1965 Topps #409 Astros Rookies (Larry Dierker, Jim Beauchamp)

Grade	NEAR MINT to NM/MINT
Book Value	$ 15
Our Price	$ 23.95 Add to cart

1965 Topps #409 Astros Rookies (Larry Dierker, Jim Beauchamp) cards value

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.

1952 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values

1952 is often thought of as Topps 1st baseball card set, but it was not.
Topps issued several smaller baseball card sets prior to their huge 1952 set.
Topps buzz word was "BIGGER is BETTER" for their 1952 Topps set which Topps described as: "GIANT IN BOTH SIZE and NUMBER of CARDS" (407).
Key card in the 1952 Topps set is #311 MICKEY MANTLE. Often called Mickey Mantle's Rookie card - BUT IT IS NOT. That honor goes to his 1951 Bowman.
1952 Topps "High Numbers" (#311-#407), are very, very scarce with an interesting story:
This HUGE set was released in series weeks apart. By the last (6th) series, baseball season was over and football starting. Candy shops had plenty of baseball cards from earlier series so most cancelled their orders for the last series creating the scarcity.
Adding interest is how Topps disposed of the now un-needed cards including THOUSANDS of 1952 Topps MICKEY MANTLE's. They dumped them into the Atlantic Ocean like most of New York's trash in those days.

Click for complete 1952 Topps Baseball card checklist, values and prices.

1974 Topps & Parker Brothers Football
In 1974, along with cards in wax packs, Topps also issued the football cards used in Parker Brothers' "Pro Draft" board game. The (50) Parker Brothers cards are skip numbered from the 1st 132 Topps cards and are all offensive players, mostly from the skill positions.
Most Parker Brothers cards are similar to the ones from packs except on the back where most Parker Brothers cards had 1972 stats instead of 1973 and (2)* rather than (1)* in the copyright line. BUT NOTE: Some regular Topps cards have both * and ** --- It's complicated! Six of the cards have totally different designs; three All-Pros and three with horizontal designs that were changed to vertical to match the rest of the cards.
Team checklist cards were randomly included in the Topps wax packs.
TOP ROOKIES: Joe DeLamielleure, Ray Guy, Bert Jones, Harold Carmichael, John Matuszak, Ahmad Rashad, Chuck Foreman, John Hannah and actor Ed Marinaro.
Click for complete 1974 Topps & Parker Brothers Football checklist and prices
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Click to visit a great blog on: 1974 Parker Brothers Football

1969 Ajman & Manama
Official Postage Stamps

In 1969, Ajman & Manama made baseball card collector's happy with their official government issued baseball "Champions of Sports" stamps with (6) of the greatest stars ever: Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Honus Wagner & George Sisler. The Manama and Ajman stamps are nearly the same except for color and country. The pictured notice from the Ajman post office stated stamp sheets & sets were limited with & w/o perforations.

Click for our complete postage stamp issues: 1969 Ajman,1972 Manama & other Postage Stamp issues
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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.

1965 Topps #409 Astros Rookies (Larry Dierker, Jim Beauchamp)

1952 Topps Baseball Cards Checklist & Values

1974 Topps & Parker Brothers Football

1969 Ajman & Manama Official Postage Stamps

1952 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values

1969 Ajman & Manama
Official Postage Stamps