1968 Topps 3-D Bob Clemente WHITE WHALE HARPOONED

UFFDAH

In 1981 when I began collecting at 11 years old it was the old cards and the legends that I always admired and thought about.

I would constantly flip through the BECKETT Baseball Card Price Guide looking at and dreaming about the "old stuff".

There is one card that elevated to Holy Grail status for me among all cards shown/listed in the Price Guide and it was the 1968 Topps 3-D Roberto Clemente.

Page 307 along with the color image page were focal points for me.

I can finally say I have seen a 1968 Topps 3-D Clemente in person and not just in photos!!

The color of the card is incredible and the 3-D graphics are EYE POPPING to say the least!!

A WHALE of a card and excited/humbled at the same time to have in my collection.

mintonlypls

Is the Clemente more scarce than any other card in the small set?

brad31

Awesome card. Thanks for showing the back - never knew they were stamped like that. I remember looking at them in the Beckett too. While I have never seriously looked at one since they have always been out of my price range - I don’t think my brother and I have ever walked by any card in that set at a National without pointing it out to each other. Really One of the coolest Topps sets out there and the Clemente is the best card in the set.

Congrats that card is really one to be proud of.

CW

Congrats, man, that's a monster of a card!

And I know what you mean about those colored pages in the old Sport Americana priced guides. Those same pages also helped shape the memories of those cards that seemed so unobtainable back at that time -- the "holy grails", so to speak. It's nice when you get to the point where you can finally add some of those classic cards to the collection.

Kudos to you as well if that's the same Sport Americana guide you had as a kid. It's still in pretty good shape!

doubledragon

That is an awesome card, it looks so cool. Congratulations!

PROMETHIUS88

AMAZING card! Always loved it and always knew it was/is out of my price range! Congrats on the pickup!

DBesse27

WOW!! Congrats on harpooning your whale, which also happens to be a really cool, iconic card, and landing such a gorgeous copy of it. Amazing, man! Enjoy the hell out of that one!

JBrules

Congrats. What an incredible addition!!

Huskies11

Wow, love gems like this. Congrats. Also that old Beckett is neat-o.

daltex

At about the same age and about the same time, I didn't believe that card really existed. I thought that that picture was a fantasy card.

jay0791

I looked this up on VCP. All I can say is holly cow (well that's what Phil Rizzuto would say).
One of the nicest cards ever posted here.

super congrats.

Ill stick to minnow hunting

Dpeck100

Hell yeah!

Thanks for sharing!

mrmopar

I would dream with those same guides and color pages, as well as the Flipping, Trading and Bubblegum book. Those are so much better looking that what they ultimately settled on making. Too bad. My white whale would be the Willie Davis. Much more affordable than Clemente, but still a tough and not cheap pick up all the same.

BLUEJAYWAY

A classic card. Great addition to your collection.

1951WheatiesPremium

A card this nice requires a two pronged response.

First:

Second:

Is it fair to say you will not be returning it to Visual Panographics, 488 Madison Avenue, NY, NY?

lbcoach20

Wow! Congratulations on the card! Beautiful for sure!

RAPTORSRULE04

Lovely card. Even better player and person

gemint

Wow, awesome card!! That card was expensive even back in the day when vintage cards were cheap. I have similar memories of staring at the Beckett annual price guide and drooling over vintage cards I’d never be able to own. The cool thing is these cards will never get boring. I still drool over cards I’ve owned for 20 years that I never thought I would own or own in high grade. Enjoy the card.

GDM67

I still have my copy of that same guide (it was my first) and I also really loved that color section. That is a truly spectacular example of one of the coolest cards in existence. Big, big congrats.

maddux69

Congrats on the epic pickup! To have the added scarcity of the stamped reverse makes it even more special.

bswhiten

wow

UFFDAH

Thanks everyone!! Means a lot coming from fellow hard core collectors!!

My understanding is that the stamped backs are more rare than the blank backs. Further, the RED Stamps I believe, are more rare than the BLACK Stamps. I'm definitely not an expert though, just what I have read, observed etc.

My original Price Guide was wore out and long gone. The one I have now I found on EBAY and it is in really nice shape!!

jeffv96masters

One- love that pickup- to me more important than owning a 52 Mantle I picked up my own copy 10 years after my mantle which to me spoke volumes about its desirability and rarity

@1951WheatiesPremium said:

Second:

Is it fair to say you will not be returning it to Visual Panographics, 488 Madison Avenue, NY, NY?

,
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This would have been difficult even if he bought it in the 1980's since they moved from Madison Ave in NYC to the Dallas/Ft Worth area . And yes I realize you were being sarcastic
,
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If you care for some light reading ( will take you about an hour with all the links to prior published materials ) feel free to peruse an article I wrote a couple years ago while researching this series. I'm still in the research stages but printed up what info I'd found to that point for posterity's sake so others could learn about it in THIS POST. I haven't had time to continue my research or contact a few of the relatives involved in the numerous companies / production of the 1968 Topps 3-D and other related parallax panoramogram 3-D materials we see in the sports hobby. Its on my bucket list though of things to do in the next 5 years as I love researching items I own and learning about their source & production.

UFFDAH

@jeffv96masters - good stuff, thanks!!