In the summer of 2006, Mastro had every pack from a 1968 Topps Football 1st Series Wax Box authenticated, graded, and slabbed by GAI.
The packs’ potential stars include Starr, Meredith, Namath, Sayers, Unitas, and Butkus. The grading breakdown was as follows: GAI Gem Mint 9.5: 1 pack; GAI Mint 9: 9 packs; GAI NM-MT+ 8.5: 9 packs; GAI NM-MT 8: 4 packs; GAI NM+ 7.5: 1 pack.
The lot also came with the empty display box, with the Pin-Up insert image of Johnny Unitas on its front panel, but I can’t get a good scan of it from the huge catalog, so here’s an example of a box that REA sold back in 2010.
Today, these boxes and packs are really pricey. REA sold a BBCE-authenticated wax box for $78k in the spring of 2022, and PSA-slabbed packs are selling for ~$1500 these days.
Topps began releasing unique baseball card sets in Venezuela in 1959, targeting the country’s strong baseball fan base. These sets, released in 1959, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1967, and 1968, closely resemble their American counterparts but can be challenging to differentiate. So, I thought I’d share the basics to help collectors identify them.
First, the consistent attribute across all years of Topps Venezuela baseball cards is that the card stock is darker, rougher, and less glossy than the American cards. Additionally, each set has a few unique characteristics, like copyright/trademark information, language, color, and size differences that I’ll cover below.
1959 Venezuelan Topps
1959 Venezuela (Left) and American (Right) #50 Topps Willie Mays – Fronts
1959 Venezuela (Left) and American (Right) #50 Topps Willie Mays – Backs
The unique thing about the 1959 set is that some cards have a Venezuela trademark; however, some don’t. That trademark that some cards have says, “Impreso En Venezuela Por Benco C.A.”
1959 Venezuelan Topps Trademark
1960 Venezuelan Topps
1960 Venezuela (Top) and American (Bottom) #10 Topps Ernie Banks – Backs
The 1960 Venezuelan Topps cards are the hardest to identify, so having the card in your hands is the best thing. But there is some information that can help with online sales. For the first series of cards, the Venezuelan ones are on gray paper stock, and the Topps are on white. For the second series, both are gray, so the best thing to look for is the gloss on the American cards and the matte finish of the Venezuelans. Also, I’ve read that the whole first series has a trademark, other than the three-team cards (but those Topps cards don’t have a trademark either). In the second series, 46 cards don’t have the trademark, and 42 cards do.
1962 Venezuelan Topps
1962 Venezuela (Top) and American (Bottom) #50 Topps Stan Musial – Backs
1962 Venezuelan Topps cards are pretty easy to identify, so long as you have a scan of the back because they are printed in Spanish.
1964 Venezuelan Topps
1964 Venezuela (Left) and American (Right) #216 Topps Mike de la Hoz – Backs
The 1964 Venezuelan Topps cards are easily distinguishable from the American versions because their backs are black, and the cards are usually cut a little smaller.
1966 Venezuelan Topps
1966 Venezuela (Left) and American (Right) #50 Topps Mickey Mantle – Backs
It can be tricky to identify without an American example nearby, but the biggest thing to notice about the 1966 Venezuelan Topps cards is that the back’s color is orange while the American cards are more pinkish. The Venezuelan cards can also be found cut slightly smaller.
1967 Venezuelan Topps
The 1967 Venezuelan Topps cards are also super easy to identify. There are three distinct groupings of cards in the 338-card run.
Cards 1-138 are Winter Leaguers.
1967 Venezuela Topps #92 Francisco Moscoso
Cards 139-188 are Retirado cards.
1967 Venezuela Topps #146 Ty Cobb
And cards 189-338 were active players (but the backs were totally different).
1967 Venezuela Topps #270 Pete Rose
1968 Venezuelan Topps
1968 Venezuela (Left) and American (Right) #144 Topps Joe Morgan – Backs
The 1968 Venezuelan Topps cars have a trademark on the back that reads, “Hecho en Venezuela – C.A. Litoven.” Since the printing was of a lower quality, sometimes the ink bled, so it can be hard to see the white lettering, and occasionally it’s not really there at all. The back is a different color too.
In conclusion, it’s important for those interested in collecting Venezuelan Topps cards to educate themselves on the card’s nuances to avoid misidentification. There are a lot of resources available, including a few experts who tend to hang out in a dedicated (private) Facebook group to help with this. While graded cards can be helpful, third-party graders have made some mistakes. Keep this in mind if you decide to tackle this tough hobby niche. Happy collecting!
Topps wasn’t going to acknowledge what led to them trying out some new things in their own magazine, but I think we all know the end of the Topps monopoly and competition from Donruss and Fleer drove the innovation.
Nevertheless, Pearlman’s article in Edition 9, The Winter 1992 release of Topps Magazine, provides a nice overview of some unique ’80s releases. In the comments, let me know which one’s your favorite.
PSA has only graded 71 Connie Mack Book Cards, so complete sets are ultra-scarce; this raw one was auctioned off in May 2000.
About the set, PSA writes, “The 1951 Connie Mack Book baseball card set, as the name implies, was issued in conjunction with the Hall of Fame manager’s book, “My 66 Years in the Big Leagues.” Consisting of only four cards – Connie Mack, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, and Rube Waddell – each piece measures 2-1/4″ by 3-1/2″ and was issued in a folder entitled “Four Mighty Heroes.” Each black-and-white card features a player photo against a white background and his name identified in print. The reverse has that athlete’s career statistics and an advertisement for Mack’s book. Not surprisingly, the value of Ruth’s card in Near Mint condition is almost twice that of the other three cards combined.”
Sports Collectors Daily reported that “the cards were packaged together in a folder likely sent to reviewers and others in hopes of garnering publicity.”
In May 2021, REA sold one of those folders and an SGC 1-graded Connie Mack card for $114; here are the front and back of the booklet.
Don’t let that sales price fool you; in the fall of 2022, REA also sold a PSA 9-graded Babe Ruth for $4800; hello icon prices!
On March 2, 1962, Chamberlain scored 100 points against the New York Knicks in Hershey, Penn. 4,126 tickers were originally sold for the game, and here’s one of the remaining stubs.
This example was offered in Mastro West’s March 2000 Fine Sports Auctions catalog with a minimum bid of $900. They described it as being in Ex to Mt condition with an inscription on the back: “Wilt Chamberland (sic) scored a record 100 pts against N.Y.”
The stub was accompanied by this newspaper article describing the game.
Surviving tickets are incredibly pricey and seem to be getting more expensive; REA sold this PSA 2 graded stub for $36k in the summer of 2023.
They sold this PSA 1.5 Mk’d example approximately a year earlier for $22.2k.
Heritage has also sold several stubs, including a PSA Authentic copy for $26.4 in February 2023, another PSA Authentic copy for $49.2k in February 2022, and a PSA 2 Mk copy for $49.2k in August 2022.
Here’s another morsel of card show history, this one from the April 1983 edition of Trader Speaks. It’s an advertisement for the St. Lous Cards Sports Collectors Club and their 8th annual spring sports collectors convention, held May 20-22, 1983, at the Cervantes Convention Center, four blocks from Busch Stadium.
I’d love to see that Lou Brock painting in color; if anyone knows what it is, please leave a comment. I’d also love to time travel back to some of these early ’80s card shows, meet some legends of the game, check out cards before grading, and see what was popular at the time.
This high-grade 1935 R331 National Chicle football complete set was offered for sale in Mastro’s August 2003 Sports Premier Catalog Auction and would rank in the Top 10 of the PSA Registry today.
The highlight was definitely the PSA 7 Bronko Nagurski. In the lot’s description, they wrote that the minimum bid of $3500 was only half of the SMR value of the Nagurski card alone at the time. That means, in 2003, a PSA 7 Nagurski was $7k. Well, REA sold this one for $105k in the summer of 2022.
