John

Extremely Rare 1973 Topps Test Comics Complete Set

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How many complete 1973 Topps Test Comics complete sets do you think exist in the hobby? My guess is under a dozen. 

These nine were part of a complete set of 24 that Mastro Sports Auctions offered for sale in December 2004.

Sports Collectors Digest wrote an excellent and detailed overview of the set in an article titled 1973 Topps Comics “Test” Set an Unreleased Rarity. But PSA, who have only graded 191 total comics across the set, has this shorter profile on their site:

Unique among baseball collectibles, the 1973 Topps Comics set was designed as a “test issue” and is never known to havebeen distributed to the public. The item was originally designed to wrap around bubblegum pieces. These thin, wax paper pieces measure 3-7/16” x 4-5/8” and carry gum-wrapper graphics (with a Johnny Bench “teaser” design) on one side, and the featured-player “Comic” on the reverse, along with a facsimile signature. The 24-piece full set consists of Hank Aaron, Dick Allen, Johnny Bench, Steve Carlton, Nate Colbert, Willie Davis, Mike Epstein, Reggie Jackson, Harmon Killebrew, Mickey Lolich, Mike Marshall, Lee May, Willie McCovey, Bobby Murcer, Gaylord Perry, Lou Piniella, Brooks Robinson, Nolan Ryan, George Scott, Tom Seaver, Willie Stargell, Joe Torre, Billy Williams, and Carl Yastrzemski. The 1973 Topps Comics set is among the toughest of all Topps Test issues to achieve in complete set form and are rarely offered on the secondary market.

Here are a few historical set/near-set sales:

  • Heritage Auctions sold a complete PSA-graded set for $20,315 in May 2008.
  • REA sold a complete raw set for $17,625 in the Spring of 2010.
  • REA sold a PSA Set Registry collection of 23/24 comics twice: first for $7,800 in the Summer of 2019 and again for $13,200 in the Fall of 2023. 
  • REA sold a raw set of 23/24 comics for $9,600 in the Summer of 2022, which is perhaps the set this collector on the net54 boards had graded.

As for unopened gum packs, a dealer named SportsInvestments has this one for sale (August 2024) with an asking price of $7,500.

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!

1952 Topps Baseball High Numbers Advertising Insert

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The following rare 1952 Topps baseball high numbers two-color advertising promo was designed to be inserted in cases and later displayed at points of sale, but few have survived. This example is from the November 2000 Mastro Fine Sports Auction catalog.

At the time, they wrote that the 7” x 11-1/2” window display piece was one of two known survivors. Other than the two folds across the sheet, as issued, they described the piece as being in Near Mint Condition.

In 2017, REA sold the following example, which looks different from Mastro’s, for $13,200.

REA wrote, “Extremely rare 1952 Topps advertising poster features images of a large wax pack near the center and a smaller head-shot image of Jackie Robinson (same used on his actual 1952 Topps card) in the lower-left corner. The text printed in red reads “New Series… just out! Over 400 Players.” To the left of the wax pack are the names of five major stars from the high-number series listed with a red star in front each one of their respective names. Listed are Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Roy Campanella, Bobby Thomson, and Pee Wee Reese. Along the bottom next to the small image of Robinson the text reads “Listen To The Jackie Robinson Show Every Saturday 9:30 A. M. WNBC.” The poster, designed to be inserted into cases and later displayed in candy-stores, announced to the world that the new baseball set was finally available. This poster has a Near Mint appearance with two natural vertical fold lines (as issued). Because of their intended use, it is understandable that few of these point-of-sale advertising displays have survived. We have seen fewer than five examples of this rare Topps poster over the past thirty-five years. A superb and extremely rare poster, which would be an outstanding companion piece to any complete 1952 Topps set or addition to any world-class advertising collection. The poster measures 11-1/4 x 6-1/4 inches and has also been matted and framed to dimensions of 18-1/4 x 13 inches.”

REA resold the same piece for $21,600 in the spring of 2019.

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!

1948-1952 Exhibit Supply Co. Football Card Machine Front Advertising Display

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A little over a month ago, I published a piece about the Exhibit Supply Co. checklist cards. I highlighted slicks as being particularly important to this hobby niche. I then shared some vending machine header sign examples with slicks pasted on them.

Well, how cool is this display of 1948-1952 Exhibit Supply Co. football card machine-front advertising display pieces that was offered for sale back in December 2005?! 

The consigner arranged a group of seven different W468 football machine-front ads into a single, incredible, wood-framed, 32’’ x 43’’ display piece. The minimum bid in December 2005 was $300, but unfortunately, I don’t know what this lot sold for. The cards were all described as paper-thin (slicks) and adhered to the cardboard. And the upper-left example includes a super rare checklist printed on the image of Chuck Bednarik. There are just a handful of these checklist cards in the hobby. 

I also can’t say I’ve ever seen an Exhibit machine sign with yellow or green text either, AND the cards in the lower-left example appear to be attached (i.e., a partial uncut sheet of sorts)!

Here’s Mastro’s complete description:

The products of Chicago’s Exhibit Supply Company were designed to be sold in amusement parks and penny arcades. A lot of noisy excitement took place in those establishments, however, and a means was needed to divert customers toward the mute vending machines standing quietly ready to accept pennies and nickels in exchange for cards. The assembled layouts here offered were used on machine-fronts to draw attention and promote sales of Exhibit’s W468 football subjects, and the gridiron greatness depicted in this group of 7 different, very scarce pieces is astonishing in its scope. Featured among the placards’ depictions are key Hall of Famers, short-printed subjects, and the Exhibit collector’s most sought-after piece: the very rare Check List. Each layout consists of thin-paper Exhibit cardfronts adhered to cardboard or paper backings, with titles and graphics added; the layouts have been nicely arranged and matted within a wooden-framed surround (32″ x 43″ total dimensions). The items’ overall display quality is at least EX (some individual components are lesser), with most faults limited largely to fragile, once-exposed corners and surfaces. Includes: MACHINE-FRONT DISPLAYS (7) 12-1/2″ x 19″ panel 1) “Football Stars” display, 9 subjects w/ Young/Baugh/Lujack/Harder/Check List SP/Motley/Graham/Layne/Christman. (Check List SP with text overprinted on the image of Chuck Bednarik-is apparent EX/MT.) 8″ x 12-1/2″ panels 2) 3-subject, 2¢ display w/ McColl/Connor/Barwegan; 3) 3-subject, 1¢ display w/Morrison/Sitko/ Tripucka; 4) 3-subject, 1¢ display w/ Turner/Hirsch/Dudley; 5) 3-subject, 1¢ display w/ Mastrangelo SP/Wedemeyer SP/Coulter SP; 6) 3-subject, 1¢ display w/ Trippi/Motley/Schlinkman SP; 7) 3-subject, 1¢ display w/Ratterman/Younger/Conerly.

1953 Topps #244 Willie Mays Original Artwork

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In July, I shared the original artwork used for Whitey Ford’s 1953 Topps baseball card; today, the details for Willie Mays.

Again, the original full-color paintings of Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Bob Feller, Jackie Robinson, and Roy Campanella’s 1953 Topps baseball cards were first made available to the hobby in Guernsey’s Topps Auction in 1989.

Here’s the section’s description in the catalog and the details for the 3 1/2″ x 5″ VG conditioned 1953 Willie Mays original color artwork. It sold for $80k (+10% Buyers Premium).

I’m curious if the owner of the original artwork has managed to pick up a copy of the original news photograph that inspired the piece. REA sold this circa 1951 PSA/DNA Type 1 example for $16,800 in the Spring of 2020.

And finally, here’s a fantastic example of the 1953 Topps #244 Willie Mays card.

Check out The Original Artwork Archive for more!

1964 Topps Salesman’s Sample Featuring Mickey Mantle

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This 1964 Topps Salesman’s Sample Ad Card featuring Mickey Mantle was auctioned off in August 2006.

It’s encapsulated as “authentic” by PSA and was used to drum up interest and give a sneak preview to dealers and collectors for the 1964 Topps Baseball series. The triptych (a picture or carving in three panels side by side) measures 7-9/16” x 3-1/2” with Mickey Mantle, Jim Davenport, and Boog Powell on the front. While the auction didn’t include a photo of the back, they described it as having information about the prospective series’ special features and insert products and also had a Mantle card back as a design example.

Heritage resold the same item in December 2020 for $7,200; they wrote, “One of the fuels that drove the Topps machine was the salesman sample. They featured three cards but had Topps sales propaganda or a sticker selling the set on the reverse. For their 1964 effort, they wisely picked baseball’s best in HoFer Mickey Mantle to promote the upcoming 587-card series. Mantle is joined by fellow major leaguers Jim Davenport and Boog Powell but it is Mantle’s card used for the reverse example.”

If you own any salesman samples, I’d love to chat with you about them for my research.

The R326 Goudey Flip Movies Set

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Sotheby’s offered a set of 26 (plus the 2 DiMaggio variations) R326 Goudey Flip Movies booklets in its April 1994 auction, with an expected price of $3.5k—$4k; an aggressive ask since Tom Reid found a bunch of these in the late 80s, though this was the nicest copy.

They described the lot as a circa 1937 (today some folks say 1938, others 1937-1938) complete set of 26 plus the 2 “extremely rare” variations of Joe Dimaggio picturing brother Vince. They mentioned that Goudey mistakenly used Vince’s picture instead of Joe’s but quickly corrected it so few are seen around the hobby today. 

Each cover has a portrait and is either blue, black, or green. In the set, each player is represented twice in two parts. They also directly mentioned Tom Reid’s Find of thumb movies several years previously, but this was the finest set known to exist, mostly in mint condition.

I mentioned that the $3,500-$4,000 price range looked aggressive because Robert Edward Auctions re-sold what I think is the exact same set of Goudey flip movies in 2017 for just $1,560.

Here’s REA’s complete set description: 

Issued in 1937-1938 by Goudey Gum, and catalogued R326 in the ACC, this unusual set is printed as small booklets (2 x 3 inches) and was designed to be viewed as a flip book with each player featured in action either batting, throwing, or fielding. There are thirteen different players each produced in two booklets (part 1 and 2) to capture the whole in-action scene. The front cover of each booklet features a portrait image of the specific player and a brief biography of the player on the back cover. Offered is an exceptional high-grade and rarely offered complete 26-booklet set, plus two error variations (two Joe DiMaggio booklets picture an image of his brother Vince by mistake), for a total of twenty-eight booklets. This is the first complete set of this unusual issue that we have ever offered! Goudey selected the greatest stars of the day for inclusion in this unusual set. Rarely does a set have such a high concentration of major stars. More than half the players featured are members of the Hall of Fame (two booklets of each): Luke Appling, Joe DiMaggio, Bob Feller, Jimmy Foxx, Joe Medwick, Mel Ott, and Paul Waner. This is a tremendous set of R326 Goudey “Big League Baseball Movies,” clean and crisp across the board, and it should be stressed that all have an Excellent or better appearance. Most examples graded less than Ex have been downgraded due to very technical concerns, such as a very light crease or tiny tear. It is remarkable that the set has survived in such extraordinary condition. As made, five of the booklets do not have a staple binding it together. This is by far the finest set that we have ever seen, and it most likely originated from Tom Reid’s famous find of thumb movies back in the late 1980s. For years, this has been one of the most overlooked of all 1930s gum issues because grading companies simply did not have holders for this set, but that has very recently changed with the introduction of holders by Beckett that now allow for professional grading and encapsulation of this issue. This is an outstanding complete set (plus two variations) of this rare and condition-sensitive issue. Total: 28 booklets. Reserve $300. Estimate $1,000++.

The set’s price has crept up as the hobby has boomed over the past few years; I’ve seen one move for more than $3k in 2023. Also, I think if PSA or SGC started slabbing these, the set’s price would skyrocket. And, just because I used to have an unopened archive here on the site, here’s an R326 wrapper that Heritage sold for $90 in 2017.

1964 Philadelphia Football Cello Box

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Sotheby’s auctioned this 1964 Philadelphia Football cello box in 1993. It looks amazing in B&W with all the packs laid out. However, given BBCE wrapping/authentication, it’s unlikely to see a box displayed like this again!

Sotheby’s described the lot as a “full box of 36 ten cent packs, Cello packs have a printed blue, red and yellow wrapper, box is only good condition, packs are untampered with and mostly mint condition.” They expected a final price between $4,000 and $5,000.

While the black-and-white image is pretty nice, they’re actually super colorful, impressively designed, standout display pieces. Of course, they aren’t cheap anymore; Heritage sold this example first-year issue 1964 Philadelphia Football cello box for $32,400 in May 2000.

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!