AUTOGRAPHED: 1972 Topps #736 Bill Russell SCARCE HIGH # (Dodgers)

1974 Topps Stamps
Checklist & Values

1974 Topps Stamps set had (240) 1x1-1/2 inch stamps, 10/team. Issued in 12-stamp panels in diff. combos of rows for 24 DIFFERENT panels in a complete 1974 Topps Stamps PANEL set.

NOTE: Your favorite may be on 2 different panels !!!
Set suffers from HORRIBLE centering and bad perforations. 1969/1974 Topps stamps are very similar except: 1974's oval vs 1969's banner.

1974 Topps Mini-Albums - seen - perhaps not released.

PACKED! Ryan, Aaron, Bench... With Pete Rose and seldom seen Winfield & Parker rookies.

1974 Topps Baseball Stamps

1961 Topps Baseball Stamps

1962 Topps Baseball Stamps

1969 Topps Baseball Stamps

1961 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values

The 1961 Topps baseball card set had 587 cards (#1-#598 with some missing numbers). In addition to the missing cards, 2 cards were accidently numbered #463 (the Braves Team card was supposed to be card #426).
1961 Topps set was packed with special "subsets":
League Leaders (10 cards), World Series cards (10), Highlights (11 cards), MVP's (16 cards), Checklists (7 cards plus several variations), Team cards, Special Multi-Player cards, Managers, Topps Rookie All-Star Trophies, & Sporting News All-Stars

Of note - 1961 Topps were the first cards bearing the very popular Topps Rookie All-Star Award Trophies. "High Number" cards (#523-#589) are very scarce.

The least attractive aspect of the 1961 Topps baseball card set were the capless players !!! Baseball expansion led to the problem when Los Angeles Angels were added, the Washington Senators became the Minnesota Twins and the Washington Senators got a new franchise. Because of these changes, tons of players were capless and looked awful. picture you 50 year old grand-dad. Life was obviously tougher back then.

More 1961 Topps card info:
Card #1 was All-American basketball player Dick Groat
Card #2 was Roger Maris, right before his record breaking 61 Home Run season
Mickey Mantle was on (6) 1961 Topps cards adding to the sets cost.

Topps released 3 other sets in 1961: Topps Dice Game, Topps Magic Rub-Offs & Topps Stamps.

1952,1953,1954,1955 Red Man TOBACCO
Checklist & Values

Tobacco cards were instrumental in the start of the baseball card industry but were pretty much unheard of since 1920. That is until RED MAN TOBACCO got in the game issuing baseball cards in 1952, 1953, 1954 & 1955.
For just 20 cents you got a pouch of Red Man tobacco and one awesome 3-1/2 x 4 inch baseball card with it's tab (3-1/2 x 3-5/8 without). Exchange FIFTY tabs and you got one free big league style felt baseball cap of your favorite team. This made cards with tabs much, much harder to find and values 2 to 10 times higher.
25 players from each league were selected by "Sporting News" editor J.G. Taylor Spink. A Player's artwork with different backgrounds was used year after year. If a player changed teams, new team name & logo were painted over the old one. To determine the year, just subtract 1 from the expiration date on back of the card. The 1954 set had four variations.

Baseball card collecting terms (part C)

Cabinet Card Were oversized trading cards featuring paintings issued mostly 1910-1915.

Card Show is a gathering of dealers & collectors looking to buy/sell/trade sports cards and memorabilia.

Card Stock is the material a card is printed on. Usually paper-based, today companies play with the card stock and sometimes it appears to be wood or leather or see-thru acrylic ...

Cello Pack is a card pack whose wrapper is see-thru plastic. Usually the top & bottom cards are seen. Unopened cello packs showing major stars and rookies sell for heavy premiums.

Centering is the balance of the borders: top/bottom & left/right. On perfectly-centered cards, top/bottom borders match as do the left/right borders. Centering is presented as a set of numbers & directions and often included with the grade. Perfectly-centered is "50/50 t/b" AND "50/50 l/r". As centering gets worse, one number increases and the other decreases. For example: 90/10 t/b is considered extremely off-center top to bottom. The numbers add up to 100 (50/50, 60/40, 90/10 ...).

Certificate Of Authenticity (COA) A document used to verify legitimacy of a collectible. NOTE: Keep in mind that COA's are easier to fake then autographs.

Common A card of a non-star player is considered a "Common" as opposed to cards of a star players or specialty/subset cards such as league leaders, teams cards, World Series cards...

Condition (Grade) Centering, corner wear, photo clarity, edges, creases, print flaws ... all combine to determine a card's condition or grade. Along with rarity/scarcity it is the major factor in a card's value.

Crease Defect usually caused by bending the card. Hard to see, or not, a crease lowers the card's grade (VG or lower) and greatly diminishes it's value.

AUTOGRAPHED: 1972 Topps #736 Bill Russell SCARCE HIGH # (Dodgers)

1974 Topps Stamps Checklist & Values

1961 Topps Baseball Cards Checklist & Values

1952,1953,1954,1955 Red Man TOBACCO Checklist & Values

1974 Topps Stamps
Checklist & Values

1961 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values

1952,1953,1954,1955 Red Man TOBACCO
Checklist & Values