Variation help
 

Hi guys. I'm going to be selling my late brother's card collection for my mother starting some time next year and I 'd like some advice on what to look for. There are thousands of raw cards, mostly Topps, from the early fifties through the mid-seventies. What I need help with is which variations of particular value I should look for. Also which cards are considered high numbers from the various years? I only collect star cards myself so I have no clue about these things. Thanks in advance for any and all help.

As far as variations, Richard Dingman (a fellow board member) has compiled a handy list for variations from the 50's through mid 70s...I refer to it often. Here is a link to it:

https://sites.google.com/site/richarddingmancards/home

Thank you. Is that a comprehensive of the variations or just the ones he needs?

howard

It lists most variations. His list is shown in 2 colors, he has the ones listed in black and needs the ones listed in red.

Variants
 

Richard's lists are as good as anyone's (and better than most)as a comprehensive list for variant cards. Someone else may list other print variants ( since they are endless) but he certainly lists the variations most recognized in the hobby via catalogs or the Registry. But his list contains many print variants that have little hobby recognition and therefore little premium hobby value. His lists are very valuable to me and other variant collectors, who seek out such variants regardless of how much hobby recognition or value they have.

If you are trying to just identify cards that would have premium value over their "common" regular card in the market, I would start with the PSA Registry master list for the applicable set ( even if the cards you have are not graded and you don't intend to grade them, the Registry list is a must have for most master set collectors).

Other good resources, which also reflect broad based values, would be the SCD Standard Catalog and the Beckett counterpart. If you do not want to invest in those, then just type in an internet search for "Topps 1961 ( or whatever year) checklist variations". Once you have a list, an ebay search of completed listings for any particular variant can give you recent values. Or just do a completed listing search for "Topps 1961 ( or whatever year) variation"

Regarding high numbers: for the Topps sets here's a list of the various high and other short printed series that I once compiled and tagged onto my "want-list" - the number of $dollar$ signs associated with each card number range is my estimation of their relative scarcity/value.

1952 ($1-80 $251-310 $$$$311-407) | 1953 ($221-280) || 1954 ($51-75) || 1955 ($151-160 $$161-210) || 1956 ($181-260) || 1957 ($265-352) || 1958 ($1-110) || 1959 ($1-110 $$507-572) || 1960 ($441-506 $$507-572) || 1961 ($447-522 $$523-589) || 1962 ($447-522 $$523-598) || 1963 ($$447-522 $523-576) || 1964 ($371-522 $$523-587) || 1965 ($371-598) || 1966 ($371-446 $$447-522 $$$ 523-598) || 1967 ($371-457 $$458-533 $$$534-609) || 1968 ($458-598) || 1969 ($589-664) || 1970 ($634-720) || 1971 ($644-752) || 1972 ($657-787) || 1973 ($529-660)

And a couple of Bowmans (maybe someone else can supply other years if you need them), 1953 color ($$113-128 $129-160) || 1955 ($$225-320)

Great help guys, thanks!