This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/20/2013
A substantial departure from the arguably drab and aesthetically-challenged 1962 set, the 1963 Topps release featured highly detailed and colorful photographs with a full-color nameplate at the bottom, along with a circular inset in a contrasting color that offered heightened visual appeal to collectors. The cards once again featured white borders, with the exception of the lower nameplate, for a comfortable yet innovative design. The nameplate, however, proved to be a bit of a double-edged sword, as the corners and edges proved susceptible to chipping straight from the pack, making the issue more condition-sensitive than any that had preceded it. The key card in the set, of course, is the Pete Rose rookie card, yet the usual plethora of stars and Hall of Famers is also present. Offered here is a stunning complete, high-grade assemblage of these attractive pasteboards, with a total of 285 examples having been graded by PSA. Of those, 23 are graded MINT 9 (62, 123, 158, 169 Perry, 198, 234, 274 CL, 290, 312, 317, 361, 371, 396, 405, 426, 427, 437, 473 Mets Team, 483, 484, 519, 541, 568); 6 cards are deemed NM/MT+ 8.5 (68 Friendly Foes, 151, 219, 485, 488, 553 Stargell RC); 1 card is graded NM+ 7.5 (200 Mantle); the remaining 255 graded cards, including Rose and all the other major stars, are in PSA 8 NM/MT holders. The ungraded portion of this set is in equally impressive high-grade, being approximately 10% MINT, 70% NM/MT, 10% NM and 10% EX/MT, clean and ready to be slabbed. In short, this set has to be counted among the very nicest, in its entirety, of all the sets being offered in this auction, and any advanced high-grade collector, set registry enthusiast or dealer seeking top-level inventory should pay special notice! A complete list of the PSA 8 NM/MT cards will be available in our auction software. PSA 8 NM/MT cards are as follows: 2 AL Batting Leaders (Mantle), 3 NL HR Leaders (Aaron/Mays), 4 AL HR Leaders (Killebrew/Maris), 5 NL ERA Leaders (Koufax/Drysdale), 6 AL ERA Leaders, 9 NL Strikeout Leaders, 10 AL Strikeout Leaders, 12, 15, 17, 18 Buc Blasters (Clemente), 21, 25 Kaline, 26, 33, 34 Schofield, 36, 38, 39, 41, 45, 46, 47, 52, 53, 54, 57, 60 Howard, 65, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 76, 77, 79 CL, 80, 81, 87, 90, 93, 94, 95, 97, 98, 99, 101, 102 CL Red on Yellow, 103, 106, 107, 108 Wilhelm, 111, 115 Yaz, 116, 118, 119, 120 Maris, 121, 124, 125 Roberts, 126, 128, 130, 131, 132, 133, 135 Ashburn, 138 (Musial/Mays), 140, 141, 142 WS Game 1, 148 WS Game 7, 150, 152, 153, 160, 161, 163, 164, 167, 168, 170, 171, 173 Bombers Best (Mantle), 177, 180, 181, 182, 183, 185, 190, 192, 193, 196, 197, 199, 202, 203, 204, 205 Aparicio, 206, 207, 210 Koufax, 211, 213, 214, 217, 218, 224, 225, 226, 228 Oliva RC, 231, 233, 235, 236, 238, 240 Colavito, 241, 242 Power Plus (Banks/Aaron), 243, 244, 245, 246, 247 Yankees Team, 248, 249, 250 Musial, 251, 252 Santo, 256, 257, 258, 259, 265, 267, 273, 275 Mathews, 276, 277, 287, 300 Mays, 305, 309, 310, 311, 316, 318, 320 Spahn, 232 Mazeroski, 332, 340 Berra, 345 B Robinson, 347 Torre, 352, 353 Williams, 357, 359, 360 Drysdale, 365, 372, 373, 374, 376, 377, 378, 380 Banks, 381, 385, 387, 388, 389, 390 Aaron, 391, 395, 400 F Robinson, 401, 402, 403, 404, 408, 409, 411, 412 Dodgers Big Three (Koufax/Drysdale), 413, 414, 415 Gibson, 418, 419, 420, 422, 424, 425, 432, 435, 436, 438, 439, 440 Marichal, 442, 446 Ford, 448, 456, 459, 462, 465, 466 Freehan RC, 468, 470, 472 Brock, 474, 475, 481, 482, 487, 489, 490 McCovey, 491, 492, 494, 495, 497, 498, 499, 500 Killebrew, 507, 508, 510, 514, 515, 518, 520 Cepeda, 521, 523, 525 Fox, 528, 532, 533, 536, 537 Rose RC, 540 Clemente, 542, 543, 545, 546, 550 Snider, 551, 556, 563, 566, 567, 572.