1971 Kellogg's1971, Kellogg's second and by far scarcest and most valuable set, contained 75 different players on 2 ¼” by 3 ½” cards. The cards were plastic coated giving them a 3-D look !!! The plastic coating also made high grade cards nearly impossible find. Over time and the elements, most cards would curl making light and heavy cracks very common.As opposed to Kellogg's other issues which were available from the company as complete sets, 1971 Kellogg's cards were ONLY available one in each specially marked box of Kellogg's cereal. The only way to complete your 1971 Kellogg's set was to pester mom to buy, buy, buy more boxes of cereal.
In addition to the 75 different players, numerous scarcer variations exist
with minor differences in the stats on back. In addition, all 75 cards and
some variations are found with 2 different forms of copyright on the back: The "toughest" cards appear to be: # 7 Alou (1970 Oakland NL) # 28 Wright (Angles Crest Logo) # 54 Johnson (Angles Crest Logo) # 64 Fregosi (Angles Crest Logo) # 70 Osteen (No Number on back) # 2 Seaver (ERA 2.81) # 41 Gaston (113 Runs) # 65 Rose (RBI 485) |
1952 Wheaties ChampionsIn 1952 Wheaties issued this set of cards on the back of their boxes. The 2" x 2-3/4" cards needed to be hand cut from the back of the boxes making high quality samples almost impossible to find. The set featured 30 different champions from a variety of sports in both "Portrait" and "In-Action" poses for a total of 60 different cards. 10 of the 30 athletes are baseball players with football, basketball, golf, bowling, diving and other sports also included.Top players in the set are Ted Williams, Stan Musial, George Mikan, Ben Hogan and Otto Graham. |
Topps Vault & Proofs
Auctioneer Guernsey's went thru Topps offices gathering over 3,000
items for the auction. Topps spokesman reported auction sales of
OVER $1.5 million !!! Additional sales were made from a mail-only
auction. Collector Keith Olbermann, at the auction, described it
as an archaeological dig.
Click for complete
Topps Vault, Proofs & Blank-Backs
Topps archive material continued to accumulate after the auction
ending up with another treasure of over 250,000 transparencies,
uncut sheets, color separations, art, photos, slides, proof sheets
& wrappers, canceled checks, contracts and one-of-a-kind
items to sell.
Note: You may be on that page right now. |
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.