November 14, 2019: Sports & Americana Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/14/2019
This is an old-time auction lot with an eclectic assortment of postwar baseball issues, headlined by three dozen Hall of Famers and a large lot from the coveted 1952 Topps Baseball issue. By nature of its makeup, the lot begs for a good deal of close examination; condition ranges from group to group but is fairly typical of how these important issues are usually found in mature collections. We’ll start with the marquee name of 1952 Topps and an imposing array of 84 pasteboards, one of those rare issues where a non-Hall of Famer might overshadow some of his more famous counterparts, in this instance the fabled No.1 card of Andy Pafko. The Pafko card here is in Fair condition, putting it in good stead even alongside HOFers like Warren Spahn, Duke Snider, Robin Roberts, Enos Slaughter and Monte Irvin. The breakdown: VG-Ex (2) – No. 31 and 43; Very Good (17) – No. 8, 14, 23, 24, 27, 33 Spahn, 37 Snider, 50, 54, 58, 59 Roberts, 61, 63, 66, 68, 71 and 75; Good (12) – No. 3, 4, 5, 16, 20, 22, 26 Irvin, 36 Hodges, 48, 60, 69 and 72; Fair (41) – No. 1 Pafko, 2, 6, 7, 9 (2), 10, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 21, 25, 28, 32, 34, 38, 40, 42, 44, 45, 46, 49, 51 (2), 52, 53, 55, 56, 57, 62, 64, 65 Slaughter, 67, 70, 73, 74, 76, 77 and 80; Poor (12) – No. 19, 21, 29 (2), 30, 33 Spahn, 45, 61, 63, 65 Slaughter, 67 and 69. The 1951 Topps lineup includes 53 mostly different cards from the Red Back Series, the vast majority in Fair condition (often from light paper loss on the reverse), and five cards deemed Poor from evidence of trim (Nos. 2, 11, 27, 30 Spahn and 38 Snider) There are four cards from the rare 1951 Topps Team card issue, including the White Sox, Reds, Athletics and Cardinals, all in mostly Fair condition; in addition, four cards from the 1951 Topps Connie Mack All-Time All-Stars include Cochrane, Gehrig, Collins and Speaker (all are Poor). There are 31 cards from 1948-52 Bowman, mostly Good to Very Good, with a few Excellent and Fair, including 1948 Slaughter (Good) and 1948 Spahn Rookie (Ex), and a 1952 Reese (Poor). There is also a large array of the 1948 Exhibits (27), with 17 of the cards being affixed to album pages, with virtually all of the Exhibits revealing a small pinhole near the center top, fairly typical treatment from younger collectors. The unaffixed cards (10) – Doerr, Fain, Groth, Lowery, Mitchell, Newcombe, Newhouser, Sauer, Vernon and Waitkus; affixed (17) – Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams, Phil Rizzuto, Enos Slaughter, Blackwell, Branca, Doby, Doerr, Elliott, Feller, Hatton, Holmes, Konstanty, Philley, Roe, Westlake and Zarilla. The final element of the lot includes a 1980 Topps Henderson Rookie (Ex-Mt), a 1982 Topps No. 21 Ripken (Nr-Mt), Upper Deck Century Legends Bob Feller Autograph (Nr-Mt to Mt), R & N China Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps Ceramic card (Nr-Mt), plus 17 assorted 1981 Topps Scratch-Offs and seven (7) different cards from 1971 Kellogg’s and 1977 Hostess, plus 27 miscellaneous superstar cards from the 1980s and 1990s.
1951-52 Topps Baseball, 1947 Exhibits, Early Bowmans, With HOFers (258)
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