1956 Topps FB # 8 Lou Creekmur (Lions)

Select a different Sport or Vintage Baseball Cards set
or Find:
Enter words, partial words or phrases
1959 Topps displays vintage 1959 Topps Football sports cards.
Bowman Mickey Mantle displays all Bowman Mickey Mantle sports cards.

The history of vintage baseball card auctions is long and colorful.

T-206 Honus Wagner tobacco cards have sold for upto $2.8 million in auction. The "Holy Grail of Sports Cards", it's extreme-high auction value can mostly be attributed to great PR and "auction fever". It's not close to being the rarest baseball card and Honus Wagner is not Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle. Yes, the T-206 set is beautiful & special but because of the # of cards and scarcities, few collector's try to complete, which should keep auction competition down compared to say 1933 Goudey or 1952 Topps baseball card issues.
BUT IT DOES NOT...

There's a story Wagner banned his card because he was anti-tobacco but there are other stories about financial considerations.

You surely have heard of PSA and may even know that this card was the FIRST they ever graded. But did you know that dealer (B.l. .ast.o name encoded) admitted tampering with the card, perhaps having it trimmed down to size, before PSA graded it so highly for the auction.

Topps went all in in 1993 with their most premium baseball card set to date, the famous 1993 Topps Finest set with RARE parallel issue REFRACTORS. With only 199 cards, 7 per team, the 'Finest' set only had room for the 'Finest' players !

Rare REFRACTORS were randomly placed in some packs. REFRACTORS looked exactly like regular cards unless you knew where AND how to look. Tilting a REFRACTOR in sunshine released a rainbow of colors, "refracting light" Topps scientists liked to say.

Current info is only 241 REFRACTORS were issued of each card making this parallel issue one of the scarcest. Collecting a complete set is made even more difficult by the hoarding of certain cards by collectors AND even major league baseball players !

Without a doubt my FAVORITE SET - PERIOD. Regular issue, test issues, inserts ... whatever ... this is # 1 !!!

Similar to the early 1900's Mecca Double Folders, these colorful 2-1/16" x 4-7/8" cards are actually 2-cards-in-1 ! Perforated in the center, you can fold to create cards of 2 different players. Unperforated 1955 Topps DoubleHeaders exist. 1955 Doubleheader pack All 132 players (66 cards) in the 1955 Topps DoubleHeaders set were also in the regular 1955 Topps set, with the same action image.
1955 Doubleheader set NOTE: Laid side-by-side the cards form spectacular scenes from actual stadiums !!!
Old-timers - can you identify the stadiums ?

ROOKIES:
Harmon Killebrew, Hal Newhouser
STARS:
Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Jackie Robinson ...

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.

1956 Topps FB # 8 Lou Creekmur (Lions)

Auction's most costly vintage baseball cards

1993 Topps Finest Refractors
Checklist & Values

1955 Topps Double-Headers (Doubleheaders)
Baseball Cards Set checklist/info

1956 Topps FB # 8 Lou Creekmur (Lions)

Auction's most costly vintage baseball cards

1993 Topps Finest Refractors Checklist & Values

1955 Topps Double-Headers (Doubleheaders) Baseball Cards Set checklist/info

1993 Topps Finest Refractors
Checklist & Values

1955 Topps Double-Headers (Doubleheaders)
Baseball Cards Set checklist/info