This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/7/2009
To date, the triumphant 1956 Topps baseball card set ranks as the 4th most graded set on record at PSA, with nearly 156,000 total submissions, falling just behind the 1971, 1959, and 1961 Topps sets, which report populations of 159,000 and 163,000 and 174,000, respectively. Not surprisingly, however, the 1956 set reports grade dispersions in the top four unqualified grading tiers (GEM 10, MINT 9, NM/MT+ 8.5, and NM/MT 8) that pale in comparison to the statistics for the aforementioned sets. Of the nearly 156,000 1956 Topps specimens submitted to PSA, 0.04% (or just 70) have surfaced in GEM 10 condition, with 1.57% (or 2,446) in MINT 9, 0.28% in NM/MT+ 8.5, and 25.42% in NM/MT 8. Now compare these percentages, in the same order, with the significantly beefier statistics from the 1971 set (0.08%, 2.98%, 0.67%, and 47.44%), the 1959 set (0.07%, 3.40%, 0.56%, and 33.68%), and the 1961 set (0.19%, 5.80%, 0.50%, and 40.67%). Look again; the numbers don't lie! Not only is the 1956 set one of the most popular of all time (for too many reasons to fully list here), but it's far and away the most challenging of the four most popular Topps sets as well, with about half as many high-grade examples on record as the other three. Proudly offered in this lot is the 16th Current Finest 1956 Topps Basic Set on record at PSA. Composed of a whopping 336 PSA NM/MT 8s and highlighted by 6 PSA MINT 9s, the offered 100% complete set showcases a resounding 8.015 GPA and stands just 3 small upgrades (i.e., improving 3 PSA 8s to PSA 9s) away from tying the GPA of the next two finest sets , less than one-tenth of a grade-point (12 PSA 9s or 24 PSA 8.5s, etc.) from the 11th Current Finest set, and just 61 total grade points from climbing into the Top 10 Current Finest list at the #8 position. From that point up, the competition is fierce, with 4 sets hovering around an 8.30 average, and the top 3 sets hovering around a 9.0 average. What we have here, then, is a silver platter set, a gift from one collector to the next, just waiting for that audacious new commandant to take control and then embark on the ever-engrossing task of sweetening it up with intelligent upgrades, reviews (all cards included in this set feature the older, pre-half-point flip), and, ideally, your own treasured finds discovered at shows, on eBay, in attics, etc. But enough about Set Registry stats and averages! In addition to its popularity and difficulty, there are myriad reasons to collect the '56 Topps set. Most importantly, with its early 1956 purchase of Philadelphia's Bowman Gum Company, the '56 set marks The Topps Company's virtual monopolization of the baseball card market, a feat celebrated with several innovations, on the one hand, and the commencement of some more customary cardboard practices on the other. Like its two predecessors, the 1956 cards employ both a portrait and an action picture, only the action shot, to the delight of untold thousands of bubble-blowing baby boomers, featured, for the first time at Topps, a full image as opposed to just a cut-out, thereby spawning such unforgettable images as Mickey Mantle skying into the outfield bleachers to rob a home run, or Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays sliding in for a score, perhaps just after stealing home. Other innovations in the 1956 set include the popular and today immensely coveted team cards, several of which report multiple challenging variations, as well as famous "rookie" cards of League Presidents, Williams Harridge and Warren Giles, plus the first-ever Topps checklists. As if to eventually counter these novel introductions, however, the 1956 set marked the last time Topps would employ artwork (or artistically enhanced images), and it also marked the last of the great over-sized sets of the early 50s, a tradition going back to the groundbreaking 1952 set. Notable issue include Ted Williams (whose card also comes in subtle variations), Jackie Robinson (his last Topps card), Mickey Mantle (his first Topps card since 1953, just in time for his 1956 Triple Crown Award), Luis Aparicio (his rookie card) and Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax, and virtually all the big names in baseball (except Stan Musial and Sal Maglie) as well as the coveted Team Cards of rival powerhouse clubs, the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers. Not only that, but most cards can be found with either a gray or white back, and many collectors now believe that gray backs for cards #1-100 (Series 1) and white backs for cards #101-180 (Series 2) should warrant significant premiums, and PSA’s continually growing population report for the issue, which now differentiates back varieties, clearly supports this idea. With a total of 540 or more cards (inclusive of all variations), the 1956 Topps issue could easily become the hobby’s next great “Monster” set. Either way, the nostalgia-inducing '56 Topps set remains one of the most attractive and rigorously pursued sets of all time, and the offered assembly is one of the finest ever assembled . Graded PSA 9 MINT: 6, 94, 246, 272, 294, 332. PSA 8 NM/MT: everything else (336 cards).