1983 Perma-Graphic Credit Cards Reggie Jackson

Let's finish off the phone card trilogy with this one!

 Set size: 36 cards, sized the same as a credit card - 2-1/8" x 3-3/8", printed on plastic material like credit cards.

Front Design: Two years from their first release, the design has changed greatly. The card is vertically oriented, with a color photo inside a gold border with a 1983 Super Star "plaque" beneath. A gold banner lists the player's name, team, position, and league. A white border surrounds the photo's frame.

Back Design: The backs are the same as the 1981 release, with the player's vitals, career statistics, and a highlights biography. Lacking from this card is a box at the bottom for player signatures, though at least on Jackson's card, the space remains. The biography of Jackson's card is slightly updated to reflect his accomplishments in the past two years. Reggie Jackson is card 27 in the set, and if you look closely in the bottom right corner, the last two digits of the card code represent the card number.

Parallels and Similars: A gold-tinted parallel, limited to 1000 sets, also exists.

Distribution: Cards were again produced in cooperation with Topps, and sold in complete set form.

Thoughts: The front design has become much more ornate, from a simple photo and text to this fancy plaque motif. The design itself isn't bad, but certainly feels like an early-80s Topps release. Despite the credit card material, size, and feel, they look like cards. It really wouldn't be until 1995 Studio's release that a card release looked like credit cards.

1981 Perma-Graphic Credit Cards Reggie Jackson

Set size: 32 cards, shaped, sized, and made of the same material (plastic) as credit cards.

Front Design: A color photo is on the left of the horizontal card, with the player's name, position, and team in the white space on the right. A black line border surrounds the photo and text on the otherwise white card.

Back Design: The backs are black-on-white, and are designed similar to a regular trading card. Vital stats, career statistics, and career highlights fill the back, except for an empty black-bordered box for autographs. The card number appears in the bottom-right corner - this is card number 7 in the set. Note the TCG copyright in the middle of the bottom line of text.

Parallels and Similars: Perma-Graphic issued a few sets in this style between 1981 and 1983, but this set has no parallels and can be distinguished by its design and the 125- prefix in the card number.

Distribution: Sets were sold for about $40 in 1981.

Thoughts: The design is quite plain, with the photo on the front of the card taking up a very small amount of space, and plenty of white space left around it. Future designs are more interesting. The company still exists, by the way, manufacturing similar (generally non-collectable) cards.