495. 1958 Topps Near-Complete Set (481/494)
Collector-grade near-set as assembled by its original owner, a young boy in the late 1950s who continued collecting for several decades. Condition-conscious in his later years, as a youngster he took good care of his cards but was diligent in his habit of carefully writing the player’s uniform number on the back of the card, in small ink or pencil handwriting. The result is that approximately 130 or so of the cards from the set exhibit this writing on the reverse. Though the cards are otherwise generally clean, it is a collector-grade set even without the writing; corner and surface wear are abundant, and as one would expect from a late-1950s Topps issue, centering and print defects are an issue. A technical breakdown of the condition of the set would be 5% VG/ EX; 22% VG, 34% G, and 39% F or lesser, taking into consideration that a good number of the FAIR cards grade that way due to the writing, and appear VG or VG/EX otherwise. We submitted three of the set’s keys to SGC for grading, resulting in #47 Maris grading VG/ EX+ 4.5, #52 Clemente at VG/EX 4, and #150 Mantle at FR 1.5. The remaining keys grade as follows: #2 Lemon F; #25 Drysdale F; #32 Porter YL (F - writing); #40 Kell (F -writing); #70 Kaline (F - writing); #85 Aparicio (F); #88 Snider (G); #90 Roberts (F); #100 Wynn YL (G); #115 Bunning (VG); #147 Slaughter (F - writing); #187 Koufax (G); #230 Ashburn (P); #238 Mazeroski (F - writing); #270 Spahn (G); #307 B. Robinson (G); #310 Banks (G); #320 Ford (F); #375 Reese (F); #400 Fox (VG/EX); #418 Mays/Mantle (F); #440 Mathews (F - writing); #482 Banks AS (G); #484 F. Robinson AS (VG); #485 Williams AS (G); #485 Mantle AS (VG); #486 Mays AS (P); #488 Aaron AS (VG). Cards missing for completion are #1 Williams (HOF); #5 Mays (HOF); #19 Giants Team; #30 Aaron (HOF); #285 F. Robinson (HOF); #288 Killebrew (HOF); #321 Sluggers Supreme; #334 Mound Aces; #343 Cepeda (HOF RC); #370 Berra (HOF); #443 Harrell; #462 Geiger. 481 cards total.
494. 1957 Topps Near-Complete Set (402/406)
Attractive at first glance, a wonderful original owner near-set that was built by a longtime collector when he was a boy in 1957. For the most part, the youngster took good care of his cards, handling them and clearly loving them but also avoiding the type of abuse that many cards of this vintage see. The critical flaw is in the boy’s diligence, as he took the time to add the player’s uniform number in small writing (sometimes in ink, other times in pencil) on the card reverse. In other cases, he scratched out the number. The result is a presentable collector-grade set with a good number of the cards (about 150 in total) with bits of writing on the reverse, reducing the technical grade of each of those cards. As such, a condition breakdown of the set is technically lower than the cards actually appear: 3% EX; 11% VG/EX; 29% VG; 17% G; 40% F, with a few lesser and a few EX/MT. We selected five cards to submit to SGC, the majority of which suffer from the writing two which we refer. Those cards grade as follows: #20 Aaron SGC FR 1.5; 95 Mantle SGC FR 1.5; #302 Koufax SGC FR 1.5; #328 B. Robinson PR 1; #407 Yankees SGCVG 3. Additional keys grade as follows: #1 Williams (G); #2 Berra (G); #10 Mays (G); #25 Ford (G); #35 F. Robinson (F - writing); #38 Fox (VG/EX); #55 Banks (F - writing); #70 Ashburn (F - writing); #76 Clemente (F - writing); #120 Lemon (F - writing); #125 Kaline (VG); #154 Schoendienst (F - writing); #170 Snider (F - writing); #203 Wilhelm (G); #210 Campanella (P - writing); #215 Slaughter (F - 2writing); #230 Kell (VG/EX); #250 Mathews (F - writing); #400 Dodgers Sluggers (VG). The following cards are needed for completion: #18 Drysdale (HOF RC); #24 Mazeroski (HOF RC); #286 Richardson (RC); #312 Kubek (RC); #338 Bunning (HOF RC) - all keys, though the issue’s most important cards are present and accounted for. 402 cards total.
MINIMUM BID: $1,000
MINIMUM BID: $1,000
FALL 2021 PREMIER AUCTION − CLOSES NOVEMBER 27, 2021 93
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