Rare 1956 Topps Uncut “Sheet” with Mantle and Mays

[raulus]

Guess what just arrived in the mail today??!!

A few impressions:

It’s incredibly thick and heavy. Definitely industrial grade. Almost like a great big mat. The back is textured, almost like a bit of wallboard.

The pictures from the listing don’t really capture the colors. It’s definitely dark and dim compared to the actual cards, but in person the colors are much brighter and lively than the listing pics convey. I’ve attached a few pics here to try to capture it a little better.

I’m open to brilliant ideas on whether/how I should display it. It fits nicely rolled up and in the box it came in. While I suppose that’s the cheapest and easiest option, it makes it difficult to impossible to really appreciate.

[Cliff Bowman]

Awesome! It looks like it might be a near complete original double sheet containing both Slits. The top part has nine rows and the bottom part has ten rows with a white alley in between, I am assuming the top row is missing from the Slit with nine rows. It appears each row has seven complete cards and a half of a card at the start of the row so that means the first three and a half cards are missing from each row. ETA, since the sheet is printed in reverse that means actually the LAST three and a half cards are missing from each row.

[toppcat]

Is the middle of the gutter bisected by a line?

[raulus]

Originally Posted by toppcat

Is the middle of the gutter bisected by a line?

If the gutter is the spot about 40% down on the piece where there is a bit of a double wide border between the cards, then the answer is yes, although it’s very thin.

Here are a couple of closer up pictures of that section.

[e6phillips]

I have no idea about the issue of authenticity, but the layout is consistent with the miscuts from the second series that I've been collecting over the past few years (I've seen no other picture of a second series sheet).

Cool item!

[Cliff Bowman]

Here are flipped pics of the reversed sheet.

[Cliff Bowman]

The 1956 Topps 2nd Series is #101 - #180 which is 80 different cards. This blanket has two identical Slits with ten rows each, although the first Slit is missing the top row. The question is, was this Series printed up with only 8 cards in each row or does each row have 11 cards and the last 3 cards on each row are double prints? I don't think I have ever seen a sheet printed like that.