The Post War Cards Newsletter #42

A 1965 Topps HK File Set, WS Batting Foes, Non-US '76 Star Trek Wrappers, A Classic Hobby Cover W/ Fake '54 Topps Cards, Fleer's Legacy

Happy Thursday!

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🏒 1965 Topps Hockey File Copy Set

I introduced the Topps Vault File Sets (Gelman Catalogs) in Newsletter #24, and one recently resurfaced in Heritage’s June 28 Sports Showcase Auction. While most of the attention has been on their Summer Sports Catalog Auction, this smaller event quietly featured a 1965 Topps Hockey File Copy Set. It originally sold during the 1989 Guernsey’s Topps Auction and changed hands again at Mile High Card Co. in December 2024 for $6,355. This time, it brought $2,562. That result feels surprisingly low, and unless there’s something I’m missing, it seems like the buyer from Mile High took quite a loss.

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⚾️ World Series Batting Foes

I shared this photo of Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron before a 1957 World Series game on social media back in the middle of June and thought it was worth sharing here again.

It was sold in Mastro’s December 2004 Auction of Distinction, and they mistakenly said this image was later used for the classic 1958 Topps baseball card. Topps actually used a shot from a slightly different angle for the 1958 “World Series Batting Foes” card.

Here is the original photograph (sold by Heritage in August 2020 for $9,300) and the 1958 card (from PSA's website).

There’s yet to be a PSA 10 example of this card pop to date, and it’s pretty unlikely to ever happen; there are just 173 Gem Mint cards across the entire set.

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✍️ Great Hobby Writing

• The Shlabotnik Report: My Own “Notable Americans”

• Topps Ripped: Celebrating 35 Years of 1990 Topps Simpsons

• cllct: Searching for the worst Diamond King

• The Topps Archives: Creeped Out

• Night Owl Cards: A Year of Mystery

• Topps Ripped: How to Collect | The Detroit Tigers

• The Chronicles of Fuji: One to Open, One to Keep

• Only Good Stickers: Panini Fotbol 87

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🖖 Unopened Items Of The Week - A Pair Of Special 1976 Star Trek Wrappers

First, yes, I know a wrapper is a remnant of something that was opened…But I include it in the niche! Anywho, notice anything special about these 1976 Topps Star Trek wrappers?

Well, one is the Scanlens variation, which was distributed in Australia, and the other, Allen’s & Regina, was produced and distributed in New Zealand. You really don’t see these on the market that often, which is why the Scanlens one sold on eBay for $34.56 and the A&G wrapper sold for $108.35. For comparison, these 30 Topps variations sold together as a lot for $21.50 (including shipping) back in April.

If you’re into this sort of stuff, consider upgrading for the weekly Unopened Market Report! The seller sold a bunch of other unique Australian and New Zealand-released wrappers from significant non-sports sets, which I added to my unopened archives for future stories.

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📝 On The Blog

• July 3, 2025: The Trader Speaks, June 1976

• July 4, 2025: The Incredible Art Behind Mike Shannon’s 1964 Rookie Card

• July 5, 2025: Blood, Guts & Bubblegum Cards

• July 6, 2025: Original 1961 Topps Mantle Flexichrome Art Surfaces on eBay for $15K

• July 7, 2025: An Accidental Rarity: 1959 Fleer Ted Williams #68

• July 8, 2025: A Trio of Legends: 1950s–60s Baseball Calendars Featuring Wagner, Ott, and Hornsby

• July 9, 2025: Jim Coates and the Cropped Canvas: A Look at His 1959 Topps Original Artwork

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📚 Early Topps Cards On The April 1955 Cover Of The Detroit News Pictorial Magazine

This cover of the April 17, 1955, issue of The Detroit News Pictorial Magazine is a hobby classic.

But it wasn’t until I asked if anyone had a copy for sale that someone pointed out an interesting thing about it. Spike Glidden wrote:

Funny that the handful of visible 1954 Topps cards look like fakes. Their centered white borders never existed, other than as possible cutouts from August 1954's Sports Illustrated insert sheet. Wonder if that implies these were all reproductions made for the cover shot alone?

Compare these "normal" 1954 Hal Brown and Ted Williams cards to those on his floor, where their white borders extend to at least part of each card's top edge. That's just not seen on 1954 Topps cards outside of Sports Illustrated's insert sheet...and Hal Brown doesn't appear on that sheet at all.

Perhaps the company that supplied images for this promotional magazine use made 1954 Topps examples with "centered" backgrounds as a one-off? It's a puzzling detail, given how many different sets can be ID'd from the whole picture.

After I complimented his good eye, he added:

Fun to pick out all the stuff they used, from Topps & Bowman, plus sport to non-sport. It could be a kid's real collection except for those 1954s that, as best I can tell, never existed.

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🏭 Fleer’s Philadelphia Legacy

I ran across a nice article, published in February 2016, titled Dubble Bubble & Baseball Cards: Philadelphia’s Fleer Legacy that’s worth checking out. It pointed me to Fleer’s final home on Google Maps!

Happy collecting!