August 6, 2015: Sports & Americana Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/6/2015
It’s not hard to decide which is the most condition-sensitive Topps baseball card issue of the postwar era: the black borders on the 1971 Topps cards have made compiling high-grade sets a challenge for more than 40 years. With such an introduction comes this remarkable grouping of nearly 900 pristine pasteboards from that coveted set, all in a spectacular condition that would be virtually impossible to imagine. With cards numbering across all seven series, this grouping boasts that elusive “vending bend” that tells of pristine, uncirculated cards and affords a particular level of enthusiasm in the case of this condition-challenged issue. The grouping would be described as Nr-Mt to Mt almost from start to finish, with literally hundreds of cards earning that lofty designation and perhaps a couple hundred relegated to Nr-Mt because of merely the slightest touch of wear to a single corner, often the same corner, meaning it stemmed from the placement in the box rather than from any appreciable handling. With the most difficult Topps issue in history in terms of condition concerns, there inevitably will be a few cards that might be called Ex-Mt, and perhaps even a few Excellent, but these are few and far between. There is, of course, significant duplication, as is customary with grouping that traces its ancestry to a Topps vending scenario, and more than welcome when it comes to key cards and specials. That lineup includes the likes of Walt Alston (4), Leo Durocher (4) and Catfish Hunter (4), with the rest of the HOF roster including Joe Torre and Red Schoendienst, along with 10 Checklists, 30 Team cards and a World Series special. For many collectors, they could go a lifetime without seeing this many uncirculated 1971 Topps cards in a single setting.
1971 Topps Baseball Super High-Grade Grouping With HOFers (880)
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