Here’s the original flexichrome artwork for John Huarte’s 1965 Topps #117 Football card.
Ron Oser Enterprises offered it in their December 2000 auction catalog.
They described it as a “Very desirable 3 3/4” x 5 1/4” flexichrome artwork of Huarte’s Short Print rookie card #117 from Topps’ popular 1965 ‘over-sized’ issue. Beautiful condition, neatly affixed to a 7” x 11” black paper backing, accompanied by an example card (EXMT).”
Welcome to the Uncut Sheet Archive! This is the hub for all the articles I’ve written about uncut sheets, sorted by sport and set. My goal is for it to be the definitive source of uncut sheet information on the web, offering insights into distribution, production quirks, and the factors behind why some vintage cards were so condition-sensitive, even out of the pack!
If you have any rare sheets to share, shoot me an e-mail.
Here’s one of the scarcest non-sport collectibles in the hobby from the Walter Johnson Candy Company, a 1930s Dick Tracy R41 set wrapper.
In November 2000, Mastro offered this one along with a complete set of 144 cards. They dated it to 1934, but others, like TCDB, date the release to 1937. The Non-Sports Bible just calls it a 1930s set.
The auction description said, “The wrapper displays vividly, bright red and blue coloring printed on wax paper. It displays customary wear for such artifacts and grades as an eye-appealing Excellent.”
Naturally, the box is even tougher to track down; REA sold the following example for $1,560 in the summer of 2019.
Welcome to the relaunched Unopened Archive! It used to have pages with photos of packs, wrappers, boxes, and cases from all the big pre- and post-war releases. This 2.0 version is more of a hub for all my blog posts about different unopened material. Over time, I’ll bring back the old content and add way more—like info about fakes, finds, sales, collation, and all the known products out there.
Some of my most unique unopened writing is released via the paid tier of my newsletter, The Unopened Market Report, but if you’re looking for a particular unopened product photo, shoot me an e-mail.
T.S. O’Connell wrote an excellent article for Sports Cards Magazines’ April 1995 issue about World Series Cards; these were his Top 10. What do you think about the list?
My favorite thing about the hobby is interacting with other collectors and hobby historians and learning about new items. Well, on the morning of May 1st, 2023, a collector contacted me via e-mail after perusing the site with two photos of an empty box of cards I’d never seen before.
1964 Topps Baseball Gift Box
1964 Topps Baseball Gift Box Lid
He thought maybe they were issued around Christmas time in 1964 to sell leftover cards after the season had ended and asked if I knew anything about it. I searched some of my older books and came up empty-handed. He mentioned the box didn’t have any code on it, so I asked if he’d be ok with my sharing it on Facebook to see if anyone else could help.
On Facebook, a collector mentioned he had seen a reference to the box before and shared the following sell sheet.
1964 Topps Baseball Gift Box Sell Sheet
One collector on Facebook commented that the box on the sell sheet looks a lot like a carton of cigarettes! And another was pretty sure Topps only made this product in 64.
The box wasn’t really meant for Christmas; it’s a gift box for any occasion, “what better way to say ‘happy birthday’ or just ‘hello.’ The boxes came 24 per case for $14.40 or 60 cents a box. Each box had 20 5-cent packs (100 total cards), though given the gift theme, I don’t think they were meant to be sold by the pack.
A ton of collectors reached out to me asking if the owner was interested in selling the empty box, but he’s not. Given how much interest it garnered in such a short period, I presume bidding would be intense.
I’m unsure how you’d price such an item, though. However, one collector shared that there was one on eBay many years ago, and he thought it was for $500, or maybe $338, but acknowledged it would go for much more these days. Another collector thinks he saw one around 2004.
The owner later shared three more photos of the box with me.
1964 Topps Baseball Gift Box – Angle 1
1964 Topps Baseball Gift Box – Angle 2
1964 Topps Baseball Gift Box – Angle 3
An interesting thing about the box is that that’s not Whitey Ford’s 1964 Topps baseball card printed on it; it looks like a 1964 design, but with his 1963 Topps photo.
1964 and 1963 Topps Whitey Ford Cards
Some collectors surmised it could have come out as early as December 1963, given the difference in Ford’s card design. And maybe the low item number of 400 (on the sell sheet) indicates an early release, along with the image of the smiling kid being the same as the one on the 1962 Topps Baseball Bucks dealer sell sheet?
1962 Topps Baseball Bucks Sell Sheet
Funny enough, Topps did something similar with the 1964 Topps Giants set; the picture of Whitey Ford on the box isn’t identical to his card.
1964 Topps Giants Box and Whitey Ford Card
If you have more insight into this unique Topps product, please leave a comment or e-mail me.
In 2005, Sotheby’s offered a collection of some of the scarcest Pacific Coast League cards in their “Important Sports Memorabilia and Cards” auction. The lot included 136 cards, plus a few original mailing envelopes, of the four Centennial Flour’s Seattle Rainiers sets issued between 1943 and 1947.
Here’s the lot’s description:
Produced by Centennial Flouring Mills this scarce regional consists of four sets of unnumbered cards featuring only players from the Seattle Rainiers. Includes the following: 1943-Complete Set of 25 mostly NM, 1944 Complete Set of 25 mostly NM/NM+ with original mailing envelope, 1945 Complete Blue Tint Set of 27 all but a couple NM, 1945 Complete Black & White Set of 27 EX-MT to NM but for 1/3 having a water stain in the corner (includes original mailing envelope), 1947 Complete Set of 32 mostly NM/NM+ (includes original mailing envelope).
I hadn’t even been tracking that the 1945 set had both black & white and blue tint variations.
Here’s how you can tell each of the sets apart.
The 1943 cards are 4” x 5”. The bottom of the card backs read “Compliments of / CENTENNIAL FLOURING MILLS.”
The 1944s say, “Compliments of / CENTENNIAL HOTCAKE AND WAFFLE FLOUR.” on the back.
The 1945s are slightly narrow but longer than the two previous releases. They have a borderless photo on the front and the name and team printed in a black bar at the bottom.
The 1947s share the exact dimensions of the ’45s but have a white-framed box with the player’s bio on the back.
Heritage sold a collection of all five of these complete sets (both 1945 variations) in April 2010 for $3,107.
