The 1982 Omaha Sports Collectors Show With Bob Feller And Warren Spahn

The 1982 Omaha Sports Collectors Show, co-sponsored by Coors and held in parallel with the College World Series, featured Bob Feller and Warren Spahn, who signed autos for $1!

A destination card show with a relevant sponsor featuring some incredible sets on exhibit from William McAvoy (N28, T205, T-3 Cabines, and 1933 Goudey) and two incredible signers. Sign me up.

On card autos weren’t as big a thing back in ’82, but in concert with the advertisement, here are signed copies of each of their 1953 Topps baseball cards that I found on eBay.

PS, this ad was in the May 1982 edition of Trader Speaks; how incredible is the cover?

1939-66 Exhibit Supply Company Archive Of Original Baseball Photos

This lot of 342 Exhibit Supply Company photos is a genuine piece of hobby history. It was originally purchased at the time of ESCO’s liquidation in 1979 upon the owner’s retirement. Mastro offered it in their April 2003 Sports Premier Catalog Auction.

I can’t get a clean scan of the lot’s description because the catalog is so thick, so I’ve re-typed it:

Presented is the absolutely unique hoard of 342 original photographs and artist’s proof pieces that were used to construct Exhibit Supply Company’s baseball-themed arcade cards from 1939 to 1966. The importance of these images cannot be overstated. They were the foundations for some of the hobby’s most cherished collectibles, and every illustration is a one-of-a-kind origin item behind the production of an industry favorite. The long span of years covered allows a flight of fancy through the game from its early 20th Century Hall of Famers to the more recent superstars we watched in action during the 1950’s and 1960’s. This is an unbelievably compelling assembly of material! Many of the stars are presented in multiple poses (since they appeared in more than one Exhibit set) and the array of talent included is simply incredible. The original images for the much sought-after Exhibit “team” cards are here also. A tiny sampling of the players represented, mentioning just a fraction of the stars included, reveals: Hank Aaron, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Ernie Banks, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Mickey Cochrane, Ty Cobb, Dizzy Dean, Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio, Johnny Evers, “Jimmy” Foxx, Frankie Frisch, Lou Gehrig, Henry Greenberg, Carl Hubbell, Walter Johnson, Connie Mack, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Christy Mathewson, Willie Mays, Joe Medwick, Mel Ott, Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Warren Spahn, Tris Speaker, Joe Tinker, Rube Waddell, Honus Wagner, Ted Williams (including ‘number 9 showing’), Cy Young, 1949 Yankees, 1950 Yankees, 1951 Yankees and many, many others. (Only space constraints prevent the listing of dozens more from this mind-boggling roster of baseball giants.) These photographs are b/w glossies of 8” x 10” or smaller dimensions, or have been fashing as “paste-up” grafted likenesses. Almost all have artist’s or editor’s working specification notes attached. A number of the images are actual “wire photos,” with news service attributions stamped on the reverse sides, and most of them display an enhanced definition of appearance that made them suitable for quality reproduction on cards. Overall condition is EX to EX/MT. This breathtaking archive was purchased at the time of Exhibit Supply Company’s liquidation in 1979 (upon the owner’s retirement), and has been preserved in full, intact form. An LOA, from the industry veteran who obtained the items directly from Exhibit Supply Company, accompanies. This amazing assembly includes an unbelievable wealth of key rarities and stars, and offers phenomenal “break” value!

The minimum bid was $2,500. If anyone knows the final price, let me know in the comments.

1971 Topps Baseball Wax Box Of 24 GAI-Graded Packs

I love the Carpet o’ Wax Pack concept; here are twenty-four graded 1971 Topps baseball packs, each with a coin insert, that Mastro auctioned off as a single lot back in December 2005.

The twenty-four 10-cent packs came with this ~Ex condition wax box. The pack’s grades were as follows: Two were NM-MT 8, 17 were NM+ 7.5, four were NM 7s, and one was an EX-MT+ 6.5.

Packs are pricey these days; BBCE Auctions sold this PSA-8 graded 1971 Topps Baseball 1st Series Wax Pack for $6666.66 in April 2024.

In the same auction, BBCE sold this 2nd Series pack for $3033.81.

1952 Bowman Uncut Sheet Including Mickey Mantle

Here’s a cool one from my hobby library auction catalog archives: a 1952 Bowman Uncut Production Sheet with Mickey Mantle (cards 73 through 108).

Mastro offered this one in their “Fine Sports Auctions” November 2000 catalog. It was described as a complete 36-card final production sheet. The sheet’s corners all showed wear consistent with a Very Good card, and a fairly heavy crease runs across the second row from the bottom, along with a few shorter creases and some wrinkling.

I don’t know what it sold for, but the minimum bid was $5k.

REA re-sold the sheet (you can tell from the crease on the Billy Hitchcock card – 2nd from the right on the bottom row) in their 2020 Spring catalog for $45,600.

1969 Topps Reverse Artwork Uncut Sheet With Clemente

This 11 1/2’’ x 13 1/2’’ piece of original artwork originates from Guernsey’s Topps Auction of 1989 and features 12 drawings, including the one used on Roberto Clemente’s card 50.

The sheet’s 12 different drawings represent the cartoons and pieces of trivia used on the back of the following player’s cards: Davenport, LeMaster, Aguirre, Pappas, Taylor, Clemente, Barton, Versalles, McBean, Alou, Carroll, and Glass.

The auction featuring this item in December 2001 highlighted that the card number had been penned on the artwork and that a Topps Auction stamp was on the otherwise blank reverse.

Here’s the back of Clemente’s 1969 Topps card featuring the final cartoon and trivia.

ACU-Card – America’s First Independent Sports Card Grading Service

I scanned this ad for ACU-Card from the Spring 1990 issue (Edition 2) of Topps Magazine

Frankly, dozens of third-party authenticators have come and gone. You can see a great list of them here on the Collectors forums. What I’m more interested in is where that 1952 Topps Mantle card is today (by the way, there’s no way it’s real).

I’ve read that a coin dealer named Alan Hager started the company. Many collectors have shared that he wasn’t really a high-integrity character. But If you want to add a piece of hobby history to your collection, you can still find a bunch of ACU-Card slabs on eBay.

15 1953 Topps Baseball 5 Cent Packs

Mastro offered these fifteen 1953 Topps Unopened Five-Cent Wax Packs in his April 2004 auction, which included the OPC archives.

Global Authentication graded and encapsulated all the packs, and the breakdown was as follows: GAI EX+ 5.5: 7 packs; GAI EX 5: 8 packs.

I don’t know what the lot sold for, but there was a separate lot with just a single pack, and it sold for ~$12k.

And in case you were curious, here’s what a 1953 Topps 24-count 5-cent wax book looks like.