March Premium Auction Ending April 3, 5 & 6
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/3/2021
Graded GEM MT 10 by PSA. Hall of Famer, in an elusive Rookie Card appearance. Among more than 13,000 copies recorded in PSA’s census reporting, barely three percent have been placed at this top-level tier. This first solo Topps card of the first-ballot Hall of Famer was never available in packs, compelling collectors to buy entire 1982 Topps Traded sets in the quest to obtain a top-grade specimen of this single card. The percentages worked against those gamblers, because the overwhelming majority of the Ripken cards in this 1982 production have unsightly print blotches, random centering, or corners "dinged" by factory packing. However, this exceptional piece – picturing baseball's reigning "Iron Man"– displays spectacular Gem Mint condition.