April 11, 2013: Sports & Americana Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/11/2013
Close your eyes and picture the nicest 1962 Topps Baseball set that you’ve ever seen. Now check out this beauty. Chances are good that this monster is right up there with the best of your memory or imagination. Seemingly constructed from vending or even unopened material, this is simply an extraordinary example of a super-clean (front and back) and uniform mostly Nr-Mt set, with a handful above and below, but the lower end usually limited to Excellent and more typically Ex-Mt.
Eighteen key cards from the issue have been third-party slabbed and graded, returning with a collective report card that nicely attests to and complements the overall condition range of this historically condition-sensitive issue. The rest of the assemblage, nestled snugly in an 800-count box that reveals the coveted “vending bend,” could conceivably be sent away for third-party entombment if your collecting interests bend in that direction.
Simply put, it’s very rare to find raw cards in such pristine condition, with the vast majority Near-Mint or even Near-Mint to Mint blazers, with nice gloss and almost no chipping of the pesky wood-grain borders. Perhaps a couple of dozen cards might someday be upgraded for centering, a development that would say as much about the sparkling nature of the surrounding colleagues as it does about the cards in question. The majority of those centering question marks occur in the First Series; the difficult high numbers are as spectacular and untouched as the rest of the cards and easily fall within the overall range.
Breakdown of keys: No. 1 Maris – PSA 6, 5 Koufax – PSA 6, 10 Clemente – PSA 4, 18 Manager’s Dream – PSA 7, 50 Musial – PSA 7, 199 Perry Rookie – PSA 6, 200 Mantle – PSA 6.5, 300 Mays – PSA 6, 318 Switch Hitter Connects – PSA 7.5, 320 Aaron – PSA 6.5, 350 Frank Robinson – PSA 6, 360 Berra – PSA 6, 387 Brock – PSA 5.5, 425 Yastrzemski – PSA 6, 471 Mantle All-Star – PSA 6.5, 530 Gibson – Did not grade because of minimum size concern, 544 McCovey – PSA 6, and 594 Rookie Catchers (Uecker) – PSA 7.
Super High-Grade 1962 Topps Baseball Complete Set (598)
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