1962 Topps # 61 Cardinals TEAM card

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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.

Official authentic vintage UPI/AP Wirephotos/Laserphotos are very limited, normally only 1 sent to subscribing newspapers. Photos were black & white printed on electro-static printers, usually sent in 3 stages, Cyan, Magenta & Yellow, then combined into a color photograph. Photos are work products and VG to NEAR MINT. As a bonus, some have editor's blue-line cropping marks.

Scarce, interesting and snapshots of history, wire photos of major subjects and moments make for great collectibles. Wirephotos and laserphotos are no longer transmitted in this manner (stopping around the early 90's). Images are now transmitted from computer to computer with no need for hardcopies.
old UPI wirephotos old AP wirephotos Wirephotos images taken with low res camera so images do not do then justice. The wirephotos are nicer than in the image. Most wirephotos from San Diego Union Tribune archives and make nice additions to your collection.

Baseball card collecting terms (part A)

Airbrushing is the art of touching up a photo prior to the card being printed. It was generally done to remove imperfections or update or hide a players jersey/cap logo. Because of advancements in print technology and computers this is no longer needed.

All-Star card (AS) usually a subset card picturing a player who participated in the previous season�s all-star game. Topps created these in their 1958 High Number issue and has continued the practice fairly regularly to date. Such cards are usually designated in price guides with the abbreviation of AS.

Assorted A general mix of cards often containing many duplicates.

Auction items are sold to the highest bidder. Auctions used to be live or thru the mail/phone but today most auctions are online.

Auction Catalog lists the rules and descriptions and often images of the items in an auction.

Authentication verification that an item (card, autograph) is genuine. Most "game-used" material inserts have a written declaration of authenticity on the reverse. Authorized Issue card or memorabilia item that has been properly licensed. If the item is of a player, his written permission must be given in order for it to be considered authorized.

1962 Topps # 61 Cardinals TEAM card

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