July 15, 2021: Summer Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/15/2021
Offered is a truly striking group of cards from the popular 1960 and 1961 Topps Baseball issues in simply outstanding condition, an array that includes more than two dozen Hall of Famers, including duplicates of legendary figures like Sandy Koufax, Ernie Banks, Frank Robinson, Willie McCovey and Yogi Berra in 1961 and Hank Aaron (All-Star) and Harmon Killebrew from 1960, plus dozens of important Specials, including Team cards, World Series subset cards and a sparkling array of the quirky Coaches subset from 1960 Topps (18) and more than 100 cards of the major stars of the era. We'll start with 1960 Topps, the larger of the two arrays at 262 cards, found here in a condition range primarily of Ex-Mt to Near-Mint or better, representing about 81 percent of the entire lot. There’s some duplication, most notably in the Coaches’ subset in the Sixth Series, a grouping of 18 cards that boast particularly vivid colors and good gloss, a description that applies to the vast majority of the entire array. The cards are pretty evenly distributed between all seven series, with five Hall of Famers included along with dozens of stars, All-Stars and Specials and headlined by a Henry Aaron All-Star from the high series and No. 210 Killebrew. The entire group comes out to 6 percent Near-Mint to Mint, 52 percent Near-Mint and 32 percent Excellent to Ex-Mt, with just 10 percent below. Even with the considerable duplication, it still winds up being nearly 200 different cards in high grade that could be used to upgrade even the nicest existing set or to launch on building a new one. While the condition is solid throughout, it improves noticeably in Series Two and the later series, with perhaps the highest concentration in Series Six and Seven, accounting for many of the most pristine cards in the group. Breakdown of 1960 Topps keys: No. 1 Wynn – Ex-Mt, 32 Sophomore Stalwarts – VG-Ex, 72 Tigers Team – Ex-Mt, Rookie Subset (17), 151 Giants Team – Near-Mint, 188 Williams – Excellent-Plus, 210 Killebrew – Ex-Mt-Plus, 212 Alston – Ex-Mt-Plus o/c, 264 Roberts – Ex, 389 World Series – Ex, 391 World Series – VG-Ex, 455-470 Coaches Subset – pretty uniformly Near-Mint or Near-Mint to Mint, including Red Sox, Cubs, Reds (3), Tigers, Athletics (2), Dodgers (4), Braves (2), Phillies, Cardinals and Senators (2); 484 Pirates Team (3, Nr-Mt and 2 Ex-Mt), and 566 Aaron All-Star – Ex-Mt; Stars and All-Stars: Aguirre, Bell, Bruton, Burdette (3), Coleman, Conley, Covington, Crandall, Crowe, Cunningham (2), Donovan, Drabowsky, Dykes, Flood, Garcia, Gilliam, Goodman (2), Haddix, Hoak, Hoeft, Sam Jones, Labine, Larsen (Good), Law, Lynch, McDaniel, McMahon, McMillan (2), Mincher, Mossi, Narleski, Neal, Newcombe, O’Connell, Osteen, Pierce, Podres, Power (2), Ramos, Richards, Shaw (3), Stuart, Temple, Throneberry, Stan Williams, Woodling, Yost and Zimmer. Listing of High Numbers: No. 508, 510, 516, 518, 520, 522, 524, 525, 526, 527, 532, 535, 536, 541, 543, 545, 546, 547, 548, 549 and 551. At Near-Mint or better, with quite a few Near-Mint to Mint specimens included in the mix, the sterling 1961 Topps group could be used to upgrade even the nicest existing sets or provide a launch on a new set. There is minimal duplication, almost all of it confined to key Hall of Famers or important Rookie cards. The breakdown of keys: No. 10 Brooks Robinson – Near-Mint, 20 Roberts – Ex-Mt-Plus, 25 Reds Artillery – Ex-Mt-Plus, 35 Santo Rookie – Nr-Mt, 41 NL Batting Leaders – Nr-Mt, 44 AL Home Run Leaders – Nr-Mt o/c, 88 Ashburn – Nr-Mt, 120 Mathews – Nr-Mt-Plus, 122 Cubs Team – Ex m/c, 132 Lopez – Nr-Mt, 136 Alston (2) – Nr-Mt and Ex-Mt, 160 Ford – Nr-Mt, 207 Dodgers Southpaws – Nr-Mt to Mt, 228 Yankees Team – VG-Ex, 327 Matty Alou Rookie (2) – Nr-Mt and Ex-Mt o/c, 337 Al’s Aces – Nr-Mt, 344 Koufax (2) – Nr-Mt and VG-Ex, 350 Banks – Nr-Mt o/c, 360 Frank Robinson – Nr-Mt-Plus o/c, 361 Fifth Series Checklist – Nr-Mt o/c, 401 Ruth 60th Homer Thrills – Nr-Mt m/c, 402 Larsen Perfect Game Thrills – Nr-Mt o/c, 404 Hornsby Thrills – Nr-Mt o/c, 405 Gehrig Thrills – Nr-Mt, 407 Chesbro Thrills – Nr-Mt-Plus, 425 Berra (2) – Nr-Mt o/c, 440 Aparicio – Nr-Mt-Plus, 455 Wynn – Nr-Mt, 471 Rizzuto MVP – Nr-Mt, 485 Banks MVP – Nr-Mt o/c, 490 Bunning (2) – Nr-Mt, 495 Elston Howard – Nr-Mt, 505 Schoendienst – Nr-Mt o/c, 506 Willie Davis Rookie – Nr-Mt, 517 McCovey – Ex-Mt, 547 Wagner – Ex and 551 Altman – Nr-Mt. The star and All-Star lineup includes: Aguirre, Allison, Felipe Alou, Battey, Boyer, Brosnan, Cash, Colavito, Tommy Davis, Dropo, Fairly, Flood, Francona, Gilliam, Green, Frank Howard, Jay, Kaat, Larker, Long, Maloney, Martin, Mauch, McCormick, Minoso, Moon, Pinson, Podres, Richardson, Richards, Wertz and White.
1960 and 1961 Topps Baseball High-Grade Group With 25 Hall of Famers, 1960 Aaron All-Star and Two ’61 Koufax (373)
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