1953
TOPPS 75 TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION AUCTION
94. 1953 Topps Complete Set (274) w/Variations The massive popularity of the 1952 Topps baseball set presented a unique challenge to Topps’ designers: how do you follow up a near-perfect set? The answer was the beautifully-designed 1953 issue. With card art consisting of hand-painted renditions of player photographs, each player’s team and position information appears in a dark border at the card bottom (red for American League and black for National League) along with a team logo. The reverse contains statistical and biographical information, as well as a trivia question. The designs were so beautiful and vivid that many collectors today prefer the 19533 set to its predecessor. The 174-card 1953 set includes a number of challenges to completion, including second-year cards of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays, an extremely tough run of high numbers, a host of difficult single prints, an extremely condition-sensitive #1 card of Jackie Robinson and tough rookie cards of Johnny Padres and Jim Gilliam. While the 1952 issue can be a nightmare to complete, the 1953 set is certainly no picnic. Presented here is a very strong mixed-grade complete set that served as the base for a master set along with a number of print variations offered elsewhere in the auction. The cards are all attractive, very few exhibit significant wear or creasing, with the majority of the condition issues relating to corners or centering. A technical breakdown of the set would be 3% EX-MT, 12% EX, 23% VG-EX, 38% VG, 18% GOOD, 5% FAIR, and a few POOR or recolored. A breakdown of the issue’s key cards would be as follows: #1 Robinson (PSA VG 3), #37 Mathews (PSA VG 3 MK), #41 Slaughter (GOOD), #61 Wynn (PSA VG 3), #62 Irvin (recolored), #66 Minoso (PSA VG 3), #77 Size (PSA VG-EX 4), #78 Schoendienst (VG-EX), #82 Mantle (PSA FR 1.5), #104 (PSA GOOD 2), #114 (VG), #125 Williams (VG), #138 Kell (VG-EX), #147 Spahn (VG), #191 Kiner (VG), #207 Ford (PSA GOOD 2), #220 Paige (PSA VG 3), #228 Newhouser (VG-EX), #244 Mays (PSA FR 1.5). An attractive, mixed-grade set (with an extra Early Wynn thrown in for good measure), which with a few upgrades would make for a very strong investment. 274 cards total, plus an extra Wynn.
95. 1953 Topps Black Back Complete Set (85) MINIMUM BID: $1,000
96. 1953 Bob Feller (HOF) Original Type I Photo - As Seen On His 1953 Topps Card MINIMUM BID: $750
97. 1953 Topps One- Cent Wax Wrapper MINIMUM BID: $400
MINIMUM BID: $5,000
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CLOSES OCTOBER 31, 2026
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