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Vintage Basketball Cards MAY 2003 NEWS

TODAY'S NEWS IS ON THE MAIN PAGE

Friday and Saturday, May 30th and 31st

New Card Find

I got another batch of 1969 Topps Basketball PSA 9s yesterday. When I receive the cards, I will post the pictures.

Great Card for Sale

I got a tip yesterday that the BBCexchange may have 1971 Topps Basketball BOXES (YES!!! BOXES!!!) for sale for something between $6,000 and $8,000. Wow! However, this tip may be "expired" since the facts are a bit old on how BBCexchange has this wax.

Thursday, May 29

Big News

A fire destroyed Mark Murphy's Home/Office yesterday. I hope that everyone is alright. In terms of his collection, I can only assume that some cards/packs were lost ... with the possibility of his entire collection/inventory being wiped out. Other than a lot of priceless items probably being destroyed, I do not think that this will really affect the price of packs. I still know numerous suppliers of vintage wax. You can see his official press release about the fire on his website. www.bbckid.com .

New Additions

I got a whole slew of 1969 cards in PSA 9 to add to my existing set of 6s, 7s, and 8s. I decided to post up some pictures of these cards for you as well as redesign my 1969 page to include the entire set list. Check out the scans for the PSA 9 1969s. I am not really looking to trade them (or sell them) but if you can tempt me ... please do.

Even though the vending box for each year look the same, I decided to post a picture of a vending box ... it is a 1978 Topps Vending Box.

Auction News

The lastest Grey Flannel Auction has recently ended ... check out selling prices. www.greyflannel.com

Audit

Ok, I'm about done completing my Topps Test Audit. The final tally has the cards at about 220 with 22 of them being on ... dum dum dum ... an uncut sheet (who knows if this story I heard about the uncut sheet is true. It is a major dealer saying he has one. So you would think its true.) For now, I want to see who out there has any of the following cards. If you have any of them (or know someone that does have it) then shoot an email jeff@vintagebasketballcards.info

1) Royal Dessert Cards (I know of 2 complete sets and a few sets worth of singles)

2) Scott's (I know of a set and a few random singles that would almost make up a second set if all brought into the same place). I know a dealer who says he has a set and a set of proofs (once again, the validity is in question, but you would think its true).

3) Bread for Energy -- I know of about 8 mikans so I assume that there are about 10 of each card out there

Wednesday, May 27

Great Items for sale

I don't know if I mentioned this, but I found 1972 wax boxes at $2,000 a box. This is a great deal since you could make a considerably chunk of change getting them graded and selling them off as packs. I would do it if I had the money but alas I don't.

Vintage Population Report

I heard of two more topps test sets today which brings the total that I know to 6. However, I must say that this source is, although way up in the sportscard industry, unreliable ... even when they say the sets are in their inventory. I can't tell you who it is so don't both asking (I swore to it ... sorry).

Grading Inconsistencies

I hear that PSA grades easier on dealers that submit a lot of cards. I hear its a "you can take it to the bank" type situation. I've heard this from many people.

Tuesday, May 27

Summer's Over

My summer session of law school starts tomorrow. Oh well, it was fun. At least this allows me to graduate early.

I'm almost done another basketball related website ... I'll let you guys know when its finished.

Notable Sales

So that Bowman wrapper I posted yesterday. It was bought in 1999 for ... $650. Wow. That is an insane price.

Collectors make this hobby ... not dealers.

So I had a conversation today with a new collector. I must tell you guys, it is very rewarding to discuss collections with other collectors. You don't know how many cards I've gotten from such relationships and it seems to me that collector's are genuinely nice. I mean everyone is in the same boat. I talk to dealer's all the time and I must say that most of them (Steve Taft and Rick Snyder you guys are NOT in this group at all. You guys are the best) are horrible to talk to. I mean its just all about pushing and shoving with them ... and there isn't even any pillow talk! I know that there are some auctions that I will NOT bid on because I despise the people that run them. I know there are some dealers that I tell collectors to stay away from because they are genuinely unpleasant people. Every collector out there feels this way about some of the dealers and you have every right to. However, I have yet to meet a vintage basketball collector that I do not almost call a friend by the end of a conversation. I talked to one such person today and I must say that the hour that I spoke to him pretty much made me forget that I was at work finishing up 500 pages worth of patent applications. My advice to any collector in this area of the hobby is to meet the other collectors ... it is very rewarding as well as useful.

Monday, May 26

Website News

So I do not know if my domain has transferred (i.e., I don't know if I can get this baby listed on some prime time websites yet) but both my email and webpage are back up!!! In sheer boredom of not being able to add to this website yesterday I decided to create an entirely new personal website. If you are interested in knowing a little about the creator then I do have a few pictures on the site. www.jeffreymullen.com

IF YOU FIND ANY DEAD LINKS PLEASE SHOOT ME AN EMAIL SO I CAN RESOLVE THE ERRORS. I HAVE NOT HAD TIME TO CHECK EVERY LINK. THANKS IN ADVANCE

New Website

So I have been asked to join the team of Hobby Insider. I will help out with populating their vintage section with articles.

New Additions

So I added which is one of the most significant mainstream items around that not that many people have seen. A 1948 Bowman Basketball Wrapper (I LOVE IT). Thanks J.M.!!!

I also added a picture for a 1969 Topps Wrapper.

It Worked!!!

If you are seeing this than that means vintagebasketballcards.info is back online. I have a ton of new news. However, because of the transfer, some of the links may not be working. It may take me a few days to get the functionality back.

Saturday, May 24 till my Hosting Transfers

Website Update

Out of frustration with dotster today I transferred my domain name to ipowerweb. However, dotster really sucks as they won't let you transfer. Until I figure all this out, I don't know if this webpage will be up. I know my email already is down. Email me at jmullen54@aol.com if you need to get in touch with me.

Friday, May 23

Poll #1

I'm still keeping it up ... if you haven't taken it already ... check it out ... you'll see some surprises.

Great Card For Sale

I know a 1968 Topps Test PSA 7 Chamberlain for sale for $3,500. Email me if you are interested. The reason, once again, I don't post the seller's email directly is because I like to meet all of the serious collectors out there and know where cards are. But anyway, if I get the money ... its mine. I had this on my "keep it secret until you buy it list." But hey, we are all friends here.

Thursday, May 22

Poll #1

About 40 people have taken the poll, I'm going to leave it up a few more days to get a better population group. If you want to see the results, simply process your vote without entering anything in.

Topps Test

It turns out the third find was closer to 90 cards then it was to 110. Thus, the total number of cards out there are about 200, not 220.

Dinner at the National

Thursday or Friday? What do people want? I'm hearing Thursday from some. Friday from others.

Wednesday, May 21

Poll #1

I tried to correct a spelling error in my poll last night and it reset the total votes for the best non-mainstream vintage set to zero. I am actually a bit surprised at some of the results. For example, I'm surprised at how many readers think that the Scott's Potato Chip Mikan is the best one (which value wise it is and which I agree is Mikan's best card). If you haven't taken the poll already, please do. I will post the results of the poll after I get a good a good number of votes.

New Additions

I had some time today so I worked on the aesthetics of my VINTAGE PACK page. I added a few pictures to this table (although I can't get the table to line up properly no matter what I do) and I'll keep on adding pictures to the table as I get time. My next step will be adding pages that link to the names of the cards. CHECK OUT THIS PAGE. I JUST ADDED ABOUT 20 PICTURES.

Great Cards For Sale

The bbcexchange has a new website and it is AWESOME. I know that I found some stuff to buy. www.bbcexchange.com

Notification

In a few weeks, I will attempt to change hosting servers for this site. The reason is because as of now, I am "unsearchable" on most sites because of my little masked forwarding technique that I use to keep costs down. Thus, in a few weeks, this site may be down for a few days. This is just a forewarning.

Tuesday, May 20

TAKE THE VINTAGE BASKETBALL CARD POLL!!!!

So I added my first poll to get an idea of the market. Currently, I only have three questions in the poll, but they are doozies and I want to see how people will answer them.

New Additions

So I added a page for the 1968 Topps Test Set. I have pictures for most of the set, but I only put up about half a dozen in my initial creation of the page. If you have any topps test for trade/sale, I am trying hard to complete my set. Sofar, I have 8 of the 22 and, hopefully, will have 11 of the 22 by next month. I know of four sets out there for sure (only one of which is graded). I know of another collector with a significant batch of cards (14 cards). There were 3 major finds for Topps Test. The first was in 92 and had something like 60 cards, the second was somewhere between there and this find had something like 50 cards, and then last years find that had a whopping 110 cards. As you can see, that means there is roughly 220 cards out there which means that, at most, 10 sets could be constructed. Anyway, I am currently compiling information about this set, one of my favorite sets of all time. If you have any interesting information, please email it to me.

Monday, May 19

Website Update

Sorry if my updates haven't been long this week (however, you must admit that the substance has been there. I mean I did post a TON of uncut sheets). The reason is that I am working on creating a website for one of the dealer's that I know. When we have a few cards online, I'll give you guys the webaddress to bookmark.

I also have to apologize for the numerous spelling and grammatical errors that are present on this site. I work during the day and go to school at night so I only have about 10 minutes to update the site every night. I spend those 10 minutes trying to put in place as much info as possible.

ALWAYS BUYING!!!!

If you have any vintage basketball cards for sale, I'm always buying. I also have successfully led a seller to a buyer pretty much every time I was asked about a card that I didn't need.

Vintage Pack News

Now, this is going to be a pretty scary little paragraph. I am now convinced that unless you get a pack from a sealed case that there is no guarantee that the pack hasn't been searched. From the information that I have been getting about the uncut sheets (I now know how many sheets there are for basically every year and how they were placed into packs for certain years), you can "search" a pack without even opening it. The trick is to figure out how the sheets were cut and placed in packs. For some of the years, the formulas for the packs are so precise that you can literally tell a dealer that his packs have been searched if the pack doesn't follow the "format". Knowing this, I have to tell everyone to stay away from vintage packs even if they are guaranteed unopened and authentic because for some of the years you can tell exactly what cards are in the packs. NOW, I would love to hear if anyone has any 1961 fleer packs that they have opened and can tell me the cards they have gotten and the order that they were in. I may be able to make us a guess at what an uncut sheet would look like using this information. In conclusion, don't buy vintage packs to open them or to try and get good cards b/c they may have been searched. However, sealed packs are really cool in and upon themselves. I will expand on this paragraph as I do some "testing".

Sunday, May 17

Graded Pack News

So last week I bring you the fact that the Tall boys will soon be graded by GAI, now I bring you the fact that GAI is working on a GAI pack registry ... hehehe ... I'm off to Phily for the nigh ... specifically ... I'm off to Tiki Bobs!!! (which I have nicknamed ... Tiki Boobs).

Saturday, May 16

J.M. is still THE MAN.

So I received some more pictures of uncut sheets and I posted them on the UNCUT SHEET page.

Back in Action

So I figured out the problem with my browser and I am now able to give daily updates again.

Great Items for Sale

I found some 1974 vending for $800 each if anyone wants them ... its too rich for my blood even though you could make a FORTUNE getting a vending box graded if you get 9s.

May 15 to Microsoft Gives Us Good Software

I'm having a lot of problems connecting to the internet via explorer (I can connect to the internet using other non-browser programs though).

Until I figure out what Microsoft did wrong (because whatever the problem is, their 230,000 employees should have figured) this site will not have daily updates. Hopefully, I can figure it out by tomorrow.

Wednesday, May 14th

J.M. is THE MAN.

So I put up a ton of additional uncut sheets thanks to J.M. Check them out. If you have anything that you think will benefit this site, please share and help turn this site into a community. LIKE 10 MORE UNCUT SHEETS.

Tuesday, May 13th

Everyone needs to say THANK YOU to J.M.

He has the same initials as me, but he's not me. I want to personally thank the reader, who is now a contributor, that inspired me to add an uncut sheet section to the website by sending in pictures of multiple uncut sheets from practically every year. I do not know if he wants to remain anonymous, but I will keep his name anonymous until I get permission to properly thank him. SO ... its 2am here and I don't have time to upload everything, but I thought that I would wet your appetites by posting a 1969 Topps uncut sheet .... I will post more during the week. NOW THAT LAW SCHOOL IS OVER (well, at least my second year). UNCUT SHEET SECTION.

Monday, May 12th

1970 Topps PSA 8 Set for Sale

I know a collector that is looking to get rid of his set. Email me if you are interested in making an offer and I'll give you his email.

Vintage Pack Ripping

Today is a special day indeed. Its my last day of Law School finals (now if only it was my last day of law school). Anywho, I opened a 1972 Harlem globetrotter's pack yesterday and, as a trial run to when I open up some 1961 fleer packs, I recorded it on my webcam. The results are 1) I need a better webcam; 2) The gum for this degrades wierder than any other gum I've ever seen ... the residue soaked through 3 cards!!!; and 3) These cards seem to be distributed in packs like a lot of cards were. They would rotate mainly between two stacks of sequentially cards ... off the top of my head, I got like 3 cards from the low 30s, 3 from the low 80s, and then a few others. Now, this could mean the pack had been searched b/c I did not buy it from GAI (which in my opinion isn't even that much of a guarantee since packs seem sooo easy to search. BUT. Who would search a 1972 Fleer Basketball Harlem Globetrotters Pack? Anyway, the bad news is ... I just found out that my compression program sucks ... so I can't upload the video just yet (I have a 5MB upload limit). I'm going to work on this tomorrow after my final and hopefully get the pack up.

Sunday, May 11

Vintage Pack Ripping

Get excited watching a 1961 fleer pack get ripped into? How about seeing someone pull a 1970 Maravich rookie? Well, I had brought in my 1974 Topps Basketball (I am writing Basketball after everything so I can increase my search engine placement .... ummm Vintage Basketball Card) to work to show my boss how GAI grades packs and, well, I decided to test out the holder by opening it. It was really easy to lift up the sides of the holder and, as a result, I have to give GAI a thumbs down because it seems like these holders will get damaged easily and the edges could easily curl by accident or as they age. In my opinion, GAI should have just trimmed the edges off because I could not get past the sealed/attached segments of the holder without breaking the plastic. They should have just trimmed the edges to this part. So we now know that the pack holder is going to be hard to break into without someone being able to notice the breach. HOWEVER, the main flaw of the holder's is NOT that you can't get into them. Consider this notion. I completely destroy my 1961 fleer pack holder trying to get into it ... I SEARCH THE PACK ... then I seal it back up ... nothing I can do right? But what if I just order a mold of the holder? what if I have a spare holder handy? That is why there should be an identification on both parts of the holder that can't be duplicated (or easily duplicated). It seems that just duplicating the plastic is pretty easy. You may need a compressor to seal the puppy up, but that's not a big deal.

Back to business. So I opened it up and (as I expected) there were 10 cards and a play card (in 1974 there was this scratch off trivia card). So here's another thing we learn. GAI didn't do their research because their label says "12 cards". It should say 10 Basketball Cards, 1 Scratch Off Card. Anyway, I am going to continue to buy GAI packs and I am going to continue to rip them open. I am going to put up on my pack page scans of the cards that I get and the information that I get from opening them. I am going to be looking for a few things. 1) I want to find out what the biggest manufacturing errors for each year are. For 1961 Fleer Basketball it was Off-Centering. For 1957 Topps Basketball it was snow (among a hundred other things). Anyway, from just opening up this pack it appears that in 1974 there was a manufacturing error that has not been seen since the early 1900 tobacco cards ... Mis-Straightening of the picture. The pictures on some of the cards I got were tilted/rotated ... e.g. non-aligned with the borders. WHAT THE!!!

I know that 1974 Topps Basketball is too new, but I really like packs so I actually collect packs up till the 1980's. I am going to continue opening GAI packs to also get an idea of Short Prints, Card Ordering, and any other tidbit of information I can get. When I rip open truly-vintage packs (e.g., a 1961 fleer pack), I will most likely do it in front of my webcam so that you guys can get a thrill from seeing a "gauranteed authentic" rare pack opened. Else, I will just include the pictures as follows so you guys can see 1) what I got; 2) the condition of an average pack-fresh card; and 3) if GAI's grade affects the grades of the cards (I am under the impression that, in most cases, the grade of a pack doesn't matter, you buy it for the authenticity ... not the grade ... unless it affects the quality of the cards).

1974 Topps Basketball Pack -- Group 1, Group 2

Saturday, May 10

Search Engine Nightmare

So I learned how search engine programs work and I have to say that they absolutely suck. As per one point, I learned that my logo is useless as a search engine device. I need to have the words "vintage basketball cards" actually typed in text so that is why you see the new heading "Jeffrey D. Mullen Presents Vintage Basketball Cards."

Really Cool Idea

So I came up with a really great idea for the true vintage basketball card dorks. I'm going to introduce it in tomorrow's news as it will take time for me to scan...

Friday, May 9

Learn Something New Every Day

So I guess you do learn something new every day. For example, today I learned (I may have known this before and just forgot it) that there exists 1957 Topps proof cards. These are basically the same as the issued cards only have blanked backs. I have not seen any closeup, but I know of someone that has a handful of them. Now, apparently, these are similar to the 1971 Topps proofs that are currently being auctioned off by the Topps Vault. I really really really want to look at these because apparently the ones this collector has are pristine (like SGC 96). I can only assume that maybe a special printing process, or ink, or paperstock was used for this. If a different paperstock was used for the proof then this may explain why there is so much snow on the 1957 topps issue. I am an engineer from Carnegie Mellon so if my theory is right, the engineers that topps had dropped the ball big time. They probably used a different paperstock for the proof then for the actually print run (because of prices?) and voila ... the printing goes affowl ... ink doesn't lay propery ... and we have the biggest snow problem in the entire basketball hobby. Call this ... Jeff's crazy theory #9.

Additionally, we all know how rare the ashland oil cards are, but I must say ... I've been seeing tons (e.g., like 4 handfulls, which for mainstream is nothing) of the kentucky wildcat cards on sale on ebay lately. I mean just look at ebay.

B-33s

I know only of 1 Michigan basketball b-33 in existence. If anyone else has one, please let me know. I know of 3 people missing this from their set and, as a result, I know of a few of the other ones. What's the story with Michigan?

Live in NYC?

If you live in NYC and are reading my site regularly, shoot me an email. Through this site I have already met who I would already consider a friend (Mike R.). If you live in the neighborhood, I would like to exchange war stories (i.e., generally two over-weight people trading pieces of nicely cut cardboard). Likewise, if anyone is in NY and wants to see the collection, the doors of my 300 square foot apartment (otherwise known as "the mouse-hole") are open.

Thursday, May 7

New Cards

So I got a few great cards today. The first are not for sale/trade ... a PSA 5 Bill Bridges and a PSA 5 Jerry Sloan. I'm now over 35% complete with one of the top 10 hardest pre-1970 sets (it probably ranks between 5 and 8 on the all time list which I will post later). Anyway, the other card that I got is a .... (drumroll please) ... a PSA 9 1969 JEFF MULLINS (hey, that's me). I really was not thinking of selling/trading the card, but if you want to shout out some offers, I will be more than happy to accomodate. I have a handful of the 1969 MULLINS and we all know how unappreciative I am of a good grade so who knows ... if the best offer is what I value the card at ($1000+) then the card is yours (there is a PSA 9 1969 West that currently is at $2,500 and has a lot of time left to go (like 5 days).

Other News

I have a huge final tomorrow (I had two today) so I'm going to keep this short. I finally got my hands on my first GAI graded pack (it only took like 3 weeks to get here). All that I can say is that "I LOVE IT!!!!". PSA may not be able to do the pack grading if 1) GAI was smart enough to patent any "pack" holder; and if 2) everyone wants Mark Murphy to authenticate their packs. Either way, I'm in love with graded packs and I'm going for a run of the basketball packs. Tomorrow's post shall be more substantial as long as I'm not completely exhausted from my third final (I have four total).

Wednesday, May 7

Grading News

I received an email from Steve Rocchi today letting me know that GAI has just ordered the holders for .... can you believe it ... THE TALL BOY PACKS!!! I feel like it is Christmas (too bad I don't have any to get graded ... yet). Anyway, Steve said that in about two weeks you can start getting your tall boy packs graded. THIS IS PHENOMENAL!!! I LOVE IT!!! If you want to buy raw Tall Boy packs right now ... here are my comments. 1969 Tall Boys. These packs go now for $400-$700 depending on when they go on sale and who is bidding on them. This is strange because you can still get 1961 Fleer packs for about $600 and, in my opinion, I think the 1961 fleer packs are a better investment. The 1970 Series I packs does not have the big card in the set (Pistol Pete's rookie), but the first series is a tough one and the value of opening the pack is high (its a lot harder to find PSA 9s from the first series). I haven't seen a series I pack sell this year (but then again I haven't been looking) but it should be around $350-$400. Series II contains "the rookie" and is going to cost you the same as Series I. I know of a handful of packs for sale @ $350 a pop that are guaranteed fresh (they are from a box). If you want one, email me and I'll forward you the contact info of the dealer.

Reporting

If you have information about the hobby email me and I'll include it in an article. You will get full credit for the information and it will make this site a better place.

Web Programmer

If you are a webprogrammer, please email me and tell me HOW IN THE H#LL I GET A SITE LISTED WITHOUT PAYING THESE ENGINES (I.E. YAHOO) A SUBMISSION FEE (which for each one of the premiere engines can be like $120/year per engine).

Tuesday, May 6

Best Non-Mainstream Vintage Set?

So I decided to write a short little excerpt on what I currently think is the best non-mainstream pre-1970 basketball set. Among the contender's are the 1950 Bread for Energy, 1950 Bread for Health, 1952 Royal Desserts, the 1957 Kahns, the Bell Brands (I think its '62, they only realeased a single card in ... was it '61?), and the 1950 Scott's Royal Desserts.

First and foremost you should be asking yourself ... now why were most of these sets introduced in early 1950s. You should also realize that this is when the big baseball set came out 1952. The answer? This defines the dawn (or re-dawn if you include pre-1910 issues) of the sportscard market. In the early 50s, companies were trying to figure out how to promote their products. Some companies hit it right on the head, they would include mediums that depicted the big entertainment personalities of that time (e.g., sports stars, movie stars). Most of the products that were promoted this way were either 1) gum; or 2) commercial food products. The marketer's realized that it a lot of cases it was the child who went grocery shopping at the corner mom's and pop's store OR if the mom went it was the child that usually accompanied them. Take bread labels for instance, they were stuck on the ends of bread and put on the shelf such that the sporting personality faces the aisle (well that was until they became popular and there were supermarket frenzies for the good players ... then they turned them around so you couldn't see which label was on a loaf). Anyway, in this case, a kid that was given a dime by his mom to go get milk and bread every morning would obviously go after the bread label with a sportsstar on it then a bread label just advertising a particular brand of bread. This logic was carried on to other regularly purchased child junk food products such as potato chip, dessert pudding, and hot dogs. As time went on ... gum was determined as the best way to "Sell the cards". However, this was a misunderstood statement because really quickly it was the cards that were selling the gum. Kids started to buy the cards just for the cards. They wanted 5 cards for their nickel rather than 1 bread label and a loaf of bread (I assume). Before you know it ... gum was removed entirely and voila ... you have gumless packs of cards. Some companies tried to add a little extra goodie to the pack to distinguish themselves as times went on (e.g., Fleer added a cookie in one year to each pack), but in the end ... people just wanted the cards.

So now you have the background and now you see that most of the sets I chose from 1950 and 1952 pretty much were the inspirations for the modern mainstream issues. Now, if I could have any one of the above sets (because they are all nearly impossible to put together) what would you pick?

The answer is simple. The 1950 Scott's Potato Chips. Now, these cards are the rarest of the rare. Out of the three top non-mainstream collector's that I know ... I have zero cards ... one has 1 single card ... and one just has a handfull of cards. The only set that I know for sure exists sold on Mastros a few years ago for like $25000 (which is $30,000 with buyer's premium). You can see pictures of these on my site and they are photocopies of some of the cards. I also know of someone that claims to have a set AND a proof set of the Scott's and I know of someone that claims to have 3 sets. Other than that ... I am at a lost. What is the most expensive card (not PSA grade) in the hobby? It is the Scott's Mikan. This is the holy grail of sportscards. If one of these every was found, in any decent shape (e.g., decent being a PSA 6), you would get between $10,000-$15,000 for it. The second most valuable card is the Bread for Energy Mikan which you would get between $5,000 and $10,000 for it in any grade (e.g., PSA 5 grade). Now, name one mainstream card that is worth that much just for the card? (NOT THE GRAADE). I know you could get a PSA 10 West for $40,000. But how much does a PSA 9 west go for? I'll tell you ... about $4,000. That is 1/3 the value of a ... let's say PSA 6 Scott's Mikan. I would rank this set as the holy grail of vintage sports cards followed by the 1950 Bread for Energy followed by the 1952 royal desserts (I mean the last one that sold on ebay ... did get 4 times book and it was a PSA 5 .... it was a Schaus that books for $250 and sold for $850 in SCD 50). Anyway, I will go into more about the history of the scott's later ... I just wanted to do a somewhat non-mainstream article.

Monday, May 5

Best Mainstream Vintage Set?

So this should get a few arguments started but I thought that I would write a little something on my favorite mainstream basketball card set. Now, I must first say that my answer to this question has changed throughout the years but it seems like lately I have been leaning towards the 1957 topps set. I had a phase where I thought the 1969 Tall Boys were the greatest thing since sliced bread but after seeing PSA grade a ton of these in its first year that it offered its Tall Boy service (you have to remember, PSA didn't grade Tall Boys until last year) I have to say that I am leaning towards the 1957 set.

Ambiance --- Personally I don't think that anyone could disagree that the 1957 topps set is not the prettiest of the bunch. I mean I am only choosing from four sets. The 1948 bowman which has profile pictures on a solid color. The 1957 topps which has action photos of the players. The 1961 Fleer which has mainly portrait paintings with roughly 20 cards with black and white "in action" shots. The 1969 topps which, although disproportionatedly tall to reflect the height of basketball players, just has portrait type shots. There ya go, 1957 topps is the only pre-1970 basketball set that offers action photographs, in color, on a basketball card. Thus, I have to chose 1957 topps for appearance. However, I can understand arguments for the 1961 fleer set. It is very beautifull.

Rarity -- I want to look into this but it is becoming apparent that it is harder to get the 1957 topps, in any grade, than the 1948 bowmans. I mean they are both rare, but whenever I look on ebay I see a set worth of raw 1948s (granted that would grade a psa 1 or a psa 2) and a few handfulls of 1957s. Off the top of my head PSA has graded roughly 2,500 1948s and ,000 1957s but seriously, who is going to send in a 1948 if they know it won't get better than a 3? Now, we all know about the Tyler Texas find and how out of the thousands of untouched 1957 topps basketball cards that were found only 0.3% were in PSA 8 or higher condition. That is just crazy. Look at one of the most popular sets ... the 1961 fleer sets ... I mean these cards are dime a dozen in PSA 8. There is only 1 PSA 10 in 1957 topps basketball, the lowest PSA 10 count for all of the vintage cards. The 1961s did have a HUGE centering problem but check this out ... I know people that have opened boxes and submitted them to PSA this last year. When was the last time you have heard of a 1957 topps pack being opened. I'll tell you. The 1985 National. At the 1985 National someone brought in a box with about 10 unopened packs in it. The person sold all the packs for $500 each which back then was crazy for it. A low estimate for a pack today would be $5,000 but who has one? I've heard of only 1 unopened 1957 pack being out there. The 1957s have a ton of problems ... my favorite of which is snow.

Value -- First off, I think that there is value in both the 1948 and 1957 sets. I think that the 1961 set is rediculous for high grade cards. I mean why buy a 1961 West PSA 10 for $40,000 when you can buy 10 1961 West PSA 9s for $4,000 each. WHY? There is no investment potential in buying the 10 when you can buy 10 9s. Zero. Anyway, I will go into this further, but I have to get some sleep. I am not sure if all my facts are right (everything was taken just off the top of my head). If you have comments, email me at jeff@vintagebasketballcards.info and I'll try and post, tomorrow, reader's comments on this subject (if there are any). I know of collectors that adore the '48s (which you should Mikan's first mainstream card is in it and it is the first mainstream set), the '57s (YEAH0, the '61s (great rookie set, but too many out there), and the '69s (PSA 9s are the way to go). Topps' off years by the way are 1971 and 1973 (packwise). This doesn't do much for the cards because vending cases were made in these years which means mucho-grading-denero.

Sunday, May 4

Jeff Mullen

If you have any pre-1970 non-mainstream basketball cards email me and we can start chatting abouut the hobby, I can answer any questions that you may have, and it may turn into a trade, purchase, or sale. Right now, I am looking to work on my Topps Test, Bread Label, and Royal Dessert set. If you have any of these cards, chances are that I have cards you could use. I am also interested in a variety of other issues. Email me. jmullen54@aol.com

Great Items for sale

I was surfing the web and came across a new website that I did not know about. Its called Dave's Sportscards. I lost the address, but it should be easy to find. Just type in either the name of the store or 1972 Topps basketball wax box and it should pop up. They have some great items that I would buy if I had the funds. Look below for my favorites. -Jeff

                                                            DAVE'S SPORTSCARDS
                                                            1961 Fleer Box Display -- $250
                                                            1972 Topps Unopened Box -- $2500

Whoever purchases these, please shoot me an email so I know 1) that they are sold; and 2) so I can keep track of who has what (it comes in handy when people ask me if I know people with X and Y).

Saturday, May 3

Vintage Information

So, if you look in my guide underneath 1968 Carnation Milk, you will notice that there is a set of cards following that listing called 1968 Carnation Milk Promos. Up until yesterday, I did not know the entire story about these so called promos. All I knew was that I bought one from a dealer who also didn't know what it was. The promos look exactly like their cardboard counterparts, only that they are printed on a beige-ish paper stock with a number at the bottom. I thought that these may just have been used in magazines and I also though that there would be one for each card. Now, it turns out, if my information is true, that I am wrong. Apparently, Carnation gave their marketers copies of two of the cards, the Arsdale and the Lattin (who knows why they did not give them copies of the greatness of Goodrich) but anyway the story goes that the marketers for the company used these promos to advertise the inuagural year of basketball cards to their distributors. Like I previously mentioned, there are only two (that are known). However, it is likely that there are only two because out of the eight promos known, 4 are Lattin and 4 are Arsdale. I know that Ron C., Rob. L., and myself each has a set. If someone out there has a set, or knows any additional information, please let me know. Well, back to studying for Law School exams and back to finishing up the work that I do for my day job (I'm a patent agent if I haven't already mentioned it). Everyone take care. -Jeff.

Friday, May 2

Great Item On Sale

I can't wait until the news for May 13th. Its going to read DONE WITH ANOTHER SEMESTER OF LAW SCHOOL. Anyway, I thought I'd update the inventory that Steve has since I bought his topps test and also I bought a rare 1968 Carnation Promo from him (which I will put the set up later in the week). Anyway, everyone can drool at a few items here. SOMEONE PICK UP THE ROYAL DESSERT THE SHCAUS SOLD FOR $850 ON EBAY THIS WEEKEND. If you buy it let me know, I want to trade for it (e.g., not buy it). I picked up an 1899 Enamaline Oil and 1968 Topps Test Beaty thanks to a big trade with Rob Lahammer yesterday. Anyway, I'll scan in the topps test set sometime soon also.

STEVE TAFT'S NEW INVENTORY!!! STEVETAFT@AOL.COM

1968 Carnation Milks
1968 Topps Test (Bing, Thurmond) (I bought them both)
1968 Carnation Van Arsdale Promo (I bought)
1969 Al Attles -- PSA 9
1969 Bob Weiss -- PSA 9
1969 Don Smith -- PSA 9
68-9 Suns Carnation
Goodrich $350 (I got mine for $300 ... good price)
Lattin $130
McLemore $85 and $70 (2 in stock, cond. varies)
VanArsdale $140
Mikan Exhibit $450
Jeannette Royal Desserts $595 (THIS CARD SHOULD TURN YOUR HEAD!!! If I didn't just buy $1500 worth of cards from him I would have picked this up)
West 61-2 Kahn's $375

Thursday, May 1

Great Item On Sale

See this is why you need to check back daily. stevetaft@aol.com if you are interested in buying any of them. I don't remember the prices. Steve doesn't want to sell the 1969's but if you offer him a good price he probably will.

                                    1968 Topps Test (Bing, Thurmond)
                                    1969 Al Attles PSA 9
                                    1969 Bob Weiss PSA 9
                                    1969 Don Smith PSA 9

Additionally, I am drafting the ultimate vintage basketball card guide. This guide will contain full-color images of the front and back of every known pre-1970 basketball card. Additionally, the guide will contain detailed information for every card including its scarcity, estimated value, and other related information. A sample page can be viewed here SAMPLE PAGE.