1962 Topps #408 Gus Bell (Mets)
Grade |
NM/MINT to NEAR MINT |
Book Value |
$ 8 |
Our Price |
$ 15.95
Add to cart
|
Below are short bits & pieces on sportscard & baseball trading card collecting.
Please wander around the website for more info, prices, values & images
on vintage baseball, football, basketball, hockey, sport and non-sports cards.
1954 Bowman Baseball Cards Checklist & Values
Competition was raging between Topps and Bowman in 1953 and 1954 leading to
problems with both companies sets. Bowman caused Topps to missing 6 cards
in 1953 with Topps getting revenge by signing Ted Williams to an exclusive
contract in 1954. Bowman then had to pull Ted Williams card #66 from their
set shortly after they started printing, replacing it with Jimmy Piersall,
who also was on card #210 making the 1954 Bowman Ted Williams #6
one of 50's scarcest cards.
Perhaps distracted by it's competition with Topps, the 1954 Bowman set was
filled with errors and variations. Nearly 20% (40/224 cards) had some sort
of variation, with some having more than 2.
The St. Louis Browns recent move to Baltimore also made things interesting.
Bowman's artists had no idea what an Orioles jersey would look like -
so they just madeone up.
TOP ROOKIES: Don Larsen, Harvey Kuenn, Frank Thomas
TOP STARS: Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Yogi Berra, Duke Snider,
Roy Campanella, Whitey Ford, Phil Rizzuto ...
Ted Williams is not considered part of a complete set.
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1954 Bowman Baseball card checklist, values and prices.
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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.
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1961 Topps baseball cards Checklist and Prices
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1961 Topps Autographed baseball cards Checklist and Prices
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Autographed Gateway Cachets

Gateway Stamp Company has provided collectors over 1 MILLION
authenticated certified autographs over the last 30+ years.
Though a "stamp company", Gateway went down a new creative road
combining art, color photographs, historical events & autographs
with their full-color silk cachet envelopes.
WHAT IS A SILK CACHET ?
A "cachet" is a design on an envelope marking an event.
"Silk" refers to the delicate material the art and photography are
printed on after which it's signed by the player and then post-marked by
the Post Office IN THE EVENT'S CITY !!!
WHY POSTMARKS?
A postmark is a great way to mark historical events and the rules
governing postmarks GUARANTEES that NO Gateway issue can EVER be
re-issued protecting their value !!!
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Autographed Gateway Cachets info, values & prices.
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Baseball card collecting terms (part D-F)
Die-Cut A special card that differs from a basic card by
"Die-Cutting", cutting away portions of the card to create a special design.
Most are serially numbered & limited.
Error Card Baseball card history is filled with error cards,
many of them very interesting. Hank Aaron is on 2 of my favorite error cards.
Aaron's 1956 Topps card action photo shows Aaron sliding home but
it is actually Willie Mays not Aaron. Topps again goofed on Aaron's 1957
"reversed negative" card showing Aaron batting left-handed.
"Error Cards" are usually found early in print runs and often corrected.
When this correction happens a VARIATION is created.
Some variations are extremely interesting and very expensive while others
are totally boring and you wonder why they were even made.
Extended Set Also frequently called Update Set or
Traded Set.
They are sets issued after the original release to update the regular set
with new and traded players.
Facsimile Autograph is an autograph printed on a card to show
what the player's actual signature looks like. They are not "real" autographs.
Factory Set are complete sets usually in special boxes
produced by the manufacturer. "Hand-Collated Sets" are sets collectors
have put together card by card from packs.