My 1953 Topps Adventure

albatross7979 · 06-21-2020, 05:48 PM

First post on the boards, I've lurked for a while before deciding to register and post. I do not have a website or a blog or social media, so I figured I would use this thread to document my 1953 Topps adventure. I am in my late 30s and just recently got back into the hobby after disconnecting from cards in the mid 90s. When I moved away to college, someone either threw away or sold all of my cards, and I wasn't too bothered by it, since I didn't really have anything of great value. Like a lot of people my age, most of my collection was late 80s/early 90s junk wax.

Last year a former co-worker was chatting with me and asked if I ever collected cards. He told me he was excited about the Topps Living Collection set, and after googling it, I saw that it was an update on the 1953 Topps set, which was my absolute dream set as a kid. I remember there was a card stand at the local flea market, and the guy had a bunch of 1953 Topps cards, but they were in a special protective case. The allure and mystery of the protective case always made me want the cards more, and I was blown away at the art and how good the cards looked.

I was intrigued when my friend showed me the Living Set info, and I decided to start reading more about the hobby. I had no real idea about grading cards, costs, or anything else. I mostly just read for a while, and then I decided to start exploring more, and one of the places I checked out was COMC. I ended up adding a few hundred dollars to the site just to mess around. I did a little bit of flipping, because that concept was easy for me, and then thought I'd start collecting the 1953 Topps cards. But, I really didn't have a plan.

I basically started buying a bunch of low grade versions of the common cards. After I'd amassed like 50 of the cards, I realized that the copies I was buying were not going to be suitable for an actual collection. Work and life got in the way and I kind of put the cards to the side for a while. However, in the last 3 months, I have decided to reboot my 1953 project. I did a lot of thinking about how I wanted to approach it, what my goals are, and I am now back into the swing of things. I made myself 3 distinct goals for my journey:

* Complete the Base Set (274 cards) with every card being graded a PSA 5 or higher
* Complete the Master Set (274 base cards + both copies of the cards that feature different backs) in a PSA 5 or higher
* Complete the Master Set at PSA 7 or higher

As you can see, the degree of difficulty increases with each of the 3 tasks. I believe there are 80 cards that have variations where the color on the bio info on the back of the card is either in black or white. My goal for objective #2 is to collect both versions of each of these cards. A few of these will be very expensive, including Hoyt Wilhelm, Smoky Burgess, Early Wynn, Joe Black, Billy Martin, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Johnny Sain, Dick Williams, Allie Reynolds, Warren Spahn, Dick Groat and Ted Kluszewski.

The final goal is of course to upgrade the complete master set to a PSA 7 or higher, which is more of a lifetime goal than anything else.

After weeding out my low quality cards, I began to focus my search on the PSA 5 or higher cards. I managed to accumulate a decent chunk of cards in the last 2 months. According to my set registry at PSA, I currently have 55 of the 274 base cards collected, with an average grade of 5.12. I have a lot of commons, but I've also picked up a bunch of high number cards as well, including Charlie Silvera (tough to find an affordable, nicely centered version), Bob Boyd, Roy McMillan, Gene Woodling and Duane Pillette. I only have one HoF so far, a nice PSA 5 of Early Wynn.

About a month ago, I decided to slightly alter my approach to adding new cards to the collection. I noticed that sometimes as I'd be searching ebay, the PSA 5s or 6s of the cards I was targeting were in older slabs with scratches, or the cards just did not look great. I decided that a cool addition to this project would be to start looking at buying cards raw, submitting them for grading, and seeing where I ended up. This added a new layer to things, because if I could get the card at a real good price, even factoring in the cost of grading, I could still find value. PSA is actually running a special that ends in a few weeks where cards from the 50s can be submitted at a discounted rate, so I have been stocking up on a bunch of cards to submit for grading.

I've been pretty picky about quality, and after spending a lot of time the last few weeks looking at raw cards from the set, it feels like I am limited to only one or two big sellers on ebay who routinely put out high quality versions of raw cards and are accurate in their grading. What some people will list and call "EX/Near Mint" is shocking. BUT, this just makes it all the more fun and rewarding when you do strike gold.

In my pile to submit for grading this week, I have the following:

Smoky Burgess - A very nice copy, hopefully either a 5 or 6
Johnny Groth - A really clean example, could be pushing a PSA 7
Red Schoendienst - Two copies that I picked up cheaply, likely PSA 4s, but if they are, I will be able to sell them for a profit
Joe Nuxhall - This card has been tough to find in really great condition, for some reason
Hoyt Wilhelm - Looks like a borderline 5, if its a 4 then I will sell it
Rocky Krsnich - A high number, it is likely a 4, in which case I will sell it. Got it cheap
Dick Kokos - Borderline 4/5, but picked up fairly cheaply
Freddy Marsh - A borderline 4/5, will sell if its a 4
Bill Norman - A boderline 4/5
Preacher Roe - A borderline 4/5
Dixie Howell - A borderline 4/5
Bill Antonello - Looks like a 5 to me, we'll see

As you can see, I've focused on the high numbers recently. I picked up all of those cards for under what a PSA 4 sells for, so if they come back 4s, then I will just list them up on ebay and sell them. If they come back 5s, they go into the collection.

Buying raw and submitting for grading was more of an experiment. I'd love to have the cards freshly graded in new clean holders, and it would feel a bit more special to know I found them raw and got them graded. But if the results don't pan out, no big loss and I will continue to search for graded examples of the cards I need.

This was a huge post, and maybe no one out there cares about 1953 Topps or my collection, but I figured I needed some place to track my project, since most of my friends don't really care about cards and think this is a ridiculous thing to do. I personally think the cards are beautiful, and vintage baseball cards are wonderful. So, thanks for reading if you did. I'll try to update the thread semi-regularly with my progress. My set is currently ranked #131 on the in progress leaderboard, so top 100 here we come.

06-21-2020, 05:48 PM	#1
albatross7979 Member Join Date: Jun 2020 Posts: 195	My 1953 Topps Adventure First post on the boards, I've lurked for a while before deciding to register and post. I do not have a website or a blog or social media, so I figured I would use this thread to document my 1953 Topps adventure. I am in my late 30s and just recently got back into the hobby after disconnecting from cards in the mid 90s. When I moved away to college, someone either threw away or sold all of my cards, and I wasn't too bothered by it, since I didn't really have anything of great value. Like a lot of people my age, most of my collection was late 80s/early 90s junk wax. Last year a former co-worker was chatting with me and asked if I ever collected cards. He told me he was excited about the Topps Living Collection set, and after googling it, I saw that it was an update on the 1953 Topps set, which was my absolute dream set as a kid. I remember there was a card stand at the local flea market, and the guy had a bunch of 1953 Topps cards, but they were in a special protective case. The allure and mystery of the protective case always made me want the cards more, and I was blown away at the art and how good the cards looked. I was intrigued when my friend showed me the Living Set info, and I decided to start reading more about the hobby. I had no real idea about grading cards, costs, or anything else. I mostly just read for a while, and then I decided to start exploring more, and one of the places I checked out was COMC. I ended up adding a few hundred dollars to the site just to mess around. I did a little bit of flipping, because that concept was easy for me, and then thought I'd start collecting the 1953 Topps cards. But, I really didn't have a plan. I basically started buying a bunch of low grade versions of the common cards. After I'd amassed like 50 of the cards, I realized that the copies I was buying were not going to be suitable for an actual collection. Work and life got in the way and I kind of put the cards to the side for a while. However, in the last 3 months, I have decided to reboot my 1953 project. I did a lot of thinking about how I wanted to approach it, what my goals are, and I am now back into the swing of things. I made myself 3 distinct goals for my journey: * Complete the Base Set (274 cards) with every card being graded a PSA 5 or higher * Complete the Master Set (274 base cards + both copies of the cards that feature different backs) in a PSA 5 or higher * Complete the Master Set at PSA 7 or higher As you can see, the degree of difficulty increases with each of the 3 tasks. I believe there are 80 cards that have variations where the color on the bio info on the back of the card is either in black or white. My goal for objective #2 is to collect both versions of each of these cards. A few of these will be very expensive, including Hoyt Wilhelm, Smoky Burgess, Early Wynn, Joe Black, Billy Martin, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Johnny Sain, Dick Williams, Allie Reynolds, Warren Spahn, Dick Groat and Ted Kluszewski. The final goal is of course to upgrade the complete master set to a PSA 7 or higher, which is more of a lifetime goal than anything else. After weeding out my low quality cards, I began to focus my search on the PSA 5 or higher cards. I managed to accumulate a decent chunk of cards in the last 2 months. According to my set registry at PSA, I currently have 55 of the 274 base cards collected, with an average grade of 5.12. I have a lot of commons, but I've also picked up a bunch of high number cards as well, including Charlie Silvera (tough to find an affordable, nicely centered version), Bob Boyd, Roy McMillan, Gene Woodling and Duane Pillette. I only have one HoF so far, a nice PSA 5 of Early Wynn. About a month ago, I decided to slightly alter my approach to adding new cards to the collection. I noticed that sometimes as I'd be searching ebay, the PSA 5s or 6s of the cards I was targeting were in older slabs with scratches, or the cards just did not look great. I decided that a cool addition to this project would be to start looking at buying cards raw, submitting them for grading, and seeing where I ended up. This added a new layer to things, because if I could get the card at a real good price, even factoring in the cost of grading, I could still find value. PSA is actually running a special that ends in a few weeks where cards from the 50s can be submitted at a discounted rate, so I have been stocking up on a bunch of cards to submit for grading. I've been pretty picky about quality, and after spending a lot of time the last few weeks looking at raw cards from the set, it feels like I am limited to only one or two big sellers on ebay who routinely put out high quality versions of raw cards and are accurate in their grading. What some people will list and call "EX/Near Mint" is shocking. BUT, this just makes it all the more fun and rewarding when you do strike gold. In my pile to submit for grading this week, I have the following: Smoky Burgess - A very nice copy, hopefully either a 5 or 6 Johnny Groth - A really clean example, could be pushing a PSA 7 Red Schoendienst - Two copies that I picked up cheaply, likely PSA 4s, but if they are, I will be able to sell them for a profit Joe Nuxhall - This card has been tough to find in really great condition, for some reason Hoyt Wilhelm - Looks like a borderline 5, if its a 4 then I will sell it Rocky Krsnich - A high number, it is likely a 4, in which case I will sell it. Got it cheap Dick Kokos - Borderline 4/5, but picked up fairly cheaply Freddy Marsh - A borderline 4/5, will sell if its a 4 Bill Norman - A boderline 4/5 Preacher Roe - A borderline 4/5 Dixie Howell - A borderline 4/5 Bill Antonello - Looks like a 5 to me, we'll see As you can see, I've focused on the high numbers recently. I picked up all of those cards for under what a PSA 4 sells for, so if they come back 4s, then I will just list them up on ebay and sell them. If they come back 5s, they go into the collection. Buying raw and submitting for grading was more of an experiment. I'd love to have the cards freshly graded in new clean holders, and it would feel a bit more special to know I found them raw and got them graded. But if the results don't pan out, no big loss and I will continue to search for graded examples of the cards I need. This was a huge post, and maybe no one out there cares about 1953 Topps or my collection, but I figured I needed some place to track my project, since most of my friends don't really care about cards and think this is a ridiculous thing to do. I personally think the cards are beautiful, and vintage baseball cards are wonderful. So, thanks for reading if you did. I'll try to update the thread semi-regularly with my progress. My set is currently ranked #131 on the in progress leaderboard, so top 100 here we come.