'64 Topps Giants. Who so unpopular?

elway65

I was wondering if some of you vintage card gurus could enlighten me. Riddle me this: why are the '64 Topps Giants cards so undervalued within the card collecting community? They're like the red-headed stepchild of the vintage card collecting world. The lanky girl with braces that nobody ever asked to the school dance.

Personally, I've always had a crush on this set. The quality of the pictures are second to none in my opinion (especially the Bob Gibson and Frank Robinson...in those vintage red uniforms). Aren't there over 20 HOF'ers in this set? And you can't beat the price.

It got me thinking. Well, maybe it's just the size of the cards. Collectors don't like the tall cards. But why would that be? Look at the popularity of the 1976-77 Tops basketball set (and the earlier topps basketball sets that are oversized). Considering the cards are oversized, you'd think they would be pretty hard to find in NM condition, but quite the contrary. So, what makes the 1976-77 Topps Basketball so condition sensitive but not this set? Then I thought about the print run, maybe the '64 Topps Giants were mass produced. I don't know.

I have a set myself (who doesn't) and have always cherished them.

Can someone tell me why the 1964 Topps Giants aren't popular...and why they're so undervalued? Also, anyone think there value will go up in coming years?

EDIT: Unpopular not the right word...I think I meant undervalued. Why don't they demand a higher price?
Aloha, marc

AlanAllen

I don't think it's so much that the demand is low, but that the supply is high. I don't know of it was a "warehouse find" or what, but for years (decades?) there was an ample supply of relatively untouched sets in the hobby. I wouldn't call it an unpopular set; there are 41 sets registered.

Joe

BugOnTheRug

I never got the impression that they weren't popular.....................

A bigger question is - what's with the 'O' thingys in your post?? Now THAT'S what I call not popular!

Welcome to the boards.

BOTR

Griffins

They seem to be about as common as dirt. I know up until the late 70's you could still buy large amounts cheaply at Dodger Stadium, and heard stories there were werehouses full of them. I haven't checked the pops lately but it seems like 7's can be had for nothing, and 8's for little more.

scottsusor

Abundant supply is an understatement with those 1964 Topps Giants. They have always been EVERYWHERE! I don't know the story on why Topps chose to produce them by the boat load back in '64 but I can recall card shows in the early 1970's where almost every dealer had dozens of complete sets of them on their tables. As far as vintage collectors are concerned, myself included, I think they're just tired of seeing them!

Scott

cmcclelland

Elway65,
You hit the nail on the head in your post (as did others) - this set was produced in huge quantities, and making matters worse I think most of the raw material out there has come from vending cases. So, even though this is a cool set, I would not count on much in the way of price appreciation due to the fact that there is so much high grade material out there - much of it still in raw form. In my opinion, this is a great set to buy and enjoy, but I would not waste too much money going after high end graded examples.

grilloj39

I have several 64 Topps Giants...while I like the front of the card, I do not like the back due to no statistics. Otherwise it is an extremely nice vintage set at affordable prices.

jimtb

I think their size has something to do with it. They are great looking cards, but more difficult to store. There certainly seems to be plenty of them out there, considering the set is 40 years old.

Mantlefan

I remember collecting the 1964 Topps regular set as a boy and I therefore enjoy picking up those cards now for their nostalgic value. On the other hand, I never saw a single '64 Giant here in NY while growing up. No sentimental value for me.

thegemmintman

<< <i>They're like the red-headed stepchild of the vintage card collecting world. The lanky girl with braces that nobody ever asked to the school dance. >>



Yeah but we all know how this story ends. The girl grows up to be the most hot and sexy babe around, and you then wished you were nicer to her in High School!

thegemmintman

BTW try putting together an all PSA 9 or better set of the TG's. It seems fairly easy right? Well in over four years only two collectors have accomplished this so far - me and Cubfan.

Mantlefan

BTW try putting together an all PSA 9 or better set of the TG's. It seems fairly easy right?

No disrespect gemmy, but in 6 months I had no trouble getting 75% of the set in PSA 9. Since then, I've noticed that the 15 cards I was missing all appeared on EBAY at one time or another.

thegemmintman

But you never finished it, did you now?

Mantlefan

Nope, I knew I could never catch you, so I sold it and moved on!

Cubfan

I have to start by noting that I am extrememly biased towards the TG's as they are my favorite set (Im sure each of you has your own favorite).

But I love the cards primarily because of the pictures. There are great vintage uniforms and hats, vintage ballparks that pop up in a few of them (Shibe and Polo amongst others), and great Hall of Famers in the set (including, of course, Billy Williams). The size of the set fits my personality too as I just dont have the patience to go after the monsters that some of you go after.

In addition, the cards came out a couple of years before I bought my first pack. So most of the players are "heros" from my 5-10 year old era (ok....maybe not Galen Cisco, but generally ).

And I too also remember how the cards were plentiful in the 70's. In fact, I had a seven inch stack that produced a few 8's that started the base of my set. But, while most of the cards did have razor corners, the huge majority of the cards were plagued with chronic off-centeredness and print marks, as are most of the raw cards that I have seen lately.

When its said that they were mass produced, Im not sure what that means or how much more or less they were produced than any other special set.

They are just my favorite set.

And to make it easier for us high-end collectors of the set, I would appreciate it if all of you sitting on all of these discussed high-end centered raw hoards of TG's would make them available as it would be nice to finally get some 10's of Mantle (0 in over 1500 graded), Koufax, Clemente, and, of course, Billy Williams, amongst others.


Take care,

Keith

BigKidAtHeart

I am not sure exactly how long that
PSA and others have had a Big slab
for these larger cards, but in the beginning of
the card grading movement, the lack of these
cards in slabs might have had something to do with it...

possible??

thegemmintman

PSA starting grading them in January of 2000. Since then almost 12,000 cards have been graded including 83 PSA 10's. There's plenty of raw, but not a lot of super high quality out there.