April 5, 2018: Sports & Americana Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/5/2018
It’s one of the truly difficult and condition sensitive basketball issues of the 1970’s, the oversized 1970-71 issue with the bold background colors and the elongated format (2 ½-by-4 11/16) that made preserving cards in top condition a bit of a challenge. This is a truly wonderful specimen from that coveted issue, missing only 11 cards which are detailed further down in the description. This offering is basically Ex-Mt, with fully two thirds of the total falling into that range and perhaps another 15 percent or so even better at Near-Mint. The cards have especially vivid background colors and super clean card backs with blazing bright orange highlights. About two dozen cards in the grouping have the kind of centering that might prompt an upgrade, though not all of those would be severe enough to necessarily dictate an off-center designation. A breakdown of key cards is featured at the end of this entry; the 11 missing cards include No. 2 NBA Scoring Average Leaders, 6, 10 Havlicek, 24 Checklist, 31, 36, 46, 50 Wilt Chamberlain, 97, 108 and 123 Maravich. The breakdown: No. 1 Scoring Leaders – Ex-Mt o/c, 8 Bradley – Ex-Mt, 13 Riley – Very Good, 18 Bellamy – Near-Mint, 20 Monroe – Ex-Mt, 30 Hudson – Ex-Mt, 60 Walker – Ex-Mt, 65 Baylor – Ex, 70 Hayes – Ex, 72 Unseld – Ex-Mt, 75 Alcindor – Good, 76 Mullins – Ex, 80 Wilkens – VG-Ex, 90 Thurmond – Ex-Mt o/c, 107 West All-Star – Ex, 120 Frazier – Nr-Mt, 125 Bing – Ex-Mt-Plus, 130 Hawkins – Ex, 137 Murphy – Ex-Mt, 140 Cunningham – Ex-Mt o/c, 143 White – Ex o/c, 150 Reed – Ex, 155 Greer – Ex, 160 West – VG and 163 Sanders – Ex-Mt o/c.
1970-71 Topps Basketball Near Set (164/175)
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