Scarcest Post 1952 Topps Regular Issue Card
 

I'm curious to see your opinions on this. I've been doing this a long time and I find it hard to believe that there is any card more difficult to find than a sharp 1971 Topps Claude Raymond that is centered. On the exceedingly rare occasion that I locate a centered example, the corners are bad. There is no such thing as a sharp, centered, '71 Raymond... making it the toughest post 52 Topps regular issue card. Much scarcer than any 66 or 67 high number card (in my opinion). What do ya'all think?

Finding a '53 without paint chips along the edge of the red/black name field can be damn near impossible

I think you have to differentiate between a condition rarity and a true rarity.
In regards to regular Topps issues, I'd have to go with '58 Herrer as the scarcest.
I can think of a dozen other cards that are tougher though- '60 Fleer #80 Collins, Grove or Tinker, '63 Pepsi Bateman with tab, any '58 Hires Test with tab, '51 Current All Stars Roberts, Stanky or Konstanty, any '61 Topps Dice game, '55 Topps stamp, '70 Topps cloth, '62 Salada Brandt just to name a few.

Limiting this to regular issue Topps cards is an interesting exercise but are we looking at overall scarcity or condition scarcity? The 71 Raymond is a known condition sensitive issue but in terms of "hard to find" I think the 11 true Short Prints in the 67 high numbers would rank up there. Distribution of the 67 highs was very spotty to begin with and the entire run is sought after.

Which 11 are the "true short prints?"

toughies
 

Some that come to mind are -

67T Bunning
67T Cash
66T Clarke
53T Podres
63P Aspromonte
59F Ted Signs

Herrea
 

I think the 1958 Topps #433 Poncho Herre card

I guess if it came in a pack it counts even though the Herre(a) is really just an overhyped print defect, and shouldnt be considered a part of the 1958 regular set....
if your counting print defects... any card from any 1950s-70s set printed with a blank front/back would be scarcer... and they came in packs too. or maybe even cards like the blue background 1958 Aaron would be scarcer too... but they are all just printing defects

If including any card listed in the checklists.... Id put the 1967 Maris Proof and 1977 Jackson proof at the top. But I ant no Topps expert ;)

Scace Topps stuff
 

Anthony listed some pretty good ones. I would add the 66 Punch Outs ( not 67), 71 Rookie Artists Proofs and 68 Discs. But the original poster seemed to specify "regular" issues. The only issued Topps set I have been unable to complete ( 11 0f 24) is the baseball subset of the 1955 Hocus Focus issue. This too may not fit the intended definition, but was an issued set

Herrer
 

I agree that it is a print defect that would likely get no traction in a modern issue, but it, the 57 Bakep and 52 Campos black star are all scarce necessities for a master set collector.

For Modern collectors try to get the listed 1980 Pryor no name card....much tougher that the yellow name variations for that year ( more print defects but all listed in SCD)

The 1990 Topps President Bush card or the 1984Topps Darryl Palmer card # 800 also come to mind :)

I've done a bit of research on this and have come up with:

552 Savage
553 Yankees Rookies
558 Orioles Rookies (Belanger)
563 Adcock
568 Sullivan
581 Mets Rookies (Seaver)
586 Jiminez
591 Cline
597 Abernathy
603 A's Rookies
607 Stanley

All from the same row on the uncut sheets. This was discussed briefly here a few years ago but the thread is missing scans so I just spent my morning writing up a blog post about it that details my reasoning:

http://toppsarchives.blogspot.com/20...lin-short.html

If you count all regular issue Topps cards, i.e. not proofs or tests but including secondary issues, then Al's assessment of the "Small" '55 Hocus Focus cards as being the toughest is spot on.

FYI-I have an in-depth article on Hocus Focus in The Wrapper #264, which just came out this week. As a further shameless plug, I have an article in every issue of The Wrapper and have for about a year now, although they are all Non Sports themed and generally about Topps.

Mr Topps
 

Your the man Dave. Wish Sy was a generous as you with what he knows...or forgot

Dave - Do you know if there exists anywhere an index of articles on vintage card sets published in The Wrapper? I subscribed years ago, but never saw any info on the availability of an archive.

There is a Wrapper article checklist out there:

http://www.radiohorrorhosts.com/alphaindex.html

It only goes to #201 though.

Al-I think it's Sy-onara when it comes to Mr. B!