Hobby Library

1952 Parkhurst Hockey Set And Album

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As the hobby library guy, I love seeing vintage sets bundled together for sale with the albums manufacturers produced for them. The 1952 Parkhurst hockey album is a tremendous post-war example; Mastro offered this one with the complete set of 105 cards in May 2000.

Albums were available to collectors as a 25-cent mail-in offer on the back of the cards. Here’s an example from Tim Horton’s card #58 (photo from Robert Edward Auctions).

The album measures 9” x 11′ and includes 13 pages, each with slots for eight cards via corner mounts. While 13 times 8 is only 104, short of 105, there is a paste-in space for “My Favorite Hockey Star.” 

These days, empty albums can be found for a little over $100, while complete sets are $2.5k++.

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.

The December 1981 New York 1 Show Featuring Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider

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I ran across this advertisement for “The Largest Show Ever Held in New York” in the December 1981 issue of Trader Speaks.

Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider were probably decent draws to a show offering free admission! And they appeared on both days of the show.

I’m curious about which items made up the display of the hobby’s ten most valuable cards. If you know, drop a comment. By the way, many collectors used to order from Gelman’s catalogs. Unfortunately, I don’t have any of them in the Hobby Library to share yet.

The Worst Football Cards?

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The February 1993 issue of Baseball Cards feature called Readers’ Choice not only had a reader call (incorrectly, IMHO) the 1951 Bowman Paul Richards card the worst baseball card of all time, but it also featured this gem from Dan Tisdale about a pair of 1974 Topps football cards.

Here’s each card in full color. What do you think? Are these the worst football cards? Lineman didn’t get the love from Topps in the ’70s!

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!

1952 Bowman Baseball Original Artwork, Proofs, And Retouched Cards

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Today, a piece of Bowman history I learned from the Spring 1982 edition of Baseball Cards – The Complete Sports Collectors’ Magazine. The initial artwork of Willard Ramsdell for his 1952 Bowman card showcased him as a member of the Reds. However, a trade to the Cubs for Frank Hiller on January 3, 1952, prompted a retouching of the artwork before the set’s release.

In the Fall of 2014, Robert Edward Auctions sold the original artwork for $2700.

When I shared the cards on Twitter, Keith Olbermann added, “Same for Cliff Mapes. The first proof has him in a browns uniform. Second has him in Detroit (and it’s 1953 sized). Issued card has him with Detroit.” He also shared this photo.

1956 Topps Baseball Uncut Promotional Sheets

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I shared a pair of 1956 Topps baseball 110-card uncut sheets a little while ago. Well, according to an article and this photo from the Spring 1982 issue of Baseball Cards, Topps also used uncut sheets as store promotional items. Has anyone seen another photo/item like this one?

The article said, “The descriptive advertising poster was pasted in the center of the uncut sheet to hype the sale of ’56 cards.” The author also argued that although the ‘poster’ proclaimed everything in 1956 was the biggest, he contended that the cards were the same size, had similar stars, and were only second in series/set size.