I’ll never forget getting my first pack of 1985 Garbage Pail Kids Series 1 stickers. These weren’t your typical non-sports cards (or stickers). I primarily collected baseball cards as a kid, but one day I ventured out into this non-sports collection of stickers.
I was only about eight or nine years old and my parents were taking me and my brother on a camping trip. The drive was a few hours, so they made a pit stop to let my brother and I get something to keep us entertained for the drive. We went in the store, and there it was; a pack of 1985 Garbage Pail Kids Series 1 was just staring back at me. It was egging me on to buy them. I grabbed it and my younger brother now decided he had to have a pack too! So we got them and off we went.
It wasn’t until we had actually set camp when my mother took a look at them in disgust. She then asked my father why he would let us get something like that (which of course, he had no idea what we were getting). She pushed us to get rid of them, but we convinced her that we would be really good if she let us keep them (We got to keep them).
A couple days later, we took a drive into town and my brother and I convinced our parents to let us get a few more packs. We reminded them how good we’ve been, of course. Our collection of GPK stickers was now growing. That night my brother and I traded stickers, where we each got rid of our duplicates and had better individual sets.
That first 1985 Garbage Pail Kids Series 1 pack was my first venture into non-sports collecting, and I’ve never looked back.
About 1985 GPK Series 1 Stickers
In 1985, Topps would release the first of many GPK series to come. It was created as a spoof on the incredibly popular Cabbage Patch Dolls at the time.
The front of each card would have a disgusting Cabbage Patch look-alike commonly doing something gross. Each one had an equally disgusting (but creative) name for the character at the bottom of the sticker. In fact, each character had two names, in which they were released as an “A” set and a “B” set. In the corner, you would find the sticker number with an “a” or “b” after it.
The back of each card had some crude and wise-ass certificates that kids could put their names on. There were also three variations on the back for cards 5, 8, and 29. The variation would be a checklist of the set.
There were a total of 88 sticker cards in the set. There were 41 “A” stickers and 41 “B” stickers. As mentioned before, there were also the three variations for each of the “A” and “B” sets. The set came in both glossy and matte finishes, with the gloss finishes being less common. If you were to collect a set without the checklist variations, the set would only be 82 stickers. If you were to collect an entire set with variations, including both glossy and matte finishes, you would have a 176 sticker set.
GPK Controversy
For the times, many found these to be grotesque. Probably because they were, but that’s what kids loved about them.
They were banned by many schools, thrown out by parents, and Topps even received a law suit due to the close resemblance of Cabbage Patch Dolls.
1985 Garbage Pail Kids Series 1 Values
You’ll pay about $3-8 for ungraded singles. You’ll pay more for the key stickers from the set. We’ll talk more about this in a bit. To get your hands on a complete ungraded set in Excellent condition, you’ll probably end up paying anywhere from $350-450.
Professionally graded stickers in Mint or Gem Mint condition will go for more.
- PSA 9 (Mint): These will range from $10 to $125 depending on key stickers, population, finish, or availability.
- PSA 10 (Gem Mint): These will range from $100-450 depending on key stickers, population, finish or availability.
You could end up dropping quite a bit of money putting together an all 10 set.
There were also sister sets released in other countries, which are much more rare. Because of the rarity, these cards have gone for quite a bit more. However, there are other investors that just don’t find them to be worth it because of the lower volume of people interested.
Key Stickers of the GPK Set
These are the key stickers of the 1985 Garbage Pail Kids Series 1 set. I know some people may feel that I’ve left some out here, but there are so many stickers that are desired for different reasons. When I list keys, I list the most sought after cards or the ones with the lowest population. In this case, I listed the lowest population as well as the checklist variations.
To note, all the key stickers listed are of the glossy finish.
2a Junkfood John
5a Dead Ted
5b Jay Decay
6a Art Apart
8a Adam Bomb
8b Blasted Billy
13a Ashcan Andy
14a Potty Scotty
14v Jason Basin Error
17a Wacky Jackie
22b Stinky Stan
24b Nerdy Norm
27b Jenny Genius
28a Oozy Suzy
29a Bony Joanie
29b Thin Lynn
33a Mad Mike
34a Kim Kong
1985 Garbage Pail Kids Series 1 Checklist
Here is the 1985 Garbage Pail Kids Series 1 checklist. Included are the checklist variations.
| 1a Nasty Nick 2a Junkfood John 3a Up Chuck 4a Fryin’ Brian 5a Dead Ted 5a Dead Ted Checklist 6a Art Apart 7a Stormy Heather 8a Adam Bomb 8a Adam Bomb Checklist 9a Boozin’ Bruce 10a Tee-vee Stevie 11a Itchy Richie 12a Furry Fran 13a Ashcan Andy 14a Potty Scotty 15a Ailin’ Al 16a Weird Wendy 17a Wacky Jackie 18a Cranky Frankie 19a Corroded Carl 20a Swell Mell 21a Virus Iris 22a Junky Jeff 23a Druppy Dan 24a Nervous Rex 25a Creepy Carol 26a Slobby Robbie 27a Brainy Janie 28a Oozy Suzie 29a Bony Joanie 29a Bony Joanie Checklist 30a New Wave Dave 31a Run Down Rhoda 32a Frigid Bridget 33a Mad Mike 34a Kim Kong 35a Wrinkly Randy 36a Wrappin’ Ruth 37a Guillo Tina 38a Slimy Sam 39a Buggy Betty 40a Unstitched Mitch 41a Mean Gene | 1b Evil Eddie 2b Ray Decay 3b Heavin’ Steven 4b Electric Bill 5b Jay Decay 5b Jay Decay Checklist 6b Busted Bob 7b April Showers 8b Blasted Billy 8b Blasted Billy Checklist 9b Drunk Ken 10b Geeky Gary 11b Bugged Bert 12b Hairy Mary 13b Stacey Stacy 14b Jasin Basin 15b Mauled Paul 16b Haggy Maggie 17b Loony Lenny 18b Bad Brad 19b Crater Chris 20b Dressy Jesse 21b Sicky Vicky 22b Stinky Stan 23b Leaky Lou 24b Nerdy Norm 25b Scary Carrie 26b Fat Matt 27b Jenny Genius 28b Meltin’ Melissa 29b Thin Lynn 29b Thin Lynn Checklist 30b Graffiti Petey 31b Flat Pat 32b Chilly Millie 33b Savage Stuart 34b Anna Banana 35b Rockin’ Robert 36b Tommy Tomb 37b Cindy Lopper 38b Lizard Liz 39b Green Jean 40b Damaged Don 41b Joltin’ Joe |
Recommendations
If you’re interested in collecting 1985 Garbage Pail Kids Series 1 stickers for fun and want to keep your costs down, go with the matte finish. If you’re looking for a collectible investment, I would recommend focusing on the key cards primarily. If you want a complete set, get the glossy set.
Be sure to learn about some of the other GPK series available. Keep in mind that the higher the series, the less valuable they are. This is definitely the most valuable series available.
- Garbage Pail Kids Series 2
- Garbage Pail Kids Series 15
Here are some other sets from the 80’s that you might be interested in:
- 1983 Wrestling All Stars
- 1986 Carnation Major League Wrestling
If you’re looking to buy 1985 Garbage Pail Kids Series 1 stickers, check out eBay.
If you’re looking to sell 1985 Garbage Pail Kids Series 1 stickers, we are buyers for this set.