1959 Topps Salesman Sample question

[ALR-bishop]

If a Topps Salesman Sample from 1959 had Mays and Joe De Maestri on it, anyone have any idea/theory who the 3d player would have been ?

[fkw]

Salesman Sample??

Are the cards you refer to smaller than a normal card and say "PROMOTIONAL SAMPLE, THE TOPPS CO., Brooklyn NY" on the blank back?

If so they are not authentic, they are photos are cards cut from the Topps Baseball Cards Book or Team Issued Surf Books, and worthless.

If its something else, Id like to see pictures

[steve B]

Probably a Topps Ad panel. Some were 3 cards with an ad back, some were 2 cards with an aditional card size ad on the front. I think 59 was 3 cards, I'll have to find mine and see since I can't recall which just now.

I think, but I'm not positive that the 3 card panels had the same layout as the regular sheets.

Steve B

[Griffins]

'59 Salesman Samples are legit and were issued as 3 card panels. The card on the back does not correspond to any on the front.
I've got a couple, but not one with Mays on it. This is the front and back of one of mine, for some reason I scanned them at different sizes


Salesman Samples were issued by Topps from '52 thru '67, all 3 card panels with the exception of '60, which has 8 cards. The '55 panels also include a '55 Doubleheader on the back, as seen below.


Bowman issued them in '54 and '55. The '54's are 4 card panels, 2x2, with a sticker on the back. The '55's are 3 card panels with a sticker covering the entire back panel, as seen below


Fleer also issued a 3 card Salesman Sample in '59. I have not seen one from any other years. I have a whole bunch of 3 & 4 card panels from other Topps, Bowman and Fleer issues, but without any ad copy on the back they just seem like strips of uncut cards, and not ad panels.

[ALR-bishop]

Anthony---that is interesting about the back card stats not matching anyone on the front. I wonder if that argues against being able to predict who the 3d player was on Don's cut 2 card panel.

Steve---that is what I am trying to find out, was De Maestri next to Mays on the first series sheets, and if so, who was next to them. Interesting that someone would cut off a card and leave Mays....unless it was Mantle

[Griffins]

Al, not only do they not match anyone on the front, in at least the case of this '57 panel the number of the card on the back is incorrect- in '57 #87 was Tom Gorman, not Clint Courtney, as it was on this panel (this one is not mine, it sold in the last Mile High)


The few salesman samples I have that I also have uncut production sheets for match up on the fronts, the backs are a completely new creation. I would suspect if you can find a 1st series sheet from '59 you'll see who is missing from Don's panel.

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by fkw

Salesman Sample??

Are the cards you refer to smaller than a normal card and say "PROMOTIONAL SAMPLE, THE TOPPS CO., Brooklyn NY" on the blank back?

If so they are not authentic, they are photos are cards cut from the Topps Baseball Cards Book or Team Issued Surf Books, and worthless.

If its something else, Id like to see pictures

There are salesman's samples from even a number of early sets, such as M101-4. I've seem them, they're made from the same plate and not rescreened, demonstrating the appropriate dot/ink pattern. They'll come out when the time is right, when the cynics among us would like to shoot them down, but won't be able to.

Leave a little mystery for now. Time will eventually reveal all.

Larry

[ALR-bishop]

Originally Posted by fkw

Salesman Sample??

Are the cards you refer to smaller than a normal card and say "PROMOTIONAL SAMPLE, THE TOPPS CO., Brooklyn NY" on the blank back?

If so they are not authentic, they are photos are cards cut from the Topps Baseball Cards Book or Team Issued Surf Books, and worthless.

If its something else, Id like to see pictures

I missed this when it was the second post after my original. I am familiar with these things and in fact have a couple of them. I got them only after Bob L listed them in the SCD Catalog as fakes and with a picture and explanation ( I think a 62 Mantle is pictured but the description is listed under 1960). The interesting thing to me is what value items obtain just by the fact they get listed in the Catalog...even as fakes. For example, I paid a few bucks for the 2 I have, knowing they were fakes, just because they were in the Catalog

[steve B]

That's true in other hobbies too. Some forged stamps by famous forgers like Sperati are worth more than the originals.

Steve B

[divot]

I own a Topps 1960 panel with Dutch Dotterer, Ruben Gomez, and Rocky Bridges on the front and Jerry Lynch on the back behind Bridges. The usual "sales pitch" is written behind Dotterer and Gomez. I obtained the panel from the owner of a small grocery in Tennessee when I was a boy; I have had it ever since. (I also own a complete 1960 NM-class Topps set, which I have upgraded in recent years to improve centering and other issues). Although I have seen numerous examples of the 1960 8-card Salesman Sample and other 3-card panels, I have not come across another example of the "Dotterer, Gomez, Bridges" version. Can anyone shed any light on whether he/she has encountered this particular version and upon its relative scarcity or abundance?

I am having trouble scanning the panel (I'm new to Net54. The front and back of the panel are scanned into my computer in pdf format, but I cannot make the Net54 system upload the photos). Owning thousands of cards and being an active buyer over the past decade, I'm just about certain that my panel is EX+ or so. Although I have kept it in pretty good shape over the years, it has slight wear on one corner.

[ALR-bishop]

After scanning to my computer I upload the photos to Photobucket, or similar host site, and then can edit them and upload them to 54 or CU. Photobucket is free until you exceed a certain capacity

[divot]

Thanks. I'll give it a try.

[bigfanNY]

Early post states that Bowman had salesman samples only in 54 and 55 This panel from 53 I have owned for quite some time. I was told the way to tell that it was a salesman sample vs just three cards cut from a sheet was that cards numbers on Salesman samples are sequential vs the random numbering of production sheets.

[Griffins]

I've heard that argument before but I am very skeptical- there is no advertising copy on it and I don't see how it was intended as a sales piece.
I have a similar strip from '53, just sold a '48 Leaf boxing one yesterday, and have numerous Fleer 3 card strips. But none of those have any advertising copy on it and as such are just 3 card panels. One auction house recently told me that with salesman samples selling for so much these days they would call any uncut panel a salesman sample. Somehow that didn't surprise me, but it didn't make it accurate either.

Edited to add: Below is the uncut '53 Bowman sheet that I own. You'll notice all the cards are in numerical order, starting with Reese in the upper left, and then going across and then down. This was how Bowman laid out their set. It would seem to underscore my assertion that there is nothing about 3 card '53 panels that would make them salesman samples, other than the fact they are cut into 3 card panels.

[Kevvyg1026]

The 3rd player on the Mays salesman sample was Frank Torre.

[Kevvyg1026]

None of these samples are mine.

1959_Salesman_4.jpg

1959_Salesman_1.jpg

1959_Salesman_2.jpg

1959_Salesman_3.jpg

1959_Salesman_5.jpg

1959_Salesman_6.jpg

1959_Salesman_7.jpg

1959_Saleman_8.jpg