1952 Topps #255 Clyde Vollmer (Boston Braves)

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1959 Topps displays vintage 1959 Topps Baseball sports cards.
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This scarce 72-card test issue set was released with very limited East Coast distribution making them quite scarce.

Officially simply called "Topps Baseball Photos", their serrated or "DECKLED" edge gave them the name they go by today. The 2 7/8" x 5" inch cards were sold in 2 card packs with gum or 3 card packs without for 5 cents.
Click to enlarge Complete Proof Sheet on left
Fronts are similar to b&w Exhibit Postcards from the 50's with photos and facsimile autographs. The backs make this very scarce test issue more interesting ! They feature handwritten script of player's name, team, position & date and location of the photograph as well as a mock newspaper article.

This was Topps 2nd "Deckle Edge" issue, their first being the smaller and more common 1969 Topps Deckle Edge inserts in 1969 Topps packs.

Variations of 1974 Topps Deckle Edge exist, making this issue more fun and challenging to collect. Backs can be found in gray or a much scarcer white. Also, more limited proof versions with non-scalloped edges exist and can be found with and without card numbers.

Chemtoy & MLB teamed up to offer a set of major league baseball player "Superballs" or "High Bouncing Balls". One of the more interesting collectibles from late 1960's, early 1970's and sought after by Team & Player collectors.

1970 Chemtoy Baseball SuperBalls The 285 player set with 12 per team except Twins, White Sox and A's with 11. Each "Superball" has the player's photo inside with name, team, position and Chemtoy inventory number on back.

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.

History Of O-Pee-Chee

O-Pee-Chee (OPC) based in Ontario Canada, is mostly thought of as the Canadian version of Topps but it actually pre-dates Topps by many years.

In 1933, OPC issued their first sports card set, the V304 Hockey cards and is currently in the tens of thousands. Their first baseball set was issued in 1937. It was similar to the 1934 Goudeys and Batter-Ups and the top player was Joe Dimaggio.

O-Pee-Chee created baseball card sets similar to TOpps from 1965 into the 1990's. At first OPC sets were much smaller than Topps and included just the first few series. Fronts & backs were nearly identical but with a small "Printed in Canada" on the back and the card stock was slightly different.

Baseball being much less popular in Canada, OPC print runs of their early years were between 1% and 10% of Topps making them exceedingly scarce !!!

Starting in 1970, Canadian legislation demanded all items produced in Canada carry both French & English so OPC baseball cards became bilingual with both languages included.
Other OPC differences include:
1971, OPC even changed the back design to a much more interesting back and also offered 14 different card photos not in the Topps set.
1972 OPC included a card of Gil Hodges mentioning his death that was not a part of the Topps set.
1974 OPC did not include any "Washington Nationals" variations.
1977 the card format remained like Topps but almost 1/3 of the OPC set had different poses/images than Topps.
In late 1970's, OPC card fronts appeared similar to Topps but sometimes included traded information saying "Now with XXXX". They were able to do this as the OPC cards were printed much later into the season.

1952 Topps #255 Clyde Vollmer (Boston Braves)

1974 Topps DECKLE EDGE
Checklist & Values

1970 Chemtoy Superballs
Checklist & Prices

Auction's most costly vintage baseball cards

1952 Topps #255 Clyde Vollmer (Boston Braves)

1974 Topps DECKLE EDGE Checklist & Values

1970 Chemtoy Superballs Checklist & Prices

Auction's most costly vintage baseball cards

1974 Topps DECKLE EDGE
Checklist & Values

1970 Chemtoy Superballs
Checklist & Prices