Yes, Brett has some major tilting going on. I will throw out an optimistic range of $13,000 to $16,000, with a guess of $14,786 as my prized final answer for, "how many marbles are in the jar?" What's your guess Tim? Obviously, I hope it sells for much more.
@Jasme11 said:
Yes, Brett has some major tilting going on. I will throw out an optimistic range of $13,000 to $16,000, with a guess of $14,786 as my prized final answer for, "how many marbles are in the jar?" What's your guess Tim? Obviously, I hope it sells for much more.
I think it can go higher (20K+) as bidding for minis has been strong of late. It will be interesting to watch. I do think they could maximize the return by breaking into smaller lots, though, or listing cards individually like they did a few years back.
My guesstimate is $23,100.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
@DBesse27 said:
Hi Tim, great to see you’re still passionate about this set!
Dan, great to see you back here! Yes, I'm still consumed by minis lol...I think me and mini master are the only two left from the original group..and Tony (jasme11) too.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Some strong prices yesterday for a nice selection of 75 minis with terrific eye appeal (and full sized). Congrats, Nick! It is rather impressive how strong the 75 mini market remains after all these years.
I was fortunate enough to win the PSA 8 #150 Gibson, #405 Montague and #647 Claudell Washington as well as the PSA 9 #290 Matlack. All of these are for my secondary set of minis which I am very slowly putting together with a focus on eye appeal regardless of grade. Not too many opportrunities to upgrade my primary set at this stage but I still love chasing minis.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Hello Everyone!
My 1975 Topps Minis have been in hibernation for decades. I acquired them, pack by pack in 1975, my sophomore year at the University of Washington in Seattle. I will detail that quest in later posts. I am an avid card collector and earlier this year I was considering completing the 1963 Topps set, but was missing the Rose rookie and all the high numbers, which are short printed. Years ago, I did complete the 1964 and 1965 sets, but upon further review decided to go into a different direction: the 1975 Minis. When I “cracked” open my box, I was taken aback on the mis-cuts, tilting and being off-center. The picture below illustrates how most of those cards look after 40+ years locked in a cigar box.
I knew enough in 1975 that these were not of the best quality, but that memory had faded into the distance reaches of my brain. So, basically, from these cards don’t expect many, if any, submissions to PSA, so current “pop” levels are safe 😊.
After some research, I found this Forum and also came to the conclusion that the only way to properly collect this set is in PSA-graded form. So many thanks for the education that I have received from reading this thread from the very beginning on page one.
My first card to start the PSA graded quest is the Bob Gibson #150. My card has four mostly sharp corners! The color is good too, but aside from the tilting (also called “diamond cut”, right?), and being off-center, its only 78mm. The shorty-cards were a surprise to me. I have scores of them.
When building my PSA set, I hope to avoid the shorty cards like the plague. Here is my first PSA acquisition:
I am looking to contribute to this threat in the months/years ahead.
Welcome to the forums, Dave! Congrats on the Gibson~that card is super tough to find in PSA 8 grade.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
There was a post by grote15 on April 7, 2017 that responded to an earlier question about a sale on PWCC of minis that looked like "Henry' Masterpiece" , and he confirmed it. Having read the Forum from the beginning I enjoyed "MintMoonDog" and learned a lot from him. It looks like his last post was in December 2015. Hopefully, all is well with him.
It didn't take long for me to give up on this set in graded high quality for that very reason. I'm about to complete a raw set with a handful of graded cards. Will continue to seek out good quality graded cards when reasonable Good luck Dave. Don't give up and throw in the towel like I did years earlier.
Welcome Dave! A high-grade 75 Mini set is an awesome endeavor. Good luck, it is a lot of fun.
And Tim, the marbles count is in: that high-grade Heritage set sold for $15,600 (or 13,000 minus the BP). A little on the low side in my opinion, but of course as an owner of one I am biased.
@Jasme11 said:
Welcome Dave! A high-grade 75 Mini set is an awesome endeavor. Good luck, it is a lot of fun.
And Tim, the marbles count is in: that high-grade Heritage set sold for $15,600 (or 13,000 minus the BP). A little on the low side in my opinion, but of course as an owner of one I am biased.
I thought that was on the low side also, though most of the tougher cards were 8s and not 9s and the Brett 9 had poor eye appeal imo. I also think that selling an entire set like that by auction format is a poor way to maximize return as the bidding pool is far thinner than it would be had each card been listed individually or in smaller lots, at least.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
@Jasme11 said:
Welcome Dave! A high-grade 75 Mini set is an awesome endeavor. Good luck, it is a lot of fun.
And Tim, the marbles count is in: that high-grade Heritage set sold for $15,600 (or 13,000 minus the BP). A little on the low side in my opinion, but of course as an owner of one I am biased.
I thought that was on the low side also, though most of the tougher cards were 8s and not 9s and the Brett 9 had poor eye appeal imo. I also think that selling an entire set like that by auction format is a poor way to maximize return as the bidding pool is far thinner than it would be had each card been listed individually or in smaller lots, at least.
The Yount and Rice from that entire set auction are for sale by 4 sharp corners. There may be more than that, but I stopped at those two.
I posted this on the B/S/T forum a week or so ago. I thought that putting it here may get some more specific readers to help me with my task...
Anyone up for some old fashioned trading? I started putting this set together a few months back in PSA 8 or better and have accumulated some duplicates. Would love to see if I can trade rather than sell and buy. Here’s what I have to offer:
Card #- Player Name - Grade
8 - Rogelio Moret - 8
10 - Willie Davis - 8 (x2)
11- Bill Melton - 8
13 - Gene Locklear - 8 (x2)
43 - Cleon Jones - 8
52 - Darrell Porter - 8 (x3)
72 - Royals Team - 8
92 - Cecil Upshaw - 8
93 - Dave Lopes - 8
132 - Randy Moffitt - 8
156 - Dave Kingman - 8
167 - Rich Coggins - 8
183 - Mel Stottlemyre - 8
188 - Tom Griffin - 8
190 - MVPs Shantz/Sauer - 8 (x2)
197 - MVPs Fox / Banks - 8
199 - MVPs Maris/Robinson - 8
201 - MVPs Howard/Koufax - 7
201 - MVPs Howard/Koufax - 8
209 - MVPs Blue/Torre - 8
213 - Oscar Gamble - 8
215 - Bobby Valentine - 8
230 - Jim ‘Catfish’ Hunter - 8
269 - Doug Rau - 8
294 - Geoff Zahn - 8
321 - Rudy May - 8
342 - Leroy Stanton - 8
342 - Leroy Stanton - 9
347 - Mike Caldwell - 8 (x3)
351 - Bob Boone - 8 (x2)
353 - Luis Melendez - 8 (x2)
358 - Al Bumbry - 8 (x2)
379 - Bernie Carbo - 7
383 - Jim York - 8
391 - Don DeMola - 8
419 - Dave Goltz - 8
420 - Larry Bowa AS - 8
424 - John Lowenstein - 8
426 - George Medich - 8
450 - Willie McCovey - 8
455 - Don Wilson - 8
486 - Ray Fosse - 8
496 - Pepe Frias - 8 ( 3)
501 - Bill Robinson - 8
506 - Leron Lee - 8 (x2)
524 - John Doherty - 8
525 - Tom House - 8
545 - Billy Williams - 8
546 - John Knox - 8
547 - Von Joshua - 8
558 - Dave Roberts - 7
568 - Dale Murray - 8
573 - Orlando Pena - 8
585 - Chris Chambliss - 8
586 - Tim McCarver - 8
587 - Chris Ward - 8
594 - Jim Fuller - 8
605 - John Ellis - 8
608 - Gene Michael - 8
609 - Ellie Hendricks - 8
610 - Ron Hunt - 8
613 - Bill Parsons - 8 (x2)
615 - Rookie Pitchers - 8
617 - Rookie Infielders - 8
633 - Paul Casanova - 8
644 - Bill Fahey - 8
652 - Lindy McDaniel - 8
I still need almost 400 cards, so should be able to work with most anything you have available. Post a message here or PM me and let’s make some trades! I can send pictures of any of the above.
I have been busy since my first post well over one month ago. My major accomplishments include creating a 1975 Topps Mini Set Registry on the PSA Set Registry web site. I now have the 59th rated set! I have made a number of mistakes along the way, including losing an auction for a Mike Schmidt card on eBay, and then buying one that came up right after I lost the auction. The card looked great and had an "8" grade. When it came in the mail a week later, it looked great! There was one issue I didn't notice until another mini card that I won came in the mail several days later.. One slight problem on the Schmidt , it wasn't a mini! It’s a bad news/good news problem: Bad -- It’s not a 1975 Topps mini; Good -- it’s a 1975 Topps Schmidt!
My "capstone" card thus far is the George Brett rookie card, with a PSA Grade 9. It’s the most expensive card I have ever acquired, but I decided that if I was going down the path of creating a registry set, I wanted to have some truly exquisite cards. In my card collecting life, I tended to acquire the commons first and then try and get the star cards. So, guess what, I passed on a lot of the star cards for decades and while I have a lot of cards, not enough that are truly exquisite (well, at least my kids had shoes).
The strange thing about this card, my price was $1160 (excluding the WA state sales tax which eBay collects), there was another one that sold for $1184 a few weeks before I acquired mine. So, lets put the price around $1200. There are 156 Brett cards with a "9" grade, and 8 with a "10". There are 296 regular sized Brett cards with a grade "9". There have been 6 of those cards sold in 2019, ranging from $1600 to $1900. That's kind of a big spread in prices between the minis and regulars.
Given that there is complete transparency in prices paid for these cards on the PSA "APR" tab since they put pictures of the cards being sold/bought, I hope I don't offend anyone on the prices I have paid.
One of the "tools" I have been working on is identifying the placement of each card on the actual sheets. Using some of the links previously posted on this Forum, I have been able to obtain high quality scans of un-cut sheets. I believe these are scans of the full-sized sheets and not scans of the mini sheets. This is kind of tedious work, about 3 hours per sheet. Below is the first sheet, both the original JPG and a copy of the sheet with my notations.
This next sheet is has the card numbers
I have also developed a spreadsheet that notes the location of the card and the color combo.
In looking at the colors of the cards, there are two sets of green a regular Green and a Dark Green, which I am calling Emerald in my spreadsheet (one word is easier to type than two). The two greens are evident in Row I, which has the Emerald (Dark Green) on the top and Green on the bottom. In looking at my cards, it looks like Row A uses Emerald on the top, so that is a guess and up for discussion.
The way I have the colors coded are:
Emerald
Yellow
Red
Copper
Brown
Copper
Yellow
Blue
Emerald
Green
Purple
Pink
Yellow
In the second sheet, there is a "Tan" color. I should have that ready in a week or so.
I looked at both my sets of minis and regular sized cards to help with which color is used. The names of the colors are not as important as the order in which they appear on the cards. I made up "Copper" to identify that color used on bottom of Row C /top of Row D and bottom of Row E/ top of Row F.
I eventually want to make my spreadsheet available, but want to make sure I have the descriptions correct.
In looking at the first sheet, there are an amazing number of HOF players, and that is not even including the stars on the MVP cards.
Then there are guys like Jesus Alou, who played in Tacoma, and when he played for the SF Giants, he was in the outfield with his brothers, Matty and Felipe.
Diego Segui is the "Ancient Mariner" since he played for both the Seattle Pilots and Seattle Mariners.
@DaveB73 - Great pair of posts! I'm more of a full sized collector, myself, than the minis, but do also have a partial registry set of the minis that I only add to on occasion, as I have so many other projects going on. You've passed me up already, as I sit somewhere in the 60s in the rankings. I just briefly browsed your set, and it looks like you have some really nice cards included!
I have also mixed up the regular/mini version, but realized it almost immediately upon payment. I was looking for a regular sized PSA 8 Brett at the time, and while searching and comparing scans of multiple ones, I clicked on a new listing that popped up in my saved searches of "1975 Topps George Brett PSA 8". It was BIN priced about $50 less than anything else I'd been viewing, so I thought, "what's the catch?", and looked those scans over fairly quickly, as I was afraid that someone would come along and snatch it out from under me during my hesitation. I decided that one was "the one", and bought it. It was only after paying that I was looking at it even closer with the giddiness that you get from finally checking a big one off of your list that I saw the "mini" on the flip. My heart did sink for just a bit. It wasn't noted as a mini in the listing title, but rather than try to get out of the transaction, I just chalked it up to lesson learned, and that is how I bought my first graded mini. After thinking about it a bit, I mean, how mad can I be at myself? Like your Schmidt, I still own a pretty nice card. I would like to upgrade to a PSA 9 at some point on the Brett, so great job on getting that one already for your set!
While working on my registry set for the full sized cards, I would often find lots for sale that would also include a random mini or 2, or find that the seller also had listings for minis that I thought to be reasonably priced, so began to accumulate a nice pile and eventually decided to go ahead a start a registry set of the minis. Having already completed the set for the full sized, and another full sized at 75%, I just haven't felt a lot of urgency to pursue the minis with much fervor, though. I will add a card here and there, but it may be awhile before my attention focuses on finishing. It will be of interest to me to follow your progress, though.
I admire your undertaking of creating the spreadsheets. I could never be that organized or meticulous or smart enough to then adequately put that information to use. I do get enjoyment looking at uncut sheets, and observing the placement of each card and what other stars are nearby, etc. I somewhat collect uncut sheets from the 70s and 80s, and am nearing 50 total overall. The crown jewel of my collection is a 1975 sheet that includes the Brett and Yount rookies, and a tremendous amount of other HOFs and stars.
Anyway, good luck in your pursuit. It took me roughly 3 years to complete my 1975 regulars, and that was with extreme focus. Please post your additions along the way, along with any anecdotes about acquiring the card or the player depicted. Always like reading about other's journey.
If you look at the sheets posted above, you can certainly understand why those cards along the top edge of each sheet (green/yellow and red/yellow) are as tough as they to find in high grade. Not coincidentally, cards with those color combos are also the only ones that come "short" or undersized right out of the pack. Conversely, the cards along the bottom edge of the sheet (tan/blue and pink/blue) are the ones that come "tall" or oversized right out of the pack. (There are many "unnaturally short" cards with other color combos out there, unfortunately.) Just another cool nuance with this very amazing and intriguing Topps set.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
@softparade said:
How the heck did the cards get cut in the area of the MVP cards near the top right? Borders don't line up .....
Even in the semi-rigid toploaders, there is a bit of flexibility, so the slight "waviness" of the sheet may be creating a bit of an optical illusion in the photo. If you zoom in on the white edges, you can see the guide marks where the cuts would start. The sheet is bowed a little in my photo, so I think that's why it looks like the cut at those marks would be a bit "off". It isn't near as pronounced in hand and upon close inspection.
Having said that, though, it's been awhile since I was working on that set and don't remember the pop reports offhand relative to the other cards, I do seem to recall that the Rosen/Campanella and the Shantz/Sauer cards were a bit tougher for me to find centered and in high grade. So, maybe there is/was a bit of a slight issue with those MVP cards due to the layout/placement on the sheet, leaving a smaller margin for error in the cutting process?
Been waiting a long while for a nice, full-sized Blyleven in PSA 9 grade for my set.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Gentleman
I often read this thread but don't collect the 75 Minis. Working on the 71 set and one colored border set is enough for me.
I did buy 2 unopened packs a few years ago when these boards had the BBCE box break.
My only unopened in my collection. Turns out it was a good investment as the price has 2X or #X what I paid.
Still can't tell who is on the back/front. Listening to you guys has advantages.
After seeing that Bert I had to comment. Outrageous card. Even I know how tough that one is.
I appreciate the expertise on this set and a few guys on unopened.
For my Yankees team set looking for psa 9 of #55 Bonds and # 401 Wallace
Collecting PSA... FB,BK,HK,and BB HOF RC sets 1948-76 Topps FB Sets FB & BB HOF Player sets 1948-1993 NY Yankee Team Sets
I am new to Collectors Universe and this thread. I am building a set of 75 mini, I am currently 75th on 75 mini
PSA Set Registry. The cards below are my newest editions.
@baseballcardman said:
I am new to Collectors Universe and this thread. I am building a set of 75 mini, I am currently 75th on 75 mini
PSA Set Registry. The cards below are my newest editions.
Welcome to the forum. I got started on here about 9 months ago; actually discovered by accident. By the time I started here, I .had already completed a high grade 72 topps set (#3) which I still have and still actively upgrade. I have always liked the minis and have just recently ventured into this set in graded condition. Good luck to you collecting this set
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
@DaveB73 nice cards. I live in Seattle and also own a PSA 9 Brett. Northwest strong! LOL Been concentrating on my '52 Topps set but the '75 mini set is near and dear to my heart. I have some graded but many more gradable that I will get around to someday.
I suppose only an avid 75 mini set collector would understand my elation at acquiring this PSA 9 #143 Cliff Johnson card, but anyone familiar with the 75 mini set also knows how brutally tough this card is to find full-sized, centered and without PD. One of only 7 9s with none higher and probably one of just a very few that also fill the holder like this beauty does.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Quality card Tim, really nice. I looked over my 8.5 a few times and decided not to battle you for that 9. The top portion of your card has some of the best coloring and print for that card I have ever seen. Even some of the 9's out there have major smearing and print issues around the "Astros." And I don't even want to mention size problems. Congrats again!
This is the toughest set graded wise that I have tried to put together.There are several cards that you can not find even with a qualifier.Would like an 8 in Bob Gibson and 7 or 8 in brooks robinson.
@Jasme11 said:
Quality card Tim, really nice. I looked over my 8.5 a few times and decided not to battle you for that 9. The top portion of your card has some of the best coloring and print for that card I have ever seen. Even some of the 9's out there have major smearing and print issues around the "Astros." And I don't even want to mention size problems. Congrats again!
Thanks, Tony!
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
@DBesse27 said:
Tim, it’s been a while. Hope you’re well. Great cards, especially the Blyleven!
All is well here, Dan, and hope you are, too!
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Sent in a group of cards in a group sub and this one mini that I thought had a chance..very pleased to see this pack-pulled beauty pop today!
1 MINT 9 1975 Topps Mini 458 Ross Grimsley Card
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
@grote15 said:
Sent in a group of cards in a group sub and this one mini that I thought had a chance..very pleased to see this pack-pulled beauty pop today!
@grote15 said:
Sent in a group of cards in a group sub and this one mini that I thought had a chance..very pleased to see this pack-pulled beauty pop today!
1 MINT 9 1975 Topps Mini 458 Ross Grimsley Card
Looking forward to seeing a pict. of that beauty.
That is awesome.I had to settle for 7 and there are only 59 higher.I have a Morris Nettles at a 9.None have been graded higher than a 9.
@Jasme11 said:
Looks like Heritage has a premium, top 10 caliber Mini set up for auction. 530 9's including Brett and Yount. Any predictions on the final price???
I wish they were breaking it up by individual cards like they did a few years back with another Mint set. It will be fun to watch. The Brett 9 is not to my liking. Graded very long ago and would lilkely be an 8 at best if submitted today.
@MiniMaster said:
Let's begin again! Once upon a time there was an idea to make a set of Topps cards smaller than they had ever been made before. It was 1975 and Topps wanted to make a big splash with even the regular topps set. Only this year they created a Mini example as well as an original sized example. Topps elected to sell this Mini set in Michigan and the West Coast. The set was an instant hit with the amazing multi color borders. With Rookie's like Robin Yount, George Brett, Jim Rice, Keith Hernandez, Fred Lynn! Star's like Hank Aaron, Harmon Killebrew, Nolan Ryan, Lou Brock, Reggie Jackson, Mike Schmidt, Johnny Bench, Carl Yastrzemski, Willie Stargell, Catfish Hunter, Rollie Fingers, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Rod Carew, Carlton Fisk, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Willie McCovey, Bob Gibson, Thurmon Munson, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Dave Winfield, Jim Palmer, Phil Niekro, Fergie Jenkins, Don Sutton. All but three of these players are in the Hall Of Fame. Excluded Pete Rose is the all time hits leader!
The set also has some pretty remarkable sub sets like the Highlight cards that start the set. Aaron, Brock, Gibson, Kaline, Ryan, Marshall, and a 3 photo tribute to the no-hitters pitched the previous year, which includes Nolan Ryan. The MVP's of each league/year since Topps began printing cards in 1951 are included. The most desirable being #195 the MVP's of 1957 depicting Hank Aaron/Mickey Mantle. Also included are the Leader Cards highlighted by yet another Nolan Ryan card which includes Steve Carlton.
These cards were very difficult to come by in perfectly centered form without print defects. Topps sold these cards for .15 cents a pack and quality control was not at the top of the list when it came to production. Some of the most common defects were: Off Center, Diamond Cuts, Fish Eye's, short cuts. Most short cuts came in the Green/Yellow and Red/Yellow examples. Any other color combo's would be fairly rare to find in a shortened version!
For every 75 Topps Mini card printed there are close to 3 of the 75 Topps regular card. With the popularity of the 75 Topps Mini Set among graded card collectors it seems the ratio is a little less than 3 to 1. Closer to 2 1/2 to 1.
I invite all collectors to post there experiences with this set. I ask that any post stay constructively informative so that the thread will remain available for collectors to view.
Happy collecting
I can say it’s been a real challenge with this set.I am about 50 % there missing only one star card Palmer as I can not find one better than a 6.Some cards like Concepcion, and Tiger team card are no where however I will find them.
It is a very difficult set to build as many of the cards are short cut and and off center.
I am down to 299 cards to go which are gonna be tough.I am sending a lot of 100 raw cards that are not easily found graded or way over priced. I am hoping to get at least nothing lower than a 7.
Been waiting many years to find the right PSA 9 Brett RC for my 75 mini set and I have finally crossed that quest off my list. This beauty was well worth the wait.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
@grote15 said:
Been waiting many years to find the right PSA 9 Brett RC for my 75 mini set and I have finally crossed that quest off my list. This beauty was well worth the wait.
@grote15 said:
Been waiting many years to find the right PSA 9 Brett RC for my 75 mini set and I have finally crossed that quest off my list. This beauty was well worth the wait.
@grote15 said:
Been waiting many years to find the right PSA 9 Brett RC for my 75 mini set and I have finally crossed that quest off my list. This beauty was well worth the wait.
@grote15 said:
Been waiting many years to find the right PSA 9 Brett RC for my 75 mini set and I have finally crossed that quest off my list. This beauty was well worth the wait.
@grote15 said:
Been waiting many years to find the right PSA 9 Brett RC for my 75 mini set and I have finally crossed that quest off my list. This beauty was well worth the wait.
@grote15 said:
Been waiting many years to find the right PSA 9 Brett RC for my 75 mini set and I have finally crossed that quest off my list. This beauty was well worth the wait.
@grote15 said:
Been waiting many years to find the right PSA 9 Brett RC for my 75 mini set and I have finally crossed that quest off my list. This beauty was well worth the wait.
Comments
Yes, Brett has some major tilting going on. I will throw out an optimistic range of $13,000 to $16,000, with a guess of $14,786 as my prized final answer for, "how many marbles are in the jar?" What's your guess Tim? Obviously, I hope it sells for much more.
I think it can go higher (20K+) as bidding for minis has been strong of late. It will be interesting to watch. I do think they could maximize the return by breaking into smaller lots, though, or listing cards individually like they did a few years back.
My guesstimate is $23,100.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Hi Tim, great to see you’re still passionate about this set!
Yaz Master Set
#1 Gino Cappelletti master set
#1 John Hannah master set
Also collecting Andre Tippett, Patriots Greats' RCs, 1964 Venezuelan Topps, 1974 Topps Red Sox
Dan, great to see you back here! Yes, I'm still consumed by minis lol...I think me and mini master are the only two left from the original group..and Tony (jasme11) too.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
what happened to henry?
Thanks,
David (LD_Ferg)
1985 Topps Football (starting in psa 8) - #9 - started 05/21/06
Some strong prices yesterday for a nice selection of 75 minis with terrific eye appeal (and full sized). Congrats, Nick! It is rather impressive how strong the 75 mini market remains after all these years.
I was fortunate enough to win the PSA 8 #150 Gibson, #405 Montague and #647 Claudell Washington as well as the PSA 9 #290 Matlack. All of these are for my secondary set of minis which I am very slowly putting together with a focus on eye appeal regardless of grade. Not too many opportrunities to upgrade my primary set at this stage but I still love chasing minis.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Post 1
Hello Everyone!
My 1975 Topps Minis have been in hibernation for decades. I acquired them, pack by pack in 1975, my sophomore year at the University of Washington in Seattle. I will detail that quest in later posts. I am an avid card collector and earlier this year I was considering completing the 1963 Topps set, but was missing the Rose rookie and all the high numbers, which are short printed. Years ago, I did complete the 1964 and 1965 sets, but upon further review decided to go into a different direction: the 1975 Minis. When I “cracked” open my box, I was taken aback on the mis-cuts, tilting and being off-center. The picture below illustrates how most of those cards look after 40+ years locked in a cigar box.
I knew enough in 1975 that these were not of the best quality, but that memory had faded into the distance reaches of my brain. So, basically, from these cards don’t expect many, if any, submissions to PSA, so current “pop” levels are safe 😊.
After some research, I found this Forum and also came to the conclusion that the only way to properly collect this set is in PSA-graded form. So many thanks for the education that I have received from reading this thread from the very beginning on page one.
My first card to start the PSA graded quest is the Bob Gibson #150. My card has four mostly sharp corners! The color is good too, but aside from the tilting (also called “diamond cut”, right?), and being off-center, its only 78mm. The shorty-cards were a surprise to me. I have scores of them.
When building my PSA set, I hope to avoid the shorty cards like the plague. Here is my first PSA acquisition:
I am looking to contribute to this threat in the months/years ahead.
Dave B. From Tacoma
Welcome to the forums, Dave! Congrats on the Gibson~that card is super tough to find in PSA 8 grade.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
There was a post by grote15 on April 7, 2017 that responded to an earlier question about a sale on PWCC of minis that looked like "Henry' Masterpiece" , and he confirmed it. Having read the Forum from the beginning I enjoyed "MintMoonDog" and learned a lot from him. It looks like his last post was in December 2015. Hopefully, all is well with him.
thanks! much appreciated! I think I have a good handle on how to approach collecting the minis, and you are one of the great teachers!
It didn't take long for me to give up on this set in graded high quality for that very reason. I'm about to complete a raw set with a handful of graded cards. Will continue to seek out good quality graded cards when reasonable Good luck Dave. Don't give up and throw in the towel like I did years earlier.
Welcome Dave! A high-grade 75 Mini set is an awesome endeavor. Good luck, it is a lot of fun.
And Tim, the marbles count is in: that high-grade Heritage set sold for $15,600 (or 13,000 minus the BP). A little on the low side in my opinion, but of course as an owner of one I am biased.
I thought that was on the low side also, though most of the tougher cards were 8s and not 9s and the Brett 9 had poor eye appeal imo. I also think that selling an entire set like that by auction format is a poor way to maximize return as the bidding pool is far thinner than it would be had each card been listed individually or in smaller lots, at least.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
The Yount and Rice from that entire set auction are for sale by 4 sharp corners. There may be more than that, but I stopped at those two.
I recently received this in an email. Looks like we know for sure who the winner was.
I posted this on the B/S/T forum a week or so ago. I thought that putting it here may get some more specific readers to help me with my task...
Anyone up for some old fashioned trading? I started putting this set together a few months back in PSA 8 or better and have accumulated some duplicates. Would love to see if I can trade rather than sell and buy. Here’s what I have to offer:
Card #- Player Name - Grade
8 - Rogelio Moret - 8
10 - Willie Davis - 8 (x2)
11- Bill Melton - 8
13 - Gene Locklear - 8 (x2)
43 - Cleon Jones - 8
52 - Darrell Porter - 8 (x3)
72 - Royals Team - 8
92 - Cecil Upshaw - 8
93 - Dave Lopes - 8
132 - Randy Moffitt - 8
156 - Dave Kingman - 8
167 - Rich Coggins - 8
183 - Mel Stottlemyre - 8
188 - Tom Griffin - 8
190 - MVPs Shantz/Sauer - 8 (x2)
197 - MVPs Fox / Banks - 8
199 - MVPs Maris/Robinson - 8
201 - MVPs Howard/Koufax - 7
201 - MVPs Howard/Koufax - 8
209 - MVPs Blue/Torre - 8
213 - Oscar Gamble - 8
215 - Bobby Valentine - 8
230 - Jim ‘Catfish’ Hunter - 8
269 - Doug Rau - 8
294 - Geoff Zahn - 8
321 - Rudy May - 8
342 - Leroy Stanton - 8
342 - Leroy Stanton - 9
347 - Mike Caldwell - 8 (x3)
351 - Bob Boone - 8 (x2)
353 - Luis Melendez - 8 (x2)
358 - Al Bumbry - 8 (x2)
379 - Bernie Carbo - 7
383 - Jim York - 8
391 - Don DeMola - 8
419 - Dave Goltz - 8
420 - Larry Bowa AS - 8
424 - John Lowenstein - 8
426 - George Medich - 8
450 - Willie McCovey - 8
455 - Don Wilson - 8
486 - Ray Fosse - 8
496 - Pepe Frias - 8 ( 3)
501 - Bill Robinson - 8
506 - Leron Lee - 8 (x2)
524 - John Doherty - 8
525 - Tom House - 8
545 - Billy Williams - 8
546 - John Knox - 8
547 - Von Joshua - 8
558 - Dave Roberts - 7
568 - Dale Murray - 8
573 - Orlando Pena - 8
585 - Chris Chambliss - 8
586 - Tim McCarver - 8
587 - Chris Ward - 8
594 - Jim Fuller - 8
605 - John Ellis - 8
608 - Gene Michael - 8
609 - Ellie Hendricks - 8
610 - Ron Hunt - 8
613 - Bill Parsons - 8 (x2)
615 - Rookie Pitchers - 8
617 - Rookie Infielders - 8
633 - Paul Casanova - 8
644 - Bill Fahey - 8
652 - Lindy McDaniel - 8
I still need almost 400 cards, so should be able to work with most anything you have available. Post a message here or PM me and let’s make some trades! I can send pictures of any of the above.
My needs list by card number:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 44, 45, 47, 48, 50, 51, 53, 55, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 94, 95, 96, 97, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 106, 107, 108, 109, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 123, 125, 126, 127, 128, 133, 136, 138, 139, 142, 143, 145, 146, 149, 150, 154, 155, 157, 158, 160, 162, 163, 164, 166, 168, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 182, 184, 185, 186, 187, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 200, 202, 204, 205, 207, 208, 210, 214, 217, 218, 219, 220, 222, 227, 228, 231, 232, 233, 235, 237, 238, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 258, 259, 260, 262, 264, 265, 266, 268, 270, 271, 273, 275, 276, 277, 280, 281, 283, 284, 286, 287, 289, 290, 295, 296, 297, 301, 304, 307, 308, 310, 312, 313, 314, 315, 319, 320, 322, 323, 324, 326, 329, 331, 333, 335, 338, 339, 340, 345, 350, 352, 354, 355, 356, 361, 369, 370, 371, 374, 380, 386, 387, 390, 392, 394, 396, 397, 400, 401, 402, 403, 405, 407, 410, 411, 412, 414, 415, 417, 412, 422, 428, 429, 430, 433, 438, 439, 441, 442, 444, 445, 447, 449, 452, 453, 456, 458, 459, 460, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466, 469, 470, 473, 477, 478, 481, 483, 484, 485, 487, 490, 492, 494, 497, 500, 503, 504, 505, 508, 509, 510, 512, 513, 514, 515, 516, 517, 519, 520, 521, 522, 523, 526, 528, 529, 530, 531, 532, 533, 534, 535, 537, 538, 539, 540, 544, 548, 549, 550, 553, 557, 559, 561, 562, 563, 564, 565, 567, 570, 574, 577, 580, 581, 582, 583, 588, 589, 592, 593, 596, 598, 599, 600, 601, 602, 603, 604, 611, 612, 616, 618, 619, 620, 621, 622, 623, 624, 625, 627, 628, 629, 630, 631, 632, 634, 635, 638, 639, 640, 643, 646, 647, 649, 650, 651, 654, 656, 657, 658, 659, 660
My eBay Auctions
My PSA Sets
I have been busy since my first post well over one month ago. My major accomplishments include creating a 1975 Topps Mini Set Registry on the PSA Set Registry web site. I now have the 59th rated set! I have made a number of mistakes along the way, including losing an auction for a Mike Schmidt card on eBay, and then buying one that came up right after I lost the auction. The card looked great and had an "8" grade. When it came in the mail a week later, it looked great! There was one issue I didn't notice until another mini card that I won came in the mail several days later.. One slight problem on the Schmidt , it wasn't a mini! It’s a bad news/good news problem: Bad -- It’s not a 1975 Topps mini; Good -- it’s a 1975 Topps Schmidt!
My "capstone" card thus far is the George Brett rookie card, with a PSA Grade 9. It’s the most expensive card I have ever acquired, but I decided that if I was going down the path of creating a registry set, I wanted to have some truly exquisite cards. In my card collecting life, I tended to acquire the commons first and then try and get the star cards. So, guess what, I passed on a lot of the star cards for decades and while I have a lot of cards, not enough that are truly exquisite (well, at least my kids had shoes).
The strange thing about this card, my price was $1160 (excluding the WA state sales tax which eBay collects), there was another one that sold for $1184 a few weeks before I acquired mine. So, lets put the price around $1200. There are 156 Brett cards with a "9" grade, and 8 with a "10". There are 296 regular sized Brett cards with a grade "9". There have been 6 of those cards sold in 2019, ranging from $1600 to $1900. That's kind of a big spread in prices between the minis and regulars.
Given that there is complete transparency in prices paid for these cards on the PSA "APR" tab since they put pictures of the cards being sold/bought, I hope I don't offend anyone on the prices I have paid.
One of the "tools" I have been working on is identifying the placement of each card on the actual sheets. Using some of the links previously posted on this Forum, I have been able to obtain high quality scans of un-cut sheets. I believe these are scans of the full-sized sheets and not scans of the mini sheets. This is kind of tedious work, about 3 hours per sheet. Below is the first sheet, both the original JPG and a copy of the sheet with my notations.
This next sheet is has the card numbers
I have also developed a spreadsheet that notes the location of the card and the color combo.
In looking at the colors of the cards, there are two sets of green a regular Green and a Dark Green, which I am calling Emerald in my spreadsheet (one word is easier to type than two). The two greens are evident in Row I, which has the Emerald (Dark Green) on the top and Green on the bottom. In looking at my cards, it looks like Row A uses Emerald on the top, so that is a guess and up for discussion.
The way I have the colors coded are:
Emerald
Yellow
Red
Copper
Brown
Copper
Yellow
Blue
Emerald
Green
Purple
Pink
Yellow
In the second sheet, there is a "Tan" color. I should have that ready in a week or so.
I looked at both my sets of minis and regular sized cards to help with which color is used. The names of the colors are not as important as the order in which they appear on the cards. I made up "Copper" to identify that color used on bottom of Row C /top of Row D and bottom of Row E/ top of Row F.
I eventually want to make my spreadsheet available, but want to make sure I have the descriptions correct.
In looking at the first sheet, there are an amazing number of HOF players, and that is not even including the stars on the MVP cards.
Then there are guys like Jesus Alou, who played in Tacoma, and when he played for the SF Giants, he was in the outfield with his brothers, Matty and Felipe.
Diego Segui is the "Ancient Mariner" since he played for both the Seattle Pilots and Seattle Mariners.
Cheers, Dave
@DaveB73 - Great pair of posts! I'm more of a full sized collector, myself, than the minis, but do also have a partial registry set of the minis that I only add to on occasion, as I have so many other projects going on. You've passed me up already, as I sit somewhere in the 60s in the rankings. I just briefly browsed your set, and it looks like you have some really nice cards included!
I have also mixed up the regular/mini version, but realized it almost immediately upon payment. I was looking for a regular sized PSA 8 Brett at the time, and while searching and comparing scans of multiple ones, I clicked on a new listing that popped up in my saved searches of "1975 Topps George Brett PSA 8". It was BIN priced about $50 less than anything else I'd been viewing, so I thought, "what's the catch?", and looked those scans over fairly quickly, as I was afraid that someone would come along and snatch it out from under me during my hesitation. I decided that one was "the one", and bought it. It was only after paying that I was looking at it even closer with the giddiness that you get from finally checking a big one off of your list that I saw the "mini" on the flip. My heart did sink for just a bit. It wasn't noted as a mini in the listing title, but rather than try to get out of the transaction, I just chalked it up to lesson learned, and that is how I bought my first graded mini. After thinking about it a bit, I mean, how mad can I be at myself? Like your Schmidt, I still own a pretty nice card. I would like to upgrade to a PSA 9 at some point on the Brett, so great job on getting that one already for your set!
While working on my registry set for the full sized cards, I would often find lots for sale that would also include a random mini or 2, or find that the seller also had listings for minis that I thought to be reasonably priced, so began to accumulate a nice pile and eventually decided to go ahead a start a registry set of the minis. Having already completed the set for the full sized, and another full sized at 75%, I just haven't felt a lot of urgency to pursue the minis with much fervor, though. I will add a card here and there, but it may be awhile before my attention focuses on finishing. It will be of interest to me to follow your progress, though.
I admire your undertaking of creating the spreadsheets. I could never be that organized or meticulous or smart enough to then adequately put that information to use. I do get enjoyment looking at uncut sheets, and observing the placement of each card and what other stars are nearby, etc. I somewhat collect uncut sheets from the 70s and 80s, and am nearing 50 total overall. The crown jewel of my collection is a 1975 sheet that includes the Brett and Yount rookies, and a tremendous amount of other HOFs and stars.
Anyway, good luck in your pursuit. It took me roughly 3 years to complete my 1975 regulars, and that was with extreme focus. Please post your additions along the way, along with any anecdotes about acquiring the card or the player depicted. Always like reading about other's journey.
If you look at the sheets posted above, you can certainly understand why those cards along the top edge of each sheet (green/yellow and red/yellow) are as tough as they to find in high grade. Not coincidentally, cards with those color combos are also the only ones that come "short" or undersized right out of the pack. Conversely, the cards along the bottom edge of the sheet (tan/blue and pink/blue) are the ones that come "tall" or oversized right out of the pack. (There are many "unnaturally short" cards with other color combos out there, unfortunately.) Just another cool nuance with this very amazing and intriguing Topps set.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
How the heck did the cards get cut in the area of the MVP cards near the top right? Borders don't line up .....
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
Even in the semi-rigid toploaders, there is a bit of flexibility, so the slight "waviness" of the sheet may be creating a bit of an optical illusion in the photo. If you zoom in on the white edges, you can see the guide marks where the cuts would start. The sheet is bowed a little in my photo, so I think that's why it looks like the cut at those marks would be a bit "off". It isn't near as pronounced in hand and upon close inspection.
Having said that, though, it's been awhile since I was working on that set and don't remember the pop reports offhand relative to the other cards, I do seem to recall that the Rosen/Campanella and the Shantz/Sauer cards were a bit tougher for me to find centered and in high grade. So, maybe there is/was a bit of a slight issue with those MVP cards due to the layout/placement on the sheet, leaving a smaller margin for error in the cutting process?
Been waiting a long while for a nice, full-sized Blyleven in PSA 9 grade for my set.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Gentleman
I often read this thread but don't collect the 75 Minis. Working on the 71 set and one colored border set is enough for me.
I did buy 2 unopened packs a few years ago when these boards had the BBCE box break.
My only unopened in my collection. Turns out it was a good investment as the price has 2X or #X what I paid.
Still can't tell who is on the back/front. Listening to you guys has advantages.
After seeing that Bert I had to comment. Outrageous card. Even I know how tough that one is.
I appreciate the expertise on this set and a few guys on unopened.
For my Yankees team set looking for psa 9 of #55 Bonds and # 401 Wallace
1948-76 Topps FB Sets
FB & BB HOF Player sets
1948-1993 NY Yankee Team Sets
I am new to Collectors Universe and this thread. I am building a set of 75 mini, I am currently 75th on 75 mini
PSA Set Registry. The cards below are my newest editions.
Welcome to the forum. I got started on here about 9 months ago; actually discovered by accident. By the time I started here, I .had already completed a high grade 72 topps set (#3) which I still have and still actively upgrade. I have always liked the minis and have just recently ventured into this set in graded condition. Good luck to you collecting this set
Absolute beauty Tim, congrats!
Thanks, Tony!
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
@DaveB73 nice cards. I live in Seattle and also own a PSA 9 Brett. Northwest strong! LOL Been concentrating on my '52 Topps set but the '75 mini set is near and dear to my heart. I have some graded but many more gradable that I will get around to someday.
I suppose only an avid 75 mini set collector would understand my elation at acquiring this PSA 9 #143 Cliff Johnson card, but anyone familiar with the 75 mini set also knows how brutally tough this card is to find full-sized, centered and without PD. One of only 7 9s with none higher and probably one of just a very few that also fill the holder like this beauty does.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Quality card Tim, really nice. I looked over my 8.5 a few times and decided not to battle you for that 9. The top portion of your card has some of the best coloring and print for that card I have ever seen. Even some of the 9's out there have major smearing and print issues around the "Astros." And I don't even want to mention size problems. Congrats again!
This is the toughest set graded wise that I have tried to put together.There are several cards that you can not find even with a qualifier.Would like an 8 in Bob Gibson and 7 or 8 in brooks robinson.
Thanks, Tony!
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Anyone have a Brooks Robinson mini no qualifier in. 7 or 8 please pm me
Tim, it’s been a while. Hope you’re well. Great cards, especially the Blyleven!
Yaz Master Set
#1 Gino Cappelletti master set
#1 John Hannah master set
Also collecting Andre Tippett, Patriots Greats' RCs, 1964 Venezuelan Topps, 1974 Topps Red Sox
All is well here, Dan, and hope you are, too!
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Sent in a group of cards in a group sub and this one mini that I thought had a chance..very pleased to see this pack-pulled beauty pop today!
1 MINT 9 1975 Topps Mini 458 Ross Grimsley Card
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Looking forward to seeing a pict. of that beauty.
That is awesome.I had to settle for 7 and there are only 59 higher.I have a Morris Nettles at a 9.None have been graded higher than a 9.
21,000
I can say it’s been a real challenge with this set.I am about 50 % there missing only one star card Palmer as I can not find one better than a 6.Some cards like Concepcion, and Tiger team card are no where however I will find them.
Anyone out there selling some high pop PSA 8's?????? Not sure if I want to go all in on the graded set yet.
It is a very difficult set to build as many of the cards are short cut and and off center.
I am down to 299 cards to go which are gonna be tough.I am sending a lot of 100 raw cards that are not easily found graded or way over priced. I am hoping to get at least nothing lower than a 7.
Been waiting many years to find the right PSA 9 Brett RC for my 75 mini set and I have finally crossed that quest off my list. This beauty was well worth the wait.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Very Nice!!!!!! Congrats.
I believe that is a 10 in a 9 holder. I'd give that one a few shots at review. Congrats!
wow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_players_from_Panama
Sorry for the bad typo.
Wow! That Brett rookie is fantastic. Congrats on checking it off your list.