The Post War Cards Newsletter #48

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🇻🇪 Graded 1960 Topps Venezuelan Tattoos

I noticed the following lot of five SGC-graded 1960 Topps Venezuelan Tattoos offered on the Venezuela Topps Facebook group the other week. There’s just one other 1960 Topps Venezuelan Tattoo, besides these five, in SGC’s Pop Report (Dick Groat).

You might recall that I wrote about the 1960 Venezuelan Tattoos in an article comparing them to the Topps and O-Pee-Chee variations. A Don Drysdale Venezuelan Tattoo popped up on eBay in 2013, and then a handful started emerging around November 2022. The Topps Archives has the checklist at 19 subjects as of February 2023 but mentioned that the pipeline of these has closed. He suspects a few more subjects exist, namely Luis Aparicio, and that they were likely issued during the 1961-62 winter season.

PSA’s Pop Report shows five examples; Luis Arroyo, Roberto Clemente, Rocky Colavito, Nellie Fox, and Juan Marichal. However, when you click on the APR tab, it adds Bob Allison, Don Drysdale, Frank Lary, Ruben Amaro, and Tony Gonzales for a total of ten players. Here are two of them; the Clemente (and maybe others) belongs to VenezuelaTopps! The Marichal used to be in an SGC case, so more may cross.

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✍️ Great Hobby Writing

• Night Owl Cards: My National and my National thoughts

• The Topps Archives: A Real Rust-Up

• The Shlabotnik Report: Newly-discovered Doppelgangers

• SABR’s Baseball Cards Research Committee: Tom Cheney and the ’63 Fleer set

• Dime Boxes: Consider the Kool-Aid (or, a day at The National)

• Sports Collectors Daily: Research Yields Surprises Hidden in Vintage Topps Baseball Team Cards & Thirty Years Ago, Tri-Cards Lawsuit Changed The Hobby Forever

• When Topps Had Balls: Special 1969 ‘Team’ Cereal Extension Set: Johnny Bench

• Nine Pockets: When Even the Slugger Had to Lay ‘Em Down

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📬 Robert Edward Auctions Summer 2023 Auction Review

Robert Edward Auctions (REA) always has museum-worthy catalogs. This summer’s highlight was the 1909-1911 T206 White Border Joe Doyle Hands Aboce Head N.Y. Nat’l graded SGC 3.5, which sold for $1.323M.

Fice other items sold for over $250k, including a 1922-24 Babe Ruth Batman ($1.323M), a PSA 8 1951 Bowman Mantle ($372k), a 1955 Topps Koufax graded PSA 9 ($360k), a 1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson graded PSA 8 ($324k), and a1903 World Series Game 1 Ticket ($270k).

The big ticket unopened item was the 1970-71 Topps Basketball 2nd Series Box ($96k). But the unopened items that stood out to me were the super tough 1968 Topps Plaks Display Box ($3840), the GAI 1965 Topps Football Wax Pack ($6k), and since I’m in the middle of releasing a 5-part series about 1978 Topps Baseball, the 1978 Topps Baseball Wax Box ($4200).

Three items stood out to me as excellent display pieces for someone’s hobby cave: the 1959 Home Run Derby Complete Set on Uncut Sheet/Advertising Poster ($38400), the 1963 Dell Sports National League All-Star Pin-Up Poster($570), and the 1968 Topps 3-D Uncut Sheet ($29400).

And as a big fan of oddball cards, the following complete sets were interesting: the 1970 Kellogg’s Football PSA Gem Mint 10 Complete Set ($5280), the 1952 Mother’s Cookies Complete Set ($1560), the 1950 Drake’s Cookies Complete Set ($3840), and 1963 Salada-Junket Coins PSA Complete Set ($1380).

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⚾️ Huggins & Scott August 2023 Auction Review

Speaking of REA, they recently acquired Huggins & Scott Auctions, which wrapped up their August 2023 auction. REA’s press release about the acquisition mentioned Huggins would continue to operate independently, which I hope is true; I’ve always liked Huggins for raw sets/lots, oddball cards, and unique memorabilia.

The three priciest items were a 1962 Jello-O Baseball #142 Willie Mays Unfolded Box ($34,800), a 1911 E94 Close Candy Honus Wagner PSA 5 ($31,200), and a 1909 E92 Croft’s Candy Ty Cobb PSA 2 ($29,400).

However, the highlight to me was the 1970 Topps Super Baseball “Topps Vault” File Copy Complete Set in Original Binder (42/42) with Near Back Set (40/42) that sold for $4080. I was hoping to grab my first file copy set, but my bids got annihilated - it’s a really popular set and sold for more than most of the baseball sets that auction houses have resold since the original Gurnesy’s Topps Auction.

There were four Baseball Exhibits Paper Proof Sheet sales; 1951 Baseball Exhibits Complete Set of 16 Paper Proof Uncut Sheets (64 Total Players) that sold for $1920, a circa 1966 lot of 6 Baseball Exhibits Paper Proof Uncut Sheet with 24 different cards that sold for $1800, a pair of 1951 Baseball Exhibitis Paper Proof Uncut Sheets that sold for $1260, and a 1960-61 Baseball Exhibits Complete Set of Paper Proof Sheets (2) that sold for $630.

Two more exciting/unique items were a newly discovered 1964 Topps Rookie All-Star Banquet Program that sold for $1740 and a 1955 All-American Sports Club Near Set (493/500) that sold for $8,700.