1975 Topps Collectors - Survey

tbub

Hey guys I'm currently #17 on registry and will move up a few notches if I ever get around to putting the cards I've been buying off e-bay into the system. I'm currently sitting on a few hundred really nice cards to be graded. I'm waiting to see what the next special after April might bring . No matter what I'll send in at least a hundred to get bulk rate I've looked at pop reports and such but thought I'd ask you guys what your hardest cards to find in psa8 or better have been or are. Also what is the cards biggest fault that makes it hard to find a particular card in high grade ? Thanks I thought this might be a good topic plus I'm lazy and don't want to do the research

Ullr

I collect Red Sox cards. Terry Hughes #612 is never offered on eBay graded or raw. I doubt I would bid on a PSA 8 or higher, I would probably wait on the sidelines for the snipers to end it with a bang. Good Luck with your collection.

Caramels

I'm registered in MINI with set #6 after Keith Abrams bailed out a few days ago. I have 50 more cards to Register which will push me to number 5. I will wait until the next DLSports batch and save to buy and win 12 of them or so before posting the 50+

I guess I am commited to the set at this point.

Wabittwax

I listed a Terry Hughes PSA 8 a couple of months ago. I wondered why it went for $35 when the rest of my 8's went for $10. Now I know.

mcastaldi

Well, the overall graded population of 75T is high enough right now to provide a VERY good indicator of which cards are actually tough. As of right now, the Hughes is probably to toughest card in the set and I could foresee the next PSA8 example eclipsing the $200 mark. Unfortunately, this is one of the 12 cards I still need. The Larry Christenson is also a very tough card.

Then there are certain cards which can be found to meet the standard for PSA8 but have very few examples which are really clean and pretty. Heidemann, Tanana, Rick Miller, Burleson, Gullett, Clay Kirby, McEnaney, Bob Moose, Dan Driessen, Von Josua, Sal Bando, Claudell Washington, Paul Blair, Don Baylor, Herb Washington, and several others fall into this category. Clean examples of the AL Championships and NL Championships are also tough.

As for the "biggest fault". . .there is no one biggest fault. All it takes is one problem to decrease the grade of a card. . .a corner ding, centering, surface crease, snow, roller marks. . .it doesn't take a combination of these things. Just one of them by themselves will do it. That said, some cards are more prone to certain problems than others. . .for example - the Moose, Burleson, Miller, and Driessen often have problems with roller marks. The Tanana, McEnaney, and Hughes all seem to be tough to find centered. The Bando, Blair, both Washingtons, Baylor and Joshua all tend to be succeptable to snow. But like I said, even if these cards survive their common problems a surface crease (even a small one) will instantaneously turn a PSA9 into a PSA6. A corner ding will have you starting from a PSA7 and working down from there.

Mike

jackstraw

mike,
have you found any difficulties on any of the team cards?

john

mcastaldi

John> For whatever reason, the Orioles Team is the toughest team card. Initially, I got it in PSA8 very early on when it was included in a large bulk lot I picked up right when I started my set. As a friend of mine neared completion of his set, I traded mine to him. A month or so after that, I picked up another one. But. . .it went in the $25-$30 range. Other than that, I just seemed to have a problem with the Cubs team. Not that the pop was that low, but I just couldn't find a raw one to submit or a PSA8 example for a long time. Just the way things go sometimes.

Mike

NHLfightguy

I've just picked up a few of these graded by PSA. It seems to me they tend to allow a little white showing even on all four corners for an 8. A very small amount, just as long as corner is still sharp. I even seen 9's with at least 2 corners, with small amounts of white showing. The main card i'm looking for in this set is the #30 Bert Blyleven. I never see this card on ebay. I would love it in a 9 or it and even settle for an 8.

mcastaldi

NHL> The corner can have some very slight chipping and still remain a PSA8. Now, it can't be touched - the corner must be intact and sharp! But slight chipping is OK. This is often where I have trouble deciding which cards to submit. I always have to go over with myself whether the corner is actually touched, or merely slightly chipped. The way the borders are for 75T, the difference does require some scrutiny.

Mike

jackstraw

75 mcenaney on ebay. you are lucky if you are going the ebay route because layfayette34 is now bidding the heii out of 76's

gohalos

hey ullr, i've got a fresh psa 9 fisk, lmk if you're interested!?!

mcastaldi

Jack> Actually, when I first looked at the price I was a bit surprised considering the population is up to something like 12 now. But. . .then I looked at the bidder. The McEnaney is the last card Duke Of Mint needs to complete the 75 set in PSA8 or better.

GO CARL GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike

jackstraw

mike,
i hope he gets it and layfayette doesn't decide to go back to 75's.

Ullr

gohalos:
Great Icon
I might be interested.
I'm watching This auction right now.
Opening bid is too high.
What is SMR?

gohalos

ullr:
mine is pretty close to that one, except mine doesn't have that yellow bleeding into the red on the left side. believe it or not i found my card raw for a buck over ten years ago. i was a catcher growing up and fisk was my favorite. anyways smr is currently at $125, i'm am looking for equal trade if that's possible?

mcastaldi

Jack> I know for sure Lafayette has that card in PSA8 already. I'm 99% sure his cost him ~$115 since he bought when the pop was only 3 or 4.

And now that I look at the one currently on eBay (in the link above), that's probably the nicest example of that card that I've seen so far (I've owned two of the 8s and seen all the others that have come to eBay). The colors on that card tend to be dull and/or faded, the picture is often slightly out of focus, and the L/R centering normally meets the criteria for an 8 but isn't real nice. Judging by the scan, the card up right now seems like a borderline 9. The colors are very nice, the picture is nicely focused, and the centering is close to 9-quality.

Mike

AnthonyB

Here are some some recent observations on the 75 PSA Set Registry:

It seems that over the last two months there has been a lull in the availability in tough 75's in
PSA 8 or 9. For instance, there has not been any large recent submissions released on Ebay by traditional suppliers like Shoeless Joe's, Mint Express, Kruk cards ect. Also, there are several aggresive ebay bidders that are at approximately 90% complete who have upgrading but have not been able to lock in the tough PSA 8's. Lastly, there has been postings on the scarcity and the demand for the Terry Hughes in PSA 8 and speculation that this card would go for three figures if one popped up on ebay. However, this card has not been available in the last several months depsite this advertisement to suppliers.

Considering the above and considering my search for tough 75's in a potential PSA 8
condition at local shows that I have attended have turned up empty over the past three months, I am wondering if this is an aberation or a sign that the supply has dried up significantly.

Anthony

helionaut

I'd think it's both those factors, plus no applicable grading specials. There are close to 38,000 cards in the population, 25,000 8s and 9s. While that is probably only about .01% of all the cards out there, it's probably a decent percentage of "grade-worthy" cards. If you wanted to build the set in PSA 3-4 condition, you could easily do it by submitting the average cards out there. PSA 8 is NM-Mt, which is above-average condition for cards of that era and by definition, above-average is tough to achieve. At least some collectors and dealers will wait for a special in order to save 20% off bulk grading fees. That margin is necessary now that most cards have large enough population that they are tough to break even on.

I've actually had good luck scouring local shops and shows for 75s lately. I've amassed a stack of 7 cards that I am fairly confident will earn at least a 7, maybe a few 8s. That's 7 more than I found in 2002.

Wabittwax

I agree that the grading special is what drives the commons submissions. I just submitted about 70 cards from 1975 topps at $6 each. With that amount I am hoping that the 8's and hopefully few 7's will wash on the grading fees and I hope to make any money on any 9's. It's a tough way to make a buck but once in a while I'll get lucky. I have about 200 75's to submit but I want to wait until the end of this month in hopes of a $5 deal.

Wabittwax

Also as for the $35 I got for my last PSA 8 Terry Hughes, I wish I had that one back. I had no idea about the Hughes card. Somebody got a good deal from me on Ebay. I'm sure it was somebody on the registry but I can't remember who.

Wetzel

Wabittwax- I think i won the Hughes card. I was surprised that it went so cheap. I was expecting it to end over $75.

Scott

Ullr

At the beginning of this thread I talked about Terry Hughes #612 and snipers. This one just ended and did not receive a bid in the last 4 days!

Basilone

HMMM....ChicagoMacGuy won the auction. Interesting.

John

mcastaldi

Basil> Coming soon to a registered set near you. . .



Mike

Virtualizard

<< <i>HMMM....ChicagoMacGuy won the auction. Interesting.

John >>



Why is that interesting? The bidder list shows a lot of the '75 set's most active collectors were bidding (myself excluded), but I don't recognize ChicagoMacGuy. Please elaborate.

Ullr,

With a few high bids that early on an auction for a PSA 8 modern card, I'm not surprised there were no snipes. I'd bet that a few people saw the auction early on and placed snipes that were way too low and never even registered. Most likely there was a lot of interest in this auction at first, but the few high early bids made most move on and wait for the next one to come up (and it will).

JEB.

Edited for Grammar.

Virtualizard

I just went back and looked at the scans for this auction. Did Terry Hughes get traded midseason to the Cardinals and change his name to Jack Heidemann?

Anyone else think they might be the same person?

JEB.

mcastaldi

Lizard> "but I don't recognize ChicagoMacGuy. Please elaborate."

How bout this.



Mike

Virtualizard

Mike,

Ok, I get it now. Why the 2nd ebay ID?

JEB.

mcastaldi

Lizard> When I decided to start rebuilding the 72 set, I wanted to keep it low-profile for a while so I created an eBay ID for that purpose. When I was bidding on the Hughes I was on a computer where I'd used the Chicagomacguy ID and bid without thinking to change it to my "normal" one.

I was actually surprised to pick up the Hughes at that price, tho I wasn't prepared to go higher either. There's just too many nice 75s out there to pay those kind of prices very often. With the Hughes and another pickup tonight, it moves me to within 5 cards on the 75 set. And for as rarely as the Hughes comes up, I see even less of some of the others I need - Buddy Bradford, Bob Gibson, Juan Beniquez, Larry Christenson, & Von Joshua

Mike

Virtualizard

That makes sense. I'll have to check my '75 raw cards for these hard to find cards. I haven't even bothered to do so yet because I have been able to get to 50% completion without paying much more than the cost of grading fees for commons (and not much more for stars) on ebay. I'm sure that won't continue to be the case.

JEB.

helionaut

I've learned my lesson about bidding based strictly on the pop report. I won an auction on a 1960s card that I thought would be a good "investment" as the pop was low and the price seemed low. By the time the card arrived in the mail, population on that card went from 17 to 20.

Bidding has been a little soft on 75s for the last couple weeks, even though the registry constantly shows "updated" on at least half of the top 20 sets. Either people are just doing other things with the Spring weather or taking an Easter vacation, or, like me, they are waiting for populations to swell some more prices come down. I think the population (still 4?) and price were right in line. While very rare, pop 4 is not the same as pop 1. And it'll bring more submissions. I wouldn't be surprised to see double-digit population on the 8 before the end of the year. Plus, the Hughes seller was also offering several other tough 75s, like Heidemann, Kline and Stanley. Maybe he put up too many targets at once for the audience at that exact moment.

mcastaldi

helio> "Bidding has been a little soft on 75s for the last couple weeks, even though the registry constantly shows "updated" on at least half of the top 20 sets."

It's always a possibility that people are starting to submit their own stuff. When I bid on the Hughes, I knew full well that the pop wouldn't do anything but go up. Especially in light of my experience with 1975s at major shows. Most dealers I've talked to just don't bring much of anything newer than 72 or 73 because they don't sell enough of it to justify lugging it across the country. There are a few dealers who carry their super-nice stuff to shows, but most don't. When dealers start seeing a demand in 75s, they'll bring them to shows and in turn see more of them in PSA holders.

Mike

tbub

Hey mike I see we both saw that sgc96 how do they generally cross over there's some nice looking 96's

mcastaldi

Bub> If you're interested in SGC stuff with the intent of crossing it over, the problem is that SGC's stuff is really all over the map. I've cracked SGC88s and submitted them for 8s - my Seaver and Yaz are two examples of this. But. . .I'lve also seen SGC92s - AND 96s - which had "PSA7" written all over them. A friend of mine picked up a Christenson SGC96 and said it would be lucky to end up in a PSA8 holder. You really do have to carefully evaluate the card in your hand before deciding to crack it from an SGC holder - tho this applies to all years and not just 1975.

Another problem is that many times you'll pay darned near PSA9 money for an SGC96 or 92 - only to find that there's no way it's going to cross.

Mike

tbub

thanks for the info

tbub

I see the Christenson Sgc 96 was scooped up by our #1 75 guy will be waiting to see if he has an upgrade in the future?

mcastaldi

Bub> At $38 it isn't a bad risk. Still a reasonably tough card in PSA8 and a lot of upside if it makes it to a PSA9. Now if it closed at say more than $60 I'd say the risk was too great at that price.

Mike