Baseball Cards

1969 Topps Reverse Artwork Uncut Sheet With Clemente

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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.

Check out The Original Artwork Archive for more!

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

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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

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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.

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!

1935 R321 Goudey 4-in-1 Uncut Sheet of 6 cards

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An item you won’t see often, this one from Mastro’s December 2002 catalog, “a very scarce 6-1/2’’ x 7-3/4’’ final process uncut sheet that contains six 1935 Goudey cards on the front and a complete puzzle-back photo of Chuck Klein on the reverse.”

They wrote that the sheet was in VG condition with a tear near the upper left corner and a stain in the lower right.

The sheet features Dickey, Lazzeri, Ruffing, Vance, Traynor, and Ott.

The major auction houses have moved a few other R321 sheets over the years; Heritage sold this one with Foxx, Dean, and six other HoFers in November 2014 for $2868. 

Heritage also sold a panel with Babe Ruth and nine other HoFers in November 2014 for $4063.

And REA sold this twelve-card sheet (with the Detroit Tigers team on the back) for $8,812 in the spring of 2008.

Check out The Uncut Sheet Archive for more!

1953 Bowman Color #33 Pee Wee Reese PSA 10

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Collectors often describe the 1953 Bowman Color Pee Wee Reese as one of the prettiest cards ever made. And there’s just a single Gem Mt 10 in PSA’s Pop Report. I ran across it in a Mastro Fine Sports Auctions catalog from May 2000.

Would this card be a “10” today? Who knows? Judging the card’s condition from a small catalog photo is tough. But they wrote that the card has a very faint rough cut along the top and bottom edges and said the image is centered at 55/45.

1935 R321 Goudey Puzzle Series Window Sign

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Here’s an example of a 1935 R321 Goudey Puzzle Series window sign that was auctioned off in April 2003. The sign promoted the premiums collectors could redeem wrappers for.

The catalog described the sign as 9 1/2” x 11”, coming from the great Goudey find of the early 1970s. The sheet is blank-backed, printed on off-white stock, and described as being in near-mint condition despite the sheet’s original glue strips along the top and bottom edges and a single mailing fold at the center.

REA sold what looks like another example of the sign in April 2014 for $415.

They wrote, “The 1935 Goudey “4-in-1” card wrapper offered kids two types of premium redemption, both of which are clearly described here: The coupon portion of the wrappers could be saved and redeemed (through the mail) for an assortment of premiums, including membership to the Knot Hole League, a glove, a cap, or even a “Dizzy and Daffy baseball suit.” The remaining portion of the wrappers could be saved up for a photo, which could be obtained directly from the local storekeeper.”

Here are four different 1935 Goudey baseball wrappers (White & Small Serrated and no Lines, White & Serrated with Lines, Large Clear Lines & Large Clear No Lines) that Memory Lane Inc. sold in August 2017 for $565 so you can read the coupon details.

The Favorite Cards From The 1991 Topps Baseball Set By The Readers Of Topps Magazine

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I’ve shared this photo of “The Topps 10” 1991 Topps baseball cards before, and I’ll do it again because the photography in this set is top-notch; some say it’s the best of any Topps set ever.

I may not order them the same way the readers of Topps Magazine did since I think the image of Cecil Fielder barrelling toward Carlton Fisk is a true classic, but that’s ok.

In addition to these ten, you could argue for the inclusion of many others, like the Sandberg or Ripken record-breaker cards, any of the White Sox cards with the 1917 throwback uniforms, some of the great landscape shots like Shane Mack’s, or portraits like Mariano Duncan. And lastly, let’s remember this fellow, Chipper Jones!