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Awesome, fresh-to-the-hobby 1961-62 Fleer Basketball set presented here with cards mostly in the VG/EX to EX range. All that's missing to complete the 66-card set is Wilt Chamberlain's base rookie issue. (There happens to be one listed in Lot 422 of this auction.) The set is packed with 27 Naismith Hall of Famers, 16 of whom are featured twice. And there are 19 true rookie cards of early hoopers, 14 of whom are enshrined in Springfield, MA! Our consignor built this entire set on his own, pulling the vast majority of these from '61 Fleer packs as a youngster or trading with friends to complete it. We received the set with every card in individual top loaders (a.k.a. Card Savers), so he was quite diligent in his preservation efforts. Just prior to this auction, we sent 15 rookies (West, Oscar, Baylor, etc.), Naismith Hall of Famers (Cousy and Russell) and other stars in for grading. The results were overwhelmingly harsh compared to their aesthetic appeal. My, how grading standards have changed these days!
The graded cards are: #3 Elgin Baylor RC - SGC GD+ 2.5, #10 Bob Cousy - SGC VG/EX 4, #23 Sam Jones RC - SGC VG/EX 4, #36 Oscar Robertson RC - SGC VG+ 3.5, #38 Bill Russell - SGC VG+ 3.5, #43 Jerry West RC - SGC VG 3, #44 Len Wilkins [sic] RC - SGC VG/EX 4, #46 Elgin Baylor (In Action) Sinks a Basket - SGC VG/EX 4, #47 Wilt Chamberlain (In Action) Dunks a 2 Pointer - SGC Authentic, #49 Bob Cousy (In Action) Lays One Up - SGC VG/EX 4, #54 Tommy Heinsohn (In Action) Goes up fo a Shot - SGC EX/NM 6, #57 Rudy LaRusso (In Action) Gets off a Shot - SGC Authentic, #61 Oscar Robertson (In Action) Passes Arouind the Defense - SGC PR 1, #62 Bill Russell (In Action) Takes to the Air - SGC VG/EX 4, #66 Jerry West (In Action) Snags a Rebound - SGC VG/EX 4.
The two "Authentic" slabbed cards--LaRusso and Wilt's "In Action" cards--appear trimmed only at the top edge. If that is in fact the case, what a shame. Each would have easily attained mid-grade status, even by today's standards, as they both have incredible eye-appeal with terrific attributes everywhere else. The PR rating of Oscar's In Action card is downright laughable; aside from two jammed corners, the rest in practically NM! The base rookies of West and Baylor are each super crisp, sharp, smooth and bright; only both suffer from horizontal off-centering (not miscut). PSA would/should rate these EX-MT (OC) in our opinion. Finally, Russell's base card and the Oscar RC deserve at least on full grading point higher than their baffling VG+ designations.
As for the 50 ungraded cards in this set, most fit the bill of what traditionally would be considered mid-grade. Some notables are: #1 Al Attles RC - EX (borderline OC/MC), #2 Paul Arizin - VG/EX, #6 Bob Boozer RC - VG/EX, #9 Larry Costello RC - EX/NM+ (OC), #12 Wayne Embry RC - EX, #14 Tom Gola - VG/EX, #15, #15 Sihugo Green RC - VG/EX, #16 Hal Greer RC - VG, #17 Richie Guerin RC - EX, #18 Cliff Hagen RC - EX, #19 Tommy Heinsohn - VG/EX, #20 Bailey Howell RC - VG/EX, #21 Hot Rod Hundley - EX, #22 K.C. Jones RC - FR (MC, pin mark), #25 John Kerr - EX/NM, #26 LaRusso RC - EX/NM, #29 Lovellette - EX/NM (OC), #34 Bob Pettit - VG, #42 Jack Twyman - EX/NM+, #52 Guerin In Action - EX, and #56 Kerr In Action - EX/NM+.