1956 Topps #133 Ray Narleski (Indians)

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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.

In 1993 Topps produced a limited number of special factory sets to honor the Colorado Rockies first season. A special gold foil Rockies logo was added to each card.

The initial print run of 5,000 ran out quickly so the Rockies had 5,000 more sets made. Cards were only available as factory sets so singles and team sets are a bit tougher to find.

The 1969 Transogram Statues/Figurines baseball card set has (60) 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" cards from backs of Transogram figurine boxes. Boxes with 1 or 3 figurines/cards were sold and they were . packed with Hall-of-Famers like Mickey Mantle, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays & Hank Aaron.

In honor of the 1969 World Champion New York Mets, Transogram issued the 1970 Transogram New York Mets set of (15) figurines/cards in the form of (5) complete boxes.

Baseball card collecting terms (part B)

Bazooka Bazooka Bubble Gum put baseball cards on the back of their boxes from 1959 thru 1971. Complete boxes and panels can get extremely costly. Most kids back then could not afford complete boxes of bubble gum at one making Bazooka cards quite scarce. I actually don't recall ever obtaining a Bazooka card directly from a box as a kid. Do you ???

Black Sox Scandal Name given to the the most famous scandal in baseball history after the 1919 Chicago White Sox versus the Cincinatti Reds World Series when 8 White Sox players were accused of throwing the series. Details have remained somewhat unclear. The players were acquitted of criminal charges but 8 players still received a lifetime ban from professional baseball including the All-Time great "Shoeless" Joe Jackson.

Blank-Back a card in which nothing is printed on the back. These cards are usually not in packs and are either "PROOF ISSUES" or were removed from the factory in some way.

Blanket a term used for collectibles in the 1910's made of fabric .

Border is the part of the card that surrounds the photo or image.

Bowman was a card manufacturer in the 1940's and 1950's that was bought out by Topps. In 1989 Topps started issuing cards using the Bowman brand.

Break a term used to indicate the opening of a set, pack, box or case.

Break Value is the total book value of each card added up individually. The break value of a set is usually way, way more than the value of the complete set.

1956 Topps #133 Ray Narleski (Indians)

Auction's most costly vintage baseball cards

1993 Topps Inaugural
Colorado Rockies Set

1969/1970 Transogram Statues & Figurines
Cards & Complete Boxes

1956 Topps #133 Ray Narleski (Indians)

Auction's most costly vintage baseball cards

1993 Topps Inaugural Colorado Rockies Set

1969/1970 Transogram Statues & Figurines Cards & Complete Boxes

1993 Topps Inaugural
Colorado Rockies Set

1969/1970 Transogram Statues & Figurines
Cards & Complete Boxes