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Presented here, recently graded and fresh to the hobby is this wonderful 1953 Topps Baseball complete set (274 total cards; six #'s not issued), evenly matched in the EX to NM range with a few outliers. A total of 29 cards including rookies, Hall of Famers and stars have been graded (24 by PSA and 5 by SGC), with four more pending. Our consignor built this set totally from scratch as a young collector, pulling the majority of these out of '53 Topps packs or trading with friends to complete it. We received the set with every card in individual top loaders (Card Savers), so he was quite diligent in his preservation efforts.
Pre-pandemic, every card in this set would have been submitted for grading and it would have been registered. (The increase in grading fees now makes this uneconomical for a consignor.) In our opinion, this is a much better set than the #56 PSA ranked '53 Topps set (5.27 GPA) offered in Lot 71 of this auction. The top three cards in this set (Mantle, Mays & Jackie) are all graded significantly higher, the other graded cards match up evenly with those in Lot 71, and the raw cards in this set look nicer, on average, than their graded counterparts! If this was 2019, this set would likely achieve a GPA in the 6.0 to 6.5 range.
PSA graded cards are: #82 Mickey Mantle (HOF) - PSA EX 5, #244 Willie Mays (HOF) - PSA EX+ 5.5, #1 Jackie Robinson (HOF) - PSA VG-EX 4, #86 Billy Martin - PSA NM 7, #273 Harvey Haddix RC - PSA NM 7, #258 Jim Gilliam RC - PSA EX-MT 6, #104 Yogi Berra (HOF) - PSA EX 5, #37 Ed Mathews (HOF) - PSA EX-MT 6, #54 Bob Feller (HOF) - PSA EX-MT 6, #61 Early Wynn (HOF) - PSA EX 5, #154 Dick Groat - PSA EX-MT 6, #135 Al Rosen - PSA EX-MT 6, #148 Mickey Grasso - PSA EX-MT 6, #77 John Mize (HOF) - PSA NM 7, #72 Fred Hutchinson - PSA NM 7, #66 Minnie Minoso (HOF) - PSA EX-MT 6, #76 Pee Wee Reese (HOF) - PSA VG-EX 4, #162 Ted Kluszewski - PSA NM 7, #212 Jack Dittmer - PSA NM 7, #242 Charlie Silvera - PSA NM 7, #62 Monte Irvin (HOF) - PSA EX 5, #188 Andy Carey RC - PSA EX 5, #213 Ray Scarborough - PSA EX 5 and #263 John Podres RC - PSA GOOD 2.
SGC graded cards are: #220 Satchel Paige (HOF) - SGC EX+ 5.5, #207 Whitey Ford (HOF) - SGC EX/NM 6, #191 Ralph Kiner (HOF) - Authentic (color added), #147 Warren Spahn (HOF) - Authentic (color added), and #225 Bobby Shantz SGC EX/NM 6. If there truly is some color added to Kiner and Spahn, it must be a teeny amount because we looked closely with a loupe and cannot tell where it could be (usually the red or black borders). Otherwise, each card appears EX-MT or better.
Overall, some of these results are baffling, particularly the PSA italicized. Yankee teammates Scarborough and Carey were each rated EX when they clearly appear as nice or better than some EX-MT 6's and NM 7's (see Nathews or Mize). Johnny Podres' rooke card was inexplicably given a GD 2; we almost feel like this must be a clerical error on the PSA flip because the card looks no worse than EX 5 through a loupe. It has better eye appeal than the Jackie. In addition, Paige's EX 5.5 rating by SGC is super harsh; the card looks to be at least one full point higher. To be fair, there are a few generous grades. The NM 7 ratings of Haddix and Martin--the only cards in the set already graded upon arrival--probably would not hold up if submitted raw based on today's adjusted standards. And the EX 5 Berra did not get a qualifier despite a noticeable yellow print defect before the team name at the bottom; the rest of the card is NM, so maybe that's why.
Notable raw cards include: #4 Wade MT (OC), #10 Burgess EX, #14 Labine EX+, #27 Roy Campanella HOF EX (PD), #31 Blackwell NM, #34 Shuba NM, #41 Enos Slaughter HOF EX-MT+, #43 McDougald EX-MT, #50 Dressen EX-MT, #78 Red Schoendienst HOF VG, #79 Wyrostek EX-MT (MC), #81 Black NM (OC), #85 Morgan EX (NM-MT if not for one corner), #87 Lopat EX, #101 Wilks NM (OC), #109 Al Dark EX-MT, #111 Sauer EX-MT, #114 Phil Rizzuto HOF EX-MT+ (OC), #119 Sain EX-MT, #125 Dick Williams HOF VG-EX (EX-MT if not for one corner), #134 Rube Walker EX, #138 George Kell HOF VG-EX, #140 Glaviano EX (NM if not for one corner), #141 Reynolds EX, #149 Dom DiMaggio EX-MT, #151 Hoyt Wilhelm HOF NM (wax ST on back), #157 Addis EX-MT, #158 Logan RC EX, #166 Hunter NM, #204 Bokelmann NM, #210 Bob Cerv RC EX-MT, #217 Wall NM, #222 Janowicz RC EX-MT, #228 Hal Newhouser HOF EX, #235 Hetki EX-MT (MC), #236 Perkowski EX, #237 Podbielan NM, #238 Hogue NM, #241 Sima NM, #246 Roy Face RC EX-MT, #247 Sandlock EX-MT+, #254 Roe EX-MT, #255 Howell EX+, #259 McMillan EX-MT, #264 Woodling NM, #265 Jensen EX, #270 Stephens EX-MT+, #272 Antonelli EX-MT+, #274 Riddle EX-MT, #276 Reffensberger EX-MT+, #278 Miranda EX-MT (OC), #280 Bolling RC EX-MT.
These commons appear NM or bettter, with a good opportunity of attaining high-grade status if submitted to PSA or SGC: #6 Sam Jones, #32 Vollmer, #42 Zernial, #46 Klippstein, #67 Sievers, #94 Kennedy, #131 Byrd, #156 Rivera, #170 Werle, #205 Benson, #230 Lindell and #233 Aber.