This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/22/2010
A shimmering centerpiece in even the hobby's most comprehensive and high-grade Hank Aaron collections, proudly offered is the first and still only example of "Bad Henry's" 1972 Topps Cloth Stickers test issue to grade GEM MINT 10 by PSA. The one and only Aaron GEM extant from any of the industry's major grading and authentication firms, this improbable blazer features perfect centering, perfect corners and edges, and a shimmering and satin-like surface entirely devoid of any imperfections save for a few tolerable and perfectly grade-appropriate microdots of print in the backdrop of the otherwise sparkling obverse image. A bit of background information on the issue: identical to the regular issue in terms of design, only 33 of the experimental "Cloth Sticker" cards made it off the Topps press, mostly in the form of 33-sticker strips or 132-card sheets, hence the PSA designation of "Hand Cut" for every one of the 33 different examples comprising the set on record at the Newport Beach grading firm. Of those 33 different cards encompassing the complete test issue, only 5 have ever yielded a GEM copy, and the offered Hank Aaron is the only star player or Hall of Famer among them. Another important statistic regarding the issue's scarcity, at least in presentable enough or "grade-able" condition, is the fact that the most populous cards on PSA's current population report are the set's two famous keys: Roberto Clemente, with only 8 total submissions, and Hank Aaron, with just 6 total submissions. Compare these numbers with the 1968 Topps 3-D test issue, which reports 36 total Clementes on record, 6 of which are GEM 10s, and you'll start to believe what we already know to be the truth; the '72 Cloth Stickers are indeed among the scarcest late 60s/early 70s test issues ever produced by Topps. So do yourself and your "Hammer" collection a favor, and don't sleep on this beauty, for it may take another 100 years for a comparable specimen to rise from its hidden slumber, if such a competitor even exists at all. This, of course, is an extremely doubtful proposition, especially when we consider that the next best copy on record at PSA resides, all by itself, in the NM/MT 8 category, and the next best example beneath that can be found in the EX/MT 6 tier, also by itself. Below that, there's a single copy on record in the VG/EX 4 tier, and then there are 2 examples graded Authentic, and that's it. Uncommon in any grade, and a bona fide miracle in GEM MINT condition, this experimental Topps twist on the age-old tradition of linen sportcards comes with our very sincerest recommendation.