1961 Topps set sold for $15,000

natetrook

Did anybody catch the 1961 Topps set break-up by 71Toppsman?

He broke up a "Mint" 1961 set, sold it raw, unslabbed, and it netted approx. $15,000.

An all PSA-8 set lists for $24,000. Probably $5,000 in grading fees to obtain that,
I think 71Toppsman did quite well.

kennylow

i guess some think some of his cards will come back as PSA 9s. is that too optimistic for buyers?

bookofrhymes21

He got $15,000 and the set only books about $7,000?? How is that? So basically if you can pull together a set you can make $$ off of it?

WinPitcher

Yes you can, especially if in your TITLE you claim the cards are MINT, then in the fine print state they are NM/MNT then actually send out cards that are PSA 6 and 7 at best. You can make a ton (of mad buyers) I as many will be watching his feedback closely. Lets see how this plays out.

Love of the Game

Hang on, guys. This guy is an ethical seller. He's got 100% feedback on a LOT of sales. I've bought '61s from him in the past and always found them to be accurately graded, even conservatively. I did notice a handful of cards in his auction that were probably a little too OC to get an 8, but centering is a HUGE problem with the '61 set. What I didn't see, however, were any of the print problems that plague this set that PSA seems to ignore (I have a hideous Mantle MVP that has every single print problem this set suffers from, and it came back a 7OC).

One thing I *will* say that made me a tiny bit suspect - all the cards were billed as MINT in the headline, but the Mantle AS was the only PSA graded card in the lot, and it was a 7.

The '61 set is one of those sets that has a breakup value that's way higher than the complete set value. Six Mantles alone with a NM value that make up a big percentage of the total book value of the complete set. Lots of HOFers and impossible high #s in that set - I'm not surprised at $15,000 for it.

This seller, if I'm not mistaken, sold a complete set of 1971s in PSA-8 during the summer that fetched more than $20K.

And yes, I bought about $400 worth of cards from this auction - mostly high #, semi-hi#, and SPs that I needed. I will be able to report back when the cards arrive, but I expect the condition to be as advertised, based on my many, many prior purchases from him. So far, though, I would recommend 71Toppsman as a seller.

-Al

julen23

He recently broke up a 1969 topps set, which I purchases quite a few from (approximately 35 cards i believe).

I am sending 99% of these cards in to be graded and will report the grades they receive.

There were 2 cards out of the lot that I am not sending in for grading. Both cards had great corners and centering but either had severe chipping or an ink stain of some sort.

I provided positive feedback for transaction and support the statement of him being an honest e-bayer.

Julen

_____________

Tug McGraw upon being asked if he preferred astro-turf over natural grass.

"I don't know, I have never smoked astro-turf before."

dude

He probably would have come out better selling it on Mastro as a whole set instead of breaking up 600 cards and selling them individually on eBay. I guess a lot depends on what your time is worth to you.

Based on what I saw this seller do on '69's, I doubt anyone stole any mint cards from him. He first listed graded PSA 9s in October and then a while later listed raw "mint" cards but mentioned in a large description that they were actually NM-Mint. It surprised me that some people dropped $8-$9 for a raw card when they probably could have bought the same one in a PSA 8 slab for nearly the same price.

I know from when I was at the 2003 National, dealers were paying big bucks (way over Beckett set prices) for vintage raw set that were NM-Mint or better. I recall seeing a dealer pay over $20K for a beautiful 1963 Topps raw set.

Love of the Game

When doing the back and forth thing with this seller earlier today about the auctions I had won on the 61s, I asked him directly why he didn't get his cards graded or submit them to an auction house as a complete set. His response:

"Basically, I tend to sell my cards through ebay as a key sales channel. Frankly, more of my client base prefers high end, non-third party graded cards, unslabbed if you will. There is a marketplace out there that today is still much greater than the third party grading companies marketplace. As time moves on, this may change and I'll adjust as a seller accordingly. The most important thing is to properly grade the card(s) overall to generally accepted condition standards set forth by PSA, Beckett, GAI, and SGC. If the corners and edges are of the condition you advertise, minimal to no print flaws and or surface flaws front and backside of the card, then let the customer decide if the centering meets their needs".

His explanation jives very well with my experience with him as a seller, as well as the 100% feedback on boatloads of auctions just like this.

Ultimately, I agree with him that there are plenty of people out there who still collect high end raw cards. Probably more people buy raw than graded, still. And it's tough to argue with him - he sold a '61 Topps set for $15,000 and didn't pay a nickel in grading fees.

-Al