This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/7/2009
The 1954 Wilson Franks issue features a famously simple design reminiscent of a far simpler time in American culture, when heaven was a late summer evening on the porch, a beer in one hand, a frank in the other, an apple pie in the oven, and the ball game on the radio. Of course, the 1954 Wilson Franks baseball cards have other virtues as well, most notably their profound scarcity in top grades. Cards were packaged in direct contact with the mysterious meat with which they were issued, and so most surving examples almost always exhibit grossly advanced grease stains. Of the 1,151 examples on record at PSA, for example, only 8 have ever surpassed the mark of NM/MT 8 without qualifiers. SGC reports a similar paucity of examples in top grades, with only 4 copies ever grading in excess of the NM/MT 8 tier from 292 on record, to date. Importantly, Ted Williams cannot be counted among those fantastic 4 on record at SGC, which reports 27 total "Teddy Ballgame" examples in its population report, with just 2 examples topping the chart in the NM/MT 8 class. PSA, on the other hand, has reviewed considerably more Williams copies than SGC and reports a total of 107 on record, only 2 of which have ever surpassed the NM/MT 8 plateau. The first (a PSA 9) sold for nearly $110,000 in 2002, and the second, a recently graded PSA 8.5 NM/MT+ specimen that we graded on behalf of our consignor at this past summer's National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland, is proudly presented here, and is offered with our utmost sincerest recommendation. A truly staggering example that could easily serve as a billboard for PSA's NM/MT+ 8.5 classification, a grade that continues to defy countless collectors and dealers who underestimate how borderline MINT a seeming blazer must be in order to merit the extra consideration. The prized copy offered here, for example, showcases an over-abundance of significantly above-grade features just to balance what appear to be only one or two NM/MT to NM/MT+ features to secure the NM/MT+ 8.5 evaluation. In other words, to make the grade, a high-end card in the NM/MT to MINT range must present, beyond a reasonable doubt, a more convincing array of MINT to even GEM MINT qualities than NM/MT qualities. For newcomers to the graded card market, or for collectors who never seem to get the grades they feel they deserve, it might help to think of graders more as a jury of sorts that must concede, beyond the shadow of doubt, that the virtues of a particular card outweigh its inadequacies to make the grade. Consider the presented Wilson Franks example of Ted Williams, which truly appears every bit as sharp and resplendent in person as it appears in our catalog and in our high resolution scans online. It boasts delightfully MINT or better qualities in every category but for its marginally NM/MT to NM/MT+ corners. The image of baseball's self-professed greatest hitter is essentially perfect, with a noticeably bold and accurate application of color to both Teddy's likeness as well as to the floating package of Wilson Franks in the upper left field. As further proof of the pronounced color registration, the red and black print of the name, position, team name, and even the fine facsimile signature are so thoroughly saturated to the cardstock and so perfectly preserved that they still appear wet, a full 55 years after their printing. Moving out from the image, the imperative backdrop is nearly as noteworthy for its advanced qualities. Uncommonly prone to even the subtlest imaginable imperfections, the shimmering backdrop showcased here reveals only two relatively minuscule imperfections, a single microscopic pin-prick of print immediately right of Ted's cap, and a similarly infinitesimal dust-sized bump in the cardstock just beneath his right arm. Both subtle inadequacies, it should be noted, would most likely be permitted on a MINT example. The noticeably stalwart edges, likewise, are essentially perfect, with a slight and almost 3-dimensional beveling effect evident where the brilliant enamel of the surface meets the card stock, a feature more familiar to uncommonly high-grade Goudeys. Again, these superior qualities are so overwhelmingly commanding that they more than sufficiently counterbalance some microtouches to the corners. In summary, what we have here is not only a convincing archetype of the NM/MT+ 8.5 grade from PSA, but, more significantly, it's the second finest example of "The Splendid Splinter's" single most coveted post-war issue in the hobby, a card that can be found on top-five post-war want lists of virtually every collector with any hobby knowledge extending beyond the realm of Topps and Bowman, and a card that rivals even the '52 Topps Mantle for post-war hobby supremacy!