The Archives Archives

With three years under their belt, I though it would be interesting to take a look at the Archives archives.  Let's look at all the different designs that Archives has used and compare them to the original.  I'm just going with cards in the base set, though other years were used in some of the inserts.

I've got them shown in chronological order according to the original design.

1954 - Used by Archives in 2012

 

The size of the Archives obviously won't match the size of the larger cards made through 1956.  The fonts for the name and team name don't match either.  And too bad Archives didn't use the original logo.

1971 - Used by Archives in 2012

 

The font for "Cubs" and the color are mismatched.  It looks like the name and position are a bit smaller, too.

1972 - Used by Archives in 2012

 

 The most glaring change is that the pink on the original is replaced by a bright red.  The stars on top are smaller and in a different position.  Finally the font size for the players' name is smaller, too.

1972 - Used by Archives in 2014

 

Most of this is pretty good except that all the Cubs cards in 1973 had the players' names in red and the team name in blue.  It never varied.  The Archives version has different colors for different Cubs.  Kyuji Fujikawa's card has the correct red and blue but not Ernie.

1982 - Used by Archives in 2012 and 2013

 

The Buckner cards give us the chance to compare an Archives with the original of the same player.  The design is pretty close, though the fonts on the original seem to be a little bolder.  Big change with the autograph.  Its a different signature in a different location.

1984 - Used by Archives in 2012 and 2013

 

The most glaring difference is with the color of the Cubs and players name.  They are a deeper purple on the original.  And again, the fonts for the player and position don't match.

1986 - Used by Archives in 2014

 

Why was the team name and position circle changed from red to blue?  That's a pretty significant design element to alter.  The black border on the top of the card comes down a bit lower on the Archives card.  No one have a ruler?

1989 - Used by Archives in 2014

 

This was probably the best job of matching up the design.

1990 - Used by Archives in 2012 and 2013

 

Fairly close match again, though the original has a slightly wider border.  Again, no one at Topps owns a ruler?