Spring Premium Live and Catalog Auction 2018 Closing May 5
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/28/2018
Presented is a breathtakingly attractive pane of cards featuring 100 subjects from the 1953 Topps baseball issue. This extraordinarily rare and colorful sheet spotlights the character of the popular Major League production in a form that's almost never seen in the hobby: reputedly, just one other, comparably sectioned piece has been confirmed in the industry, and no fully uncut counterpart is known to exist. The offered sheet is completely and properly printed on both front and back. Recovered as a discarded production relic, the sheet has been irregularly cut into ten horizontal strips containing ten cards apiece. When these are placed into alignment as originally situated, the result is a visually powerful 10-card-by-10-card spectacle measuring approximately 27" x 38". The pane's designs – showcasing the work of professional animator and noted Topps artist Gerry Dvorak – form an incomparable display of 1950s baseball legends. Mickey Mantle's card appears at the upper left, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella and Ed Mathews are clustered together, downward and slightly to the left of the center, and Pee Wee Reese and Enos Slaughter share a tête-bêche arrangement at the right-side edge. Other Hall of Famers represented on the panel include Bob Feller, Red Schoendienst, Monte Irvin and Johnny Mize. In all, eighty different subjects populate the array (along with twenty "double prints"); only the short-printed numbers 10, 44, 61, 72 and 81 are missing from a complete run of numbers 1 through 85. A delight to view, the piece boasts bright colors and clear images throughout. Nominal faults include a crease at the right side (affecting several cards) and imprecise cutting that poses no distraction when the ten strips are arranged to form a single display. Framed to 30" x 42-1/2" total dimensions. This pane is a phenomenal survivor, projecting an aesthetic appeal that's absolutely unparalleled!
The following was supplied by the consignor to provide information about the sheet's background:
An article about the find of 1953 Topps uncut strips (written by Lew Lipset) appeared in the August, 1984 issue of Baseball Cards magazine. A quote from the story:
“Topps had hired a carting company to dispose of their salvage in the Fifties, which task was apparently carried out diligently. In 1982, however, the original owner died and left the business to his son. A year later, the son ordered a cleaning of the warehouse (an infrequent occurrence), and in a corner he found a few dozen strips of 1953 Topps Baseball cards. Though not a collector, the son recognized that the cards had value and he brought them to the Collectors Exchange in Hicksville, NY where he later sold the cards. Bob Sevchuk, owner of the Exchange and a neighbor of mine, brought me the strips to show me and to see if I thought they were worthy of a Baseball Cards article.”
The sheet has remained in the consignor's collection since 1989, when he purchased it from the dealer who bought the sheets from the original find.