The Post War Cards Newsletter #28
1953 Topps Baseball Uncut Sheets, A 1968 Topps 3-D Test Set Sale, Late '70s Non-Sport Boxes, A Rare Cards Thread, And The Original Artwork Drawn For Drysdale's 1966 Topps Card
Lots of hobby goodness today; let’s get to it!
✂️ An Early ‘80s Discovery of 1953 Topps Baseball Sheets
If you spend enough time studying the hobby, you’ll inevitably develop a fascination with uncut sheets; proof, my Uncut Sheet Archive. That’s why, when I stumbled upon Lew Lipset’s article in the August 1984 issue of Baseball Cards magazine about a discovery of 1953 Topps Baseball sheets, I knew I had to dive in and find out if any have surfaced since.
In 1982, the son of the original owner of the carting company discovered strips of 1953 Topps baseball cards in a warehouse. He sold them at the Collectors Exchange in Hicksville, N.Y. With these strips, hobbyists reconstructed two different 100-card sheets from the First Series of the 1953 Topps set.
Summarizing the article from 1984, the sheets revealed a unique printing technique where alternating rows were printed upside down, allowing for cleaner cuts. Each sheet contained 80 unique cards and 20 double-prints, with five cards—Smokey Burgess, Ellis Kinder, Early Wynn, Fred Hutchinson, and Joe Black—missing from both sheets. Taken together, the sheets implied 50 double-prints and 30 triple-prints. The analysis suggested that these five cards were likely held back for later series. Based on this discovery, collectors believe the first 165 cards of the set were issued in three series rather than four, as previously assumed. The high-number series (#221-280) was also confirmed to have six missing cards, likely due to legal disputes with Bowman.
If you want all the details, here are links to scans of page 1 and page 2 of the article, along with higher-quality scans of sheet one and sheet two from above.
I found a few examples of these reconstructed sheets across the major auction houses: Heritage in 2014 ($21k), Lelands in December 2016 (reserve not met), and Heritage in 2020 ($11,100).
⚾️ A 1968 Topps 3-D Test Set Sale 25 Years Ago
A little over 25 years ago, in November 1999, this PSA-Graded 1968 Topps 3-D Test Set sold at auction for $27,782. The lot also included a rare wrapper.
Today, PSA’s Price Guide values a set at these grades at ~$68k.
✍️ Great Hobby Writing
Baseball Card Come to Life: Blog Bat Around: Top 10 Junk Wax sets & Card Buzz: Blog bat around - junk wax favorites
The Topps Archives: A Dicey Situation
Collectibles on SI: 1955 Topps Doubleheaders Jackie Robinson & Don Hoak: A Great Vintage Card
Nine Pockets: A Smorgasbord! 1986 Meadow Gold Milk Carton Sketches
The Chronicles of Fuji: Big, Bigger, and Biggest
Crocodile Sports Cards: Kaboom! (or bust)
Night Owl Cards: Another parallel from the '70s
The Fleer Stricker Project: Opening a Unopened 1973 Fleer Baseball Decals Box!
Sports Collectors Daily: 1960 Nu-Card Baseball Hi-Lites: Postcard-Sized Slices of History
Signature Stories: Baseball’s best April Fool’s joke
🚀 Unopened Item(s) Of The Week - Late ‘70s Non-Sport BBCE Box Sales
While baseball cards remained a consistent source of income, the late 1970s marked a pivotal moment for Topps as it dove hard into the world of non-sports cards to drive a profit. In 1978 and 1979, they really tried to capitalize on a wave of T.V., movies, and other pop culture properties with a ton of different products. And they printed A LOT of them, so unopened prices remain pretty reasonable.
And REA sold a slew of these BBCE-wrapped non-sport wax boxes in their March 2025 auction that closed on the 23rd, including:
1978 Topps Battlestar Galactica; $420
Two 1979 Topps Aliens boxes; $228 and $168
1979 Topps James Bond Moonraker; $216
1979 Topps The Incredible Hulk; $360
Two 1979 Topps Buck Rogers boxes; $144 and $144
1978 Topps Mork and Mindy; $156
I include summaries of most of the major auction house unopened material in the Unopened Market Report, so consider upgrading.
📝 On The Blog
Mar 27, 2025: 1961 Topps Hockey Is A Set of Many Firsts
Mar 28, 2025: A 1950s Stan Musial Rawlings Die-Cut Advertising Sign
Mar 29, 2025: Mickey Mantle’s 1958 Topps Contract Extension: A Hobby Treasure
Mar 30, 2025: A Majestic Relic: The Stunning 19th Century Football Broadside from Ohio
Mar 31, 2025: The One Hit Wonders of the 1953 Bowman Color Baseball Card Set
Apr 1, 2025: Unearthing a 1978 Eddie Murray RC Panel: A Nostalgic Find From Oregon Trail Auctions
Apr 2, 2025: A Unique 1968 Topps Non-Sports Multi-Issue Uncut Sheet Featuring Hot Rods, Target Moon, And Who Am I Cards
🦄 Rare Cards Thread On X/Twitter
Ryan, @AkaBrewersBeat, on X, shared a 1953 Stahl Meyer Gil Hodges card (PSA Pop of 24) and asked folks to share rare cards they have; the thread is awesome.
Here are some of the cards that were shared: 1950 Menko JCM125 Ted Williams, a signed 1955 Red Man Larry Doby, 1910 W-UNC Tris Speaker, 1952 Tip-Top Bread Label Campanella, 1874 West & Lee Authors Mark Twain (Blue Back), 1954 All-Star Nickey Mantle Photo Pack, 1933 Tatoo Orbit R308 Jimmy Foxx, 1934 R304 Al Demaree Bill Terry Die-Cut, 1964 Kahn’s Wiener Sam Huff, 1962 Kennywood Arcade Pittsburgh Exhibit of Yogi Berra, and a 1955 Exhibits P.C. Back Ed Matthews, among many others!
🏛 From The Topps Archives - The Original Art Used For Don Drysdale’s 1966 Topps Card
Here’s a cool piece of Topps history via Guernsey’s 1989 Auction and now eBay: the original art drawn for the back of Don Drysdale’s 1966 Topps card #430.
Happy collecting!