1930's Kensitas Cigarettes - Lot (9) diff. BRITISH EMPIRE SILK FLAGS

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1959 Topps displays vintage 1959 Topps Baseball sports cards.
Bowman Mickey Mantle displays all Bowman Mickey Mantle sports cards.

In 1957 Topps created the modern day card by reducing the size of cards to current standard 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 inches. Topps also increased the set to 154 players and dramatically changed card format to a horizontal split-card. Player selection was awesome with (31) future Hall-of-Famers. 1957's top rookies were Bart Starr, Johnny Unitas & Paul Hornung. The only variation is card #58 Willard Sherman.

1955 Topps was the first of 2 years of horizontal card designs. As with 1952, 1953 & 1954, cards were again a tad larger than today's standard. A nice feature, facsimile autographs, again appeared on the cards. The set came in 2 series, #1-160 and scarcer "High Numbers" #161-210.

Due to the contract battles between Topps & Bowman, Cards #175,186,203 & 209 were never issued. Topps eventually won the war, buying Bowman making 1955 the last year for Bowman cards. But the damage was done as Topps had to leave out many stars including Mickey Mantle & Stan Musial.

There were a total of (15) Hall of Famers in the 1955 set !!!
Top ROOKIEs: Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax & Harmon Killebrew
Top Stars: Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Al Kaline, Ernie Banks, Warren Spahn, Jackie Robinson, Eddie Mathews, Willie Mays, Yogi Berra & Duke Snider.

"The Golden Greek" Harry Agganis, a popular 1955 Topps card, is a tragic story, Agganis, a rising young star, died after his first card was issued. A football star at Boston U., he turned down an offer from the Cleveland Browns and became the starting first baseman. Shortly after he came down with pneumonia and died of a Pulmonary Embolism.

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 H-R)

High Numbers - vintage cards were issued in the �50s-�70s in a series. During the baseball season, the largest number of cards were made. As the schedule progressed into September, when there would be less interest in baseball cards , Topps for one, specifically decreased production and hence much less product was available. As a result, a scarcity-factor was created and a premium holds for these first type of "short-printed" cards.

Inserts - special randomly-inserted cards which are not part of the regular set. Many modern inserts are sequentially-numbered and rarer than the card sets into which they are inserted.

O-Pee-Chee / OPC - a subsidiary of Topps, this card issue was produced specifically for distribution in Canada.

Promotional Card - generally referred to as cards issued to show what the product will look like on release and intended to help spur future sales. Often called a "promo" card.

Reprint - cards issued to reproduce the originals. With the current trend of vintage reprints, the new versions have a distinguishing characteristic evidenced by numbering.

Restored - a card or piece of memorabilia which someone has tried to return to a "like-new" condition. A restored card is considered to be of very little value.

Rookie Card - any league-licensed, widely distributed card to feature a player in his first year of trading cards.

1930's Kensitas Cigarettes - Lot (9) diff. BRITISH EMPIRE SILK FLAGS

1957 Topps Football Cards
Checklist & Values

1955 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values

Vintage Baseball Wire Photos

UPI/AP Wirephotos

1930's Kensitas Cigarettes - Lot (9) diff. BRITISH EMPIRE SILK FLAGS

1957 Topps Football Cards Checklist & Values

1955 Topps Baseball Cards Checklist & Values

Vintage Baseball Wire Photos

UPI/AP Wirephotos

1957 Topps Football Cards
Checklist & Values

1955 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values