Sport Cards 1940-92
in addition to 1952 Topps Mantle.
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Baseball Ice hockey
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Baseball Ice hockey
1941 Play Ball DiMaggio
2020 SOLD for $ 750K by Heritage
Joe DiMaggio is reaching a level of popularity unprecedented in baseball. He is proud to have made his entire career with the prestigious New York Yankees, before and after his active commitment in the Second World War.
In 1941 he achieves his greatest sporting feat, unequaled to date : 56 successive games with at least one safe hitting, from May 15 to June 17. This record is accompanied by a song by Les Brown and His Band of Renown, recreating the passion of the stadium and of the girls : "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio, We want you on our side".
Of course Joe is the star of the baseball cards of that time. In 1940 he is awarded the # 1 in the series of 240 Play Ball cards published by Gum Inc, with a photo on which he is ready to hit. He is the best hitter in MLB with an average of .381 in the previous season. The back considers him as the best fly-chaser, deserving his new nickname of Yankee Clipper and implicitly making him the successor of the Sultan of Swat.
In 1941 his Play Ball card is numbered 71 in a series limited to 72 which also includes his two brothers, Vince and Dom. The image is the same as in the previous year except that it has been colored. To explain this apparent decline in the list, we may assume that the Play Ball 1940-1 was not sold out when the prints 1941-1 to 1941-48 were prepared. The text on the back is updated.
About 800 1941-71 cards have been graded by PSA but only one is certified at the highest level of their scale, Gem Mint 10. It was sold for $ 750K by Heritage on February 22, 2020, lot 50014.
In 1941 he achieves his greatest sporting feat, unequaled to date : 56 successive games with at least one safe hitting, from May 15 to June 17. This record is accompanied by a song by Les Brown and His Band of Renown, recreating the passion of the stadium and of the girls : "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio, We want you on our side".
Of course Joe is the star of the baseball cards of that time. In 1940 he is awarded the # 1 in the series of 240 Play Ball cards published by Gum Inc, with a photo on which he is ready to hit. He is the best hitter in MLB with an average of .381 in the previous season. The back considers him as the best fly-chaser, deserving his new nickname of Yankee Clipper and implicitly making him the successor of the Sultan of Swat.
In 1941 his Play Ball card is numbered 71 in a series limited to 72 which also includes his two brothers, Vince and Dom. The image is the same as in the previous year except that it has been colored. To explain this apparent decline in the list, we may assume that the Play Ball 1940-1 was not sold out when the prints 1941-1 to 1941-48 were prepared. The text on the back is updated.
About 800 1941-71 cards have been graded by PSA but only one is certified at the highest level of their scale, Gem Mint 10. It was sold for $ 750K by Heritage on February 22, 2020, lot 50014.
1951 Bowman Mantle
1
2022 SOLD for $ 3.2M by Memory Lane
At the dawn of his career Mickey Mantle alternates between feats and discouragement. His legs are fragile. When he was a teenager a kick in his left shin left an infection of the ankle with after-effects and prevented his incorporation into the army in 1949.
Yet when he is at the top he is the fastest and most powerful new promise in baseball. Early in 1951 the New York Yankees manager Casey Stengel considers that the boy must play the season in Major League. The uniform number 6 is attributed to him for stating that this rookie will be the successor to Ruth (3), Gehrig (4) and the then current star DiMaggio (5).
The 1951-253 Bowman card is prepared after the spring training during which Mickey has confirmed his skills. Like all cards in this series the image was a colored drawing copied from a photograph. The future champion is in profile, his smiling face turned towards the photographer and his bat held over the right shoulder. Aesthetics is not a must in these Bowman series : a useless electric pole has not been cancelled.
Bowman cards are rare in Mint condition, mostly because of some centering defect or original stain. Only one 1951-253 was graded Gem Mint-10 by PSA.
One of the nine PSA Mint-9 copies was sold for $ 3.2M by Memory Lane on December 3, 2022, lot 1.
The season is not successful. Mickey debuts in Major League on April 17 but is not convincing. Downgraded to Minor League in Kansas City he requires once again to stop baseball but is being bullied by his father. He comes back with the Yankees but returns the number 6 to Bobby Brown. He is then wounded in the right knee with a permanent torsion of a ligament during a fall in full action to avoid hurting DiMaggio. 1951 is indeed his rookie year in MLB but 1952 will be the actual trigger of his fame.
What beats everything in this story is the fact that this guy whose exploits will be a major element of the American Dream of the 1950s is confirmed as physically unfit for the army in 1952 during the Korean War.
Yet when he is at the top he is the fastest and most powerful new promise in baseball. Early in 1951 the New York Yankees manager Casey Stengel considers that the boy must play the season in Major League. The uniform number 6 is attributed to him for stating that this rookie will be the successor to Ruth (3), Gehrig (4) and the then current star DiMaggio (5).
The 1951-253 Bowman card is prepared after the spring training during which Mickey has confirmed his skills. Like all cards in this series the image was a colored drawing copied from a photograph. The future champion is in profile, his smiling face turned towards the photographer and his bat held over the right shoulder. Aesthetics is not a must in these Bowman series : a useless electric pole has not been cancelled.
Bowman cards are rare in Mint condition, mostly because of some centering defect or original stain. Only one 1951-253 was graded Gem Mint-10 by PSA.
One of the nine PSA Mint-9 copies was sold for $ 3.2M by Memory Lane on December 3, 2022, lot 1.
The season is not successful. Mickey debuts in Major League on April 17 but is not convincing. Downgraded to Minor League in Kansas City he requires once again to stop baseball but is being bullied by his father. He comes back with the Yankees but returns the number 6 to Bobby Brown. He is then wounded in the right knee with a permanent torsion of a ligament during a fall in full action to avoid hurting DiMaggio. 1951 is indeed his rookie year in MLB but 1952 will be the actual trigger of his fame.
What beats everything in this story is the fact that this guy whose exploits will be a major element of the American Dream of the 1950s is confirmed as physically unfit for the army in 1952 during the Korean War.
2
2018 SOLD for $ 750K by Heritage
Another one of the nine PSA Mint-9 copies was sold for $ 590K by Memory Lane on October 14, 2017 and for $ 750K by Heritage on April 19, 2018, lot 80449. This very clean card is perfectly centered 50/50 side to side.
A card graded Mint 9 by SGC was sold for $ 690K by Heritage on May 6, 2021, lot 80480
A card graded Mint 9 by SGC was sold for $ 690K by Heritage on May 6, 2021, lot 80480
1952 Topps MANTLE
see dedicated page :
1952 Topps ROBINSON
Intro
The bubble gum has somehow succeeded to tobacco : Topps Chewing Gum becomes a leader in its market by using the previous distribution networks of a tobacco company.
At the instigation of Sy Berger, Topps makes a sensational entry into the edition of baseball cards. After a first trial in 1951, they launch in 1952 an extensive series with sharp pictures, pretty colors and a pleasantly didactic inscription on the back.
The project is ambitious and innovative. The image of the player printed in beautiful colors is accompanied by a fac simile of his autograph signature. The back side lists the statistics and feats of the player as well as his personal attributes and some laudatory comments.
The printing of the 1952 series is made in several batches including the selection of additional players. Topps wanted to keep going but their extension of the 1952 series, numbers 311 to 407, was not released on suitable time.
The unsold stock was of no further use to them and they drowned in 1960 in the Atlantic Ocean a barge loaded with the huge remains of the second part of the 1952 edition.
At the instigation of Sy Berger, Topps makes a sensational entry into the edition of baseball cards. After a first trial in 1951, they launch in 1952 an extensive series with sharp pictures, pretty colors and a pleasantly didactic inscription on the back.
The project is ambitious and innovative. The image of the player printed in beautiful colors is accompanied by a fac simile of his autograph signature. The back side lists the statistics and feats of the player as well as his personal attributes and some laudatory comments.
The printing of the 1952 series is made in several batches including the selection of additional players. Topps wanted to keep going but their extension of the 1952 series, numbers 311 to 407, was not released on suitable time.
The unsold stock was of no further use to them and they drowned in 1960 in the Atlantic Ocean a barge loaded with the huge remains of the second part of the 1952 edition.
1
2021 SOLD for $ 980K by Goldin
A baseball player has by definition only one MBA rookie year. The high end of post-war trading cards has long been monopolized by rookie cards, with a particular attention to Mickey Mantle's 1952 Topps. The boom in this market sector is leading to the surge of other star cards, through player notoriety, rarity and visual appeal.
The Topps 1952 edition is a breakthrough in the quality of the portraits and the colors. It is divided into six series. The cards of shabby players have not been kept by collectors and the population certified by PSA is a very good indicator of the popularity of the players. The champion is Willie Mays, card # 261.
The relative rarity of cards from the last series, 311 to 407, has become legendary. Mickey Mantle, position # 311, and Jackie Robinson, position # 312, are second and third in the whole Topps 1952 PSA population. I have no plausible explanation, other than a triple blunder, as to why these two players as well as Roy Campanella were excluded or forgotten by Topps in the first five series.
According to current data from PSA website, Jackie Robinson's card is dominated by 11 Mint 9 units and 5 units between NM-MT and Mint. According to this database, no 1952-312 had exceeded $ 72K four months ago. Heritage sold an NM-MT 8 for $ 81K in December 2020 and another of the same grade for $ 168K in February 2021.
This position will soon reach the number one in post-war non-rookie cards. A card graded Mint 9 by PSA was sold for $ 980K by Goldin on March 6 2021, lot 71.
The Topps 1952 edition is a breakthrough in the quality of the portraits and the colors. It is divided into six series. The cards of shabby players have not been kept by collectors and the population certified by PSA is a very good indicator of the popularity of the players. The champion is Willie Mays, card # 261.
The relative rarity of cards from the last series, 311 to 407, has become legendary. Mickey Mantle, position # 311, and Jackie Robinson, position # 312, are second and third in the whole Topps 1952 PSA population. I have no plausible explanation, other than a triple blunder, as to why these two players as well as Roy Campanella were excluded or forgotten by Topps in the first five series.
According to current data from PSA website, Jackie Robinson's card is dominated by 11 Mint 9 units and 5 units between NM-MT and Mint. According to this database, no 1952-312 had exceeded $ 72K four months ago. Heritage sold an NM-MT 8 for $ 81K in December 2020 and another of the same grade for $ 168K in February 2021.
This position will soon reach the number one in post-war non-rookie cards. A card graded Mint 9 by PSA was sold for $ 980K by Goldin on March 6 2021, lot 71.
2
2021 SOLD for $ 960K by Heritage
Another 1952 Topps card of Jackie Robinson, also graded Mint 9 by PSA, was sold for $ 960K by Heritage on May 6, 2021, lot 80523.
1955 Topps Clemente
2021 SOLD for $ 1.1M by Goldin
In 1952, Topps develops the modern baseball card with a clear and pleasant image and a detailed information on the back side. Further improvement comes in 1955 when the card goes in landscape format, superseding the portrait format which was practiced from the origins and enabling to dispose altogether the player's portrait, his image in action, his signature and the logo of the club.
1955 was the rookie year of two baseball stars, Roberto Clemente and Sandy Koufax. Clemente had just been hired by the Pittsburgh Pirates when he was honored with the Topps 1955-164 card. The Pirates were only the fifth team to break the barrier of color in the National League and the arrival of Clemente, Black and Puerto Rican, was likely to be contested.
The Topps 1955-164 card is extremely rare in very good condition because many copies are not well centered. Only one of them is graded Gem Mint 10 by PSA, meaning a perfect condition in every respect. It was sold for $ 430K by SCP Auctions on May 20, 2012, lot 11.
A card graded Mint 9 by PSA was sold for $ 470K by Goldin in October 2016, lot 21. Another one in the same grade was sold for $ 480K by Heritage on February 20, 2016, lot 80113. and for $ 1.1M as lot 3 by Goldin on March 6, 2021.
Roberto Clemente devoted his off-seasons to charity. In December 1972 he participated in sending emergency relief after the Managua earthquake. Fearing that his act was diverted by the Nicaraguan dictatorship, he accompanied the delivery. His plane, possibly too much loaded, disappeared at sea and his body was never found. He was such a great hero that his friends asked for his canonization.
1955 was the rookie year of two baseball stars, Roberto Clemente and Sandy Koufax. Clemente had just been hired by the Pittsburgh Pirates when he was honored with the Topps 1955-164 card. The Pirates were only the fifth team to break the barrier of color in the National League and the arrival of Clemente, Black and Puerto Rican, was likely to be contested.
The Topps 1955-164 card is extremely rare in very good condition because many copies are not well centered. Only one of them is graded Gem Mint 10 by PSA, meaning a perfect condition in every respect. It was sold for $ 430K by SCP Auctions on May 20, 2012, lot 11.
A card graded Mint 9 by PSA was sold for $ 470K by Goldin in October 2016, lot 21. Another one in the same grade was sold for $ 480K by Heritage on February 20, 2016, lot 80113. and for $ 1.1M as lot 3 by Goldin on March 6, 2021.
Roberto Clemente devoted his off-seasons to charity. In December 1972 he participated in sending emergency relief after the Managua earthquake. Fearing that his act was diverted by the Nicaraguan dictatorship, he accompanied the delivery. His plane, possibly too much loaded, disappeared at sea and his body was never found. He was such a great hero that his friends asked for his canonization.
1969 Topps Jackson
2021 SOLD for $ 1M by Heritage
Only one 1969 Topps rookie card of Reggie Jackson was rated Gem Mint 10 by PSA. It was sold for $ 115K by SCP on May 12, 2012 and for $ 1M by Heritage on February 28, 2021, lot 80036. Jackson played in MLB from 1967 to 1987 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1993.
The bidder is taking a risk. This card is not rare : 40 units have been graded Mint 9 by PSA. No one can prevent another Gem Mint coming out of a shoebox tomorrow.
This exceptional bid also pays tribute to a champion who has an strong personality and was in 1990 one of the modernizers of the trading card.
Upper Deck Company's ambition is to capture the baseball card market through spectacular innovations. Their first series was published in 1989. Reggie Jackson, recently retired from the game, appears on the brand's advertisements and participates in sponsored events.
All publishers like to add random bonuses in the boxes to increase the sales. In 1990 Upper Deck publishes a Reggie Jackson card of which he has the player sign 2,500 copies, 25 of which are also autographed with his nickname Mr October. The other cards of the same position bear an unnumbered facsimile signature. The launch ad is simple : Find the Reggie. The hobby is changed forever.
The bidder is taking a risk. This card is not rare : 40 units have been graded Mint 9 by PSA. No one can prevent another Gem Mint coming out of a shoebox tomorrow.
This exceptional bid also pays tribute to a champion who has an strong personality and was in 1990 one of the modernizers of the trading card.
Upper Deck Company's ambition is to capture the baseball card market through spectacular innovations. Their first series was published in 1989. Reggie Jackson, recently retired from the game, appears on the brand's advertisements and participates in sponsored events.
All publishers like to add random bonuses in the boxes to increase the sales. In 1990 Upper Deck publishes a Reggie Jackson card of which he has the player sign 2,500 copies, 25 of which are also autographed with his nickname Mr October. The other cards of the same position bear an unnumbered facsimile signature. The launch ad is simple : Find the Reggie. The hobby is changed forever.
1979 GRETZKY Rookie Card
1
O-Pee-Chee
2020 SOLD for $ 1.3M by Heritage
O-Pee-Chee was a candy maker based in London, Ontario. The company entered the baseball and ice hockey trading cards market in 1934. In 1958 an agreement is concluded with the US company Topps for coordinated operations. Topps cards have an English back and O-Pee-Chee cards are bilingual.
Wayne Gretzky is hockey's super-champion, and his rookie cards published in 1979 by both companies are avidly sought after by collectors. The O-Pee-Chee is the rarest.
The text on the back of the card announces the future great career of the champion : he is "the best prospect to turn professional since Guy Lafleur".
Gretzky had entered the NHL before the legal age of that league for a conjunctural cause. He had played the 1978-1979 season as a professional at 17 with the WHA which was absorbed at the end of that season by the NHL. The WHA had no age limit.
The population of Wayne Gretzky's rookie cards in PSA supreme grade Gem Mint 10 is two units for the O-Pee-Chee and two for the Topps. Heritage listed one example of each in the online sale that ends on December 10, 2020.
The O-Pee-Chee gem mint had been sold for $ 94K by SCP on May 1, 2011 and for $ 465K by Goldin on August 4, 2016, lot 25. It was then the only O-Pee-Chee Gretzky rookie card known in that grade. It was sold for $ 1.3M in the 2020 Heritage sale, lot 58423.
On May 27, 2021, Heritage reported that they brokered the other O-Pee-Chee gem mint card for $ 3.75M.
Wayne Gretzky is hockey's super-champion, and his rookie cards published in 1979 by both companies are avidly sought after by collectors. The O-Pee-Chee is the rarest.
The text on the back of the card announces the future great career of the champion : he is "the best prospect to turn professional since Guy Lafleur".
Gretzky had entered the NHL before the legal age of that league for a conjunctural cause. He had played the 1978-1979 season as a professional at 17 with the WHA which was absorbed at the end of that season by the NHL. The WHA had no age limit.
The population of Wayne Gretzky's rookie cards in PSA supreme grade Gem Mint 10 is two units for the O-Pee-Chee and two for the Topps. Heritage listed one example of each in the online sale that ends on December 10, 2020.
The O-Pee-Chee gem mint had been sold for $ 94K by SCP on May 1, 2011 and for $ 465K by Goldin on August 4, 2016, lot 25. It was then the only O-Pee-Chee Gretzky rookie card known in that grade. It was sold for $ 1.3M in the 2020 Heritage sale, lot 58423.
On May 27, 2021, Heritage reported that they brokered the other O-Pee-Chee gem mint card for $ 3.75M.
2
Topps
2022 SOLD for $ 1.2M by Heritage
Four 1979 rookie cards of Wayne Gretzky have been graded a perfect Gem Mint 10 by PSA, two of them by Topps and two by O-Pee-Chee.
One of the Topps was sold for $ 720K by Heritage on December 10, 2020, lot 58422. The other example was sold for $ 1.2M by Heritage on August 27, 2022, lot 53045.
One of the Topps was sold for $ 720K by Heritage on December 10, 2020, lot 58422. The other example was sold for $ 1.2M by Heritage on August 27, 2022, lot 53045.
1980 Topps Basketball
2022 SOLD for $ 1.44M by Goldin
The 1980 Topps set of basketball is made of 176 cards and 16 inserts. Each obverse has three segments. 264 different players are featured. The insert is a photo of one of the 16 league teams.
The most prestigious card highlighting Larry Bird, Julius Erving and Magic Johnson is the rookie card for both Bird and Johnson. 22 Bird-Erving-Johnson copies are graded GEM-MT 10 by PSA.
A collection was sold for $ 1.44M by Goldin on February 5, 2022, lot 1.
It is made of the complete set of 176 cards all graded GEM-MT 10 by PSA, a complete collection of the 16 inserts of which the PSA grade is 10 for 8 of them and Mint 9 for the other 8, plus a 132 card uncut sheet and an unopened wax pack in perfect condition that contains eight unrevealed cards and one insert.
The most prestigious card highlighting Larry Bird, Julius Erving and Magic Johnson is the rookie card for both Bird and Johnson. 22 Bird-Erving-Johnson copies are graded GEM-MT 10 by PSA.
A collection was sold for $ 1.44M by Goldin on February 5, 2022, lot 1.
It is made of the complete set of 176 cards all graded GEM-MT 10 by PSA, a complete collection of the 16 inserts of which the PSA grade is 10 for 8 of them and Mint 9 for the other 8, plus a 132 card uncut sheet and an unopened wax pack in perfect condition that contains eight unrevealed cards and one insert.
