TOPPS 75 TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION AUCTION
1963
T he vibrant 576 cards Topps put together for 1963 featured sharp color images, paired with a small, circular inset photo, which still hewed to black-and-white. Bright bottom borders in blue, green, red, yellow, and occasionally orange were festive and bled to three edges in whole or in part, making this the second year in a row Topps gave the collecting world a condition sensitive set. There were no innovations offered as Topps faced a significant threat from Fleer, who had put out a small set of current major leaguers for the first time. The Pete Rose rookie is a highlight of final series that’s challenging but not impossible. In scarce supply too were pack inserts, this time limited to a fairly small set of Peel-Offs. This lack of innovation reflects some economic problems but also an ongoing Federal Trade Commission investigation instigated by Fleer a year earlier. But they were also gearing up for 1964, when the All-Star game was set to return to New York. An experimental set of 18 cards - nine of which are Hall-of- Famers - designed to play a game of baseball with dice was created but never tested. Referred to as 1961 Dice Game cards due to some resemblance to that year’s regular issue despite the use of black-and- white photography, these are some of the rarest baseball cards ever produced by Topps, with no more than a half-dozen examples of each known.
259. 1963 Topps Complete Set (576) w/Variations MINIMUM BID: $1,000
258. 1963 Topps Print Variations Collection (77) MINIMUM BID: $250
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