriots only appear once.

I've always wondered why those blue border variations were harder to track down, and now its clear why.

The other thing that this helps explain is why most stickers can be found with a couple of different puzzle back variations. Since most of the stickers are repeated 2 or 3 times times on these sheets, we can see why a given sticker may have 2 or 3 different puzzle back variations.

Just like we saw with the 1979 Fleer Grand Slam Baseball Sticker Uncut Puzzle

it appears that Fleer either made these available at some point (since they show up for auction from time to time and are both from 1979), or some one from Fleer or the company that did the printing for Fleer had some of these puzzles cut from the sheets and over time they have made their way into the hobby.

Regardless of how they've come about, its nice to have uncut versions of these 1979 puzzles. Now if I could only find some 1978 uncut puzzles....

5 comments:

Unknown said...

does anyone know what the 1979 seattle seahawks logo sticker looks like?
or better yet, does anyone have one for sale?
thanks!

michaelnelson said...

The Seahawks helmet and logo stickers look the same except one has a yellow border and the other has a red border. The image of both is their helmet.

michaelnelson said...

Through collecting and researching, I believe I have been able to figure out what the Master set of 1978 and 1979 stickers is comprised of. I believe both total 170 in number of different front and back variations. I also believe that 6 1979 uncut sheets were produced since I have found 6 different sticker fronts per puzzle piece of the left border (as looking at the puzzle). The other 7 columns have just 4 different sticker fronts. Five 1978 uncut sheet were produced. Both the left and right border have 5 different sticker fronts per puzzle piece. The middle 6 columns have just 4 different sticker fronts per puzzle piece. Can anyone confirm or deny? LOL! I have about 90% of each year completed.

Anonymous said...

Being Steelers through & through, I've always wondered if working this set for the puzzle to display, would be an endless pursuit. All of the variations and now seeing the stickers repeating themselves on the sheets.. I've got both more hope & discouragement. I could try to follow an uncut sheet and match the backs shown best I'm able. Anyone care to venture a guess at success possibility?

michaelnelson said...

The puzzle only consists of 40 puzzle pieces, which should be fairly easy to complete. Up until recently, I had several 1979 and 1978 complete master sets, consisting of 170 stickers each. Now, down to 2 1978 master sets, for sale on eBay.