October 24, 2024: Fall Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/24/2024
The most famous Rookie card in the 1952 Topps Baseball set pictured a young star of the Boston Braves who would sock 25 home runs in that first campaign en route to a Hall of Fame career and a spot in the then very-exclusive 500 Home Run Club. As the hobby exploded in the 1970s, new collectors started to realize what old-timers had known for years; planting a card at either the first or last number in the issue could be problematic. Rubber bands, that scourge for serious hobbyists, could molest and disfigure a baseball card like nobody’s business. Mathews’ Rookie was destined to be a treasure in any event, but his No. 407 location in the most coveted postwar baseball issue made top-condition examples worthy of a king’s ransom. Oh yeah, and did we mention that the scarcity question also got a boost when a reported when about 400 cases of the High Numbers were unceremoniously dumped into the sea off Long Island Sound in 1960 because Topps needed the storage space? This one arrives in a PSA 3 holder, but with 75/25 centering both directions, light wear to the corners and impressive color, it looks like VG/EX or even EX would be more fitting.
1952 Topps Eddie Mathews No. 407 PSA 3
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