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.
Autographed Gateway Cachets
Gateway Stamp Company has provided collectors well over 1 MILLION
authenticated certified autographs over the last 30 years.
Silk Cachets from Gateway Stamp Company
Even though a "stamp company", Gateway rarely dealt in stamps, going down
a new and creative road becoming one of the world's most unique secrets in
autograph collecting combining the best in art, color photographs, history
and autographs with their full-color silk cachet envelopes. Gateway's first
client was Cardinals Hall of Famer Lou Brock with hundreds to follow.
WHAT ARE FULL-COLOR SILK CACHETS?
A "cachet" is a message or design on an envelope marking a postal event.
"Full-color silk" refers to the delicate material into which the
original art and photography are printed. After which each silk is applied
to the envelope, signed by the player and then officially post-marked by the
U.S. Post Office IN THE CITY OF THE EVENT !!!
WHY POSTMARKS?
The key to EVERY Gateway cachet is the postmark.The best way to mark a date
in history is with a postmark. The rules governing the granting of
postmarks GUARANTEE that NO Gateway issue can EVER be re-issued protecting
the value of the autographed, postmarked cachets !!!
|
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.
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.
Click for complete
Topps Vault, Proofs & Blank-Backs
Note: You may be on that page right now.
|
Vintage Topps 1956 Baseball Cards Checklist & Prices
1956 Topps were slightly larger (3-3/4" by 2 5/8") horizontal cards
similar to 1955 Topps cards, some even sharing portraits with 1954 and 1955
Topps cards. Team cards & checklists appeared for the first time in 1956.
With Bowman gone, after missing the last 3 years, Mickey Mantle was back !!!
A fun & simple set, 1956 Topps had no high numbers or expensive rookies
but for serious 1956 collectors, there are over 200 variations.
Most variations deal with card stock (gray or white back).
For #101-180 gray appears to outnumber white about 9-to-1.
Many team cards had 2 or 3 variations with team names
Left, Center or Right.
There are 2 great cards: #31 Hank Aaron which actually pictures Willie Mays
sliding home and #135 Mickey Mantle.
Mantle shown leaping high into the stands robbing a home run !
Artist did a great job showing Mantle making the catch !
BUT ... Mantle looked great leaping but the ball flew over his glove.
The 1956 Topps Pins used same portrait photos as the cards.
Click for complete
1956 Topps Pins Checklist and Prices
Click for more info and complete
1956 Topps Baseball card checklist, values and prices.
|
Tobacco Cards
Starting approximately in 1886, sportscards, mostly baseball cards, were often
included with tobacco products, for promotional purposes and also because the
card reinforced the packaging and protected cigarettes from damage. These sports
cards are referred to as tobacco cards in the baseball card hobby. Over the next
few years many different companies produced baseball cards. Tobacco cards soon
started to disappear as the American Tobacco Company tried to develop a monopoly
by buying out other companies.
They were reintroduced in the 1900s, as American Tobacco came under pressure from
antitrust action and Turkish competition. The most famous and most expensive,
baseball card is the rare T206 Honus Wagner. The card exists in very limited
quantities compared to others of its type because Wagner forced the card to be
removed from printing. It is widely (and incorrectly) believed that Wagner did
so because he refused to promote tobacco, but the true explanation lies in a
dispute over compensation.
Soon other companies also began producing baseball and football cards. Sports magazines
such as The Sporting News were early entries to the market. Candy manufacturers
soon joined the fray and reflected a shift toward a younger target audience for cards.
Caramel companies were particularly active and baseball cards were one of the first
prizes to be included in Cracker Jacks. World War I soon suppressed baseball card
production.
© 1995-2019 "InterNet's Baseball Card Store" / Joseph Juhasz ... All Rights Reserved
|