Topps Test

Incredible Auction History – A Lot For Mickey Mantle’s 1967 Topps Stand-Ups Regular and Proof Cards

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The 1967 Topps Stand-Ups are one of the scarcest Topps test issues, though Topps likely intended them as a 1968 release. Anyway, I ran across a December 2004 auction that featured both the Mickey Mantle proof and die-cut versions!

First, here’s what The Standard Catalog has to say about the set:

Never actually issued, no more than a handful of each of these rare test issues have made their way into the hobby market. Designed so that the color photo of the player’s head could be popped out of the black background and placed into a punch-out base to create a stand-up display, examples of these 3-1/8” x 5-1/4” cards can be found either on thick stock, die-cut around the portrait and with a die-cut stand, or as thin-stock proofs without the die-cutting. Blank-backed, there are 24 cards in the set, numbered on the front at bottom left.

In 2010, they priced the thick stock, die-cut set at $75k, and the thin stock, proof set at $60k. As for the dating, SABR has a great article explaining the likely intended release of 1968. Mantle is the set’s key player, followed by Clemente, Mays, and Aaron.

I’ve only found one other sale of a Mantle Stand-Up card when, in April 2005, Memory Lane Inc. sold the following GAI-8.5 graded die-cut example for just under $10k.

For SA, PSA has a single example of each Mantle variation in their Pop Report.

And since I run The Unopened Archive, here’s the lone wrapper example: Lelands sold it for $3k in November 2008.

TCDB includes this photo of what’s likely the only display box; the same one, I believe is shared in the article Standing Tall on The Topps Archives who shared a few more unopened items from the set in a piece called Yaz Sir!

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!

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!