In July 2000, REA sold two 1973 Topps “1953 Reissue” Test Sets in their internet/telephone auction held in partnership with eBay. The cards are awesome, but I dislike that PSA calls them reprints on the flips; they’re a little more unique than a “reprint!”
I’m not sure if there’s been some more modern research into the cards, but here’s what my Standard Catalog says about them:
Long before Topps reprinted virtually the entire 1953 set in its “Archives” program in 1991, selected cards from the ’53 set had been reprinted in a rare eight-card issue. Some sources say the cards were produced as table favors at a Topps banquet, while at least one contemporary hobby periodical said they were sold on a test-issue basis in Brooklyn. It was said only 300 of the sets were made. Unlike the original cards in 2-5/8” x 3-3/4” format, the test issue cards are modern standard 2-1/2” x 3-1/2”. Three of the players in the issue were misidentified. Card backs feature a career summary written as through in 1953; the backs are formatted differently than original 1953 Topps cards and are printed in black-and-white.
Sounds like something more unique than a re-print to me!
Here’s a complete PSA-graded set that REA sold for $1,140 in the spring of 2018, the description for which hypothesized that the cards came out of Sy Berger’s personal collection of Topps banquet keepsakes, “lending credence to the Topps banquet theory.”
REA also sold the following uncut panel of the cards for $1,080 in the fall of 2018.
I’ll have to do more research on this set; it’s fantastic but still a bit mysterious! Let me know if you have more details.