Uncut Sheet

1970 Topps Basketball Full Uncut Sheet With Three Maravich Rookies

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Here’s another historic hoops item: a 1970/71 Topps basketball uncut sheet.

This one features three Pete Maravich rookies, and when it was sold in 2008 by Mastro Auctions, it was the only known example (I’m unsure if this is still true; there are definitely some partial sheets).

The sheet contains 99 fully printed Topps Tall Boy basketball cards from 1970/71 in a 9 x 11 card arrangement. On top of the three Maravich cards are thee each for West, Frazier, Robertson (AS), Baylor (AS), Havlicek (AS), and Cunningham.

Despite some surface creasing and minor issues around the periphery, the sheet was described as being in excellent condition.

The sheet was actually sold by Huggins and Scott Auctions in October 2007 for $4600 before making its way into Mastro’s a few months later.

I suspect the copy from Christopher Sanchirico’s collection is the same one.

And that sheet appears to be for sale on eBay (in May 2024) for $250k.

You can read more about the 1970 Topps Basketball set’s uncut sheets on one of my favorite hobby blogs, The Topps Archives.

1966 Topps Baseball Uncut Blank-Back Proof Sheet

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Here’s a great item from the days of auction past: a 1966 Topps baseball full uncut blank-back proof sheet featuring 11 Hall of Famers.

Mastro offered this one in their May 2008 Sports & Americana auction catalog and included the following description:

An incredible eye-catcher, this very scarce uncut sheet offers unrivaled star power! With its content derived from the issue’s 2nd Series, the 132-card proof sheet’s roster is filled with Hall of Famers, including Alston, Banks (2), Brock (2), Cepeda, Ford (2), Killebrew, Morgan and the rookie card of Palmer. Measuring approximately 28″ x 43″ the blank-backed item’s fully printed obverse depictions are arranged in an 11-card-by-12-card configuration. The sheet presents about EX display quality, and reflects inevitable, scattered surface wrinkling (affecting many individual subjects, including one Brock, one Banks and the Killebrew designs) and marginal faults incurred during factory handling and rolled storage.

REA sold a proof sheet with the same card layout in the Spring of 2021 for $2,880. After reading about the condition and inspecting the paper loss and borders, it’s likely the same sheet Mastro had offered 13 years earlier.

1969 (Or 1968) Topps Deckle Edge Test Set Uncut Sheet

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Here’s a pretty cool item that Mastro auctioned off in March 2000: a 1969 Topps Test Set Uncut Sheet.

There are nine players on the sheet, including Carl Yastrzemski. However, Topps only used the Yaz image in the deckle-edge insert set that year. The auction description pointed out that the deckle-edge cards use similar black-and-white images with the player’s signatures across the bottom third of the cards, so it’s likely that this heavy cardboard sheet was made in that issue’s preparation. And since uncut deckle-edge sheets show identical card layouts and spacing, it’s possible this one was an early proof.

In an article about 2018 Heritage cards, SABR wrote a few words about these proof sheets, “I discovered that Topps did a test run for deckle edge in ’68 that was never distributed. There are uncut proof pages and singles with blank backs that have blue, black and red autographs. Apparently, Topps wanted to see which color looked the most realistic. By the way, the O-Pee-Chee deckle cards used black ink for autographs. Interestingly, the proof sheets contain nine images, only one of which was used in ‘69: Carl Yastrzemski. The rest of the players (Dave Adlesh, Hank Aguire, Sandy Alomar, Bob Johnson, Claude Osteen, Juan Pizzaro, Hal Woodeschick and Sonny Jackson–who is depicted on the Colt ‘45s) appear to have been randomly selected. Only Osteen could have reasonable been considered a star in 1968.”

For reference, here’s a proof sheet of 1969 Topps Deckle Edge cards, representing two complete 33-card sets, that REA sold in the spring of 2021 for $600.

1965 Topps Bewitched Test Issue

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The 1965 Topps Bewitched set was never actually issued—even in a test market—but some blank-backed sheets made it out. Topps also released a few singles directly from the ‘Topps Vault,’ including these eight, which were offered together in 2004.

Here’s the full auction lot description that accompanied the cards:

These super-desirable items are the product of Topps’ very brief attempt to capture the 1960’s television classic, Bewitched, in trading card form. Offered is a collection of eight different 1965 Topps Bewitched cards. The 2-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ cards feature black and white photographs from the series, and each one pictures either Elizabeth Montgomery, as Samantha, or Agnes Moorehead as her mother, Endorra. Printed on grey cardboard stock and blank-backed (as are all of the very few known examples from the prospective series), the cards grade NM to NM/MT. The cards’ titles include: “Elizabeth Montgomery,” “Endorra,” “Jinxing a Batter,” “Mother and Daughter.” “Protest March,” “Ready for Action,” “Thinking Wicked” and “Which is Witch?” These sought-after and very rare collectibles originate from the Topps Vault, and are accompanied by individual LOA’s from that company.

Additionally, The Non-Sports bible shared that two cards of the 26 in the unreleased set appear to be overprinted based on multiple copies being printed on uncut sheets (Pretty Witch & Practicing Witchcraft). Also, cards with printing on the back have yet to be reported. REA sold the following sheet for $2700 in the spring of 2017 before selling the same one again in August 2024 for $4,920.

Here’s REA’s description for the Rare 1965 Test Issue ‘Bewitched’ Complete Set on Uncut Sheet (28):

Extremely rare uncut sheet of twenty-eight 1965 Topps “Bewitched” test cards based on the popular television series. “Bewitched” is one of the rarest sets of all 1960s Topps test issues. The set was never actually issued to the public, and we believe that all known items related to this series have originated over the years from the Topps Vault. The black-and-white cards feature the star of the show Elizabeth Montgomery and other cast members in various scenes from the television show. This 28-card sheet represents the complete set of twenty-six known cards from the set plus two duplicates (Practicing Witchcraft and Pretty Witch). Aside from a couple of creases both near the two lower corners, the sheet (22 x 17.5 inches) remains in Near Mint condition. The sheet is blank-backed. This is an extraordinary high-grade uncut sheet from this unbelievably rare Topps test issue.

James Cumption’s 1955 Rodeo Meats Super Collection

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One of the cooler groups of related items in Christie’s October 1992 Sports Memorabilia catalog came from James Cumption’s 1955 Rodeo Meats Athletics collection. It included a complete set, a scrapbook album, an uncut sheet, and a paper uncut sheet.

Sotheby’s pre-empted the four lots in the catalog with a bold note that said they were “PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF JAMES CUMPTION.”

Lot 275 was the 1955 Rodeo Meats Athletics Complete Set (47). It was described as “Issued by a local meat company to commemorate the first season of the Athletics in Kansas City. There are 38 different players featured in the set in addition to 9 variation cards. Front features player photograph and name with the “Rodeo” logo. The reverse carries an ad for a scrapbook album—mint”

Lot 276 was the 1955 Rodeo Meats Athletics Scrapbook Album described as follows, “Contains 16 album pages for the Rodeo Meats cards, player biographies and the 1955 team schedule. Above each player’s name are 28 cards neatly pasted. The album was obtained by sending in a label from a Rodeo Meat product and 25 cents-mint.”

Lot 277 was the 1955 Rodeo Meats Athletics Uncut Sheet, “Featuring 25 cards of the Kansas City Athletics, probably one of two sheets which completed the set. Includes the Shantz misspelled and all short printed cards. Eight background color variations – framed and matted – 17 x 13 in. – mint.”

And Lot 278 was the 1955 Rodeo Meats Athletics Paper Uncut Sheet, “A 25 card paper color sheet, identical to the regular issue. Diagonally across the sheet are two white banners advertising Rodeo Meats, and The Knothole Gang television show.”

1968 Topps Football Uncut Sheet And A Great Looking Subset

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Here’s a 1968 Topps Football uncut sheet of 132 cards that Mastro auctioned off in May 2008. They described it as being in approximately Ex condition.

The big names on the sheet include Starr, Meredith, Namath, Sayers, Unitas, and Butkus. I think the 1968 Topps Packers and Raiders cards are among the best-looking football card “subsets” of all time.

I had written about the subset in one of my old newsletters, #57, so here’s that text (its preceding mini article was about ‘Beautiful Two Player Baseball Cards’:

While we are on the subject of beautiful cards, there’s a solid case to be made for the 1968 Topps Packers and Raiders cards as the best-looking football card “subset” of all time. Those teams played in Super Bowl II (Lombardi’s last game as a coach) and have cards that are oriented horizontally, while the rest of the cards in the set are oriented vertically (and look rather bland)

The eight 1968 Topps Green Bay Packers cards were the key players from the 1967 Packers Super Bowl champs (they won 33-14): Bart Starr, Carroll Dale, Bob Jeter, Elijah Pitts, Boyd Dowler, Herb Adderley, Ray Nitschke, Jim Grabowski, and Donny Anderson.

The eight 1968 Topps Oakland Raiders cards (the 1967 AFL Champions) included: Kent McCloughan, Billy Cannon, Hewritt Dixon, Clem Daniels, Tomo Keating, George Blanda, Fred Biletnikoff, Daryle Lamonica.

1952 Topps Color Process Proof Cards

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The other day, I published a piece about the 1952 Topps baseball progressive proof uncut sheets. I shared that, after buying all seven of them from Sotheby’s in 1992, it looked like the owner trimmed the full-color process proof sheet before reselling the full series of seven sheets at REA in 2006 (they very well could have changed hands a few more times over the years, I have no idea). The next owner saved the final color-process proof sheet but cut up the other six progressive proof sheets and slabbed each card with SGC before reselling them all with REA again in 2009.

The final color-process proof sheet sold for $18,800 in that 2009 REA auction. In the description, REA wrote “The final sheet was originally accompanied by six color process proof sheets, which have since been perfectly cut and organized by player, and are represented by the twenty lots that follow this one.”

Each of the twenty 1952 Topps proof card groups included the following color processes: 1) Red, yellow, and blue printing. A card which is very close in appearance to a final process card, but with the black printing missing. 2) Yellow and red printing.  3) Yellow printing. 4) Red printing. 5) Blue printing. 6) Black printing.

The two priciest groups of six color-process proof cards sold belonged to Andy Pafko ($3,819) and Warren Spahn ($2,644).

The other 18 lots of six cards sold for between $470 and $1,763.

If you search other auction house archives, you’ll find that many have been resold over the years. For example, MHCC sold the Runnels cards for $840 in March 2019, Brockelman sold the DiMaggio cards for $2,085 in June 2018, and REA re-sold the Pafko cards for $3,120 in their 2023 spring auction.

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