Heritage Auction

[Volod]

Would this be the Holy Grail for Topps completists, or what? Any lottery winners out there with a hundred grand or more to blow?:

[ALBB]

yea, I could see them going in that price range

[raulus]

Interesting. What makes these specific pieces so rare?

[paul]

The story I heard is that Topps didn't have these players under contract and never released these cards to the public.

I wonder why they are graded as Altered.

[ALR-bishop]

Those are the only 3 I am missing from the 5 baseball sets Topps put out in 1951. Even have both versions of the Team Cards. These 3 were never issued, maybe for the reason Paul mentioned but their scarcity would seem to incicate they were not printed and held back but probably never printed in any volume. A board member created some fantasy versions that in hand would never be confused with the originals but look pretty good in the binder with my set.

I think Larry S told me he once bought one of them some years back at a show but that he ulitimately decided was a fake and returned it. I may be wrong in that recollection

The last time I saw them come up I bid a lot but was not enven close. Not going to even try this time

[sflayank]

Yes that's true
These are authentic because they were punched and taped

[CW]

It's not a big deal, but just a friendly suggestion to the OP or anyone wishing to get activity within a thread they create, while also making the forums easy to navigate:

It's a good idea to make the thread title as informative as possible.

For example, for this thread you might try "Interesting rarities in Heritage -- 1951 Topps Konstanty, Stanky, Roberts"

Not losing sleep over it, just some constructive criticism for anyone making a new thread.


Related to these cards, I remember back in the day the Sport Americana price guide would have a few colored pages, and one of them featured some rare cards from Barry Halper's collection. It included the 3 rare '51 Topps All-Stars as shown here:

[Volod]

Originally Posted by paul

The story I heard is that Topps didn't have these players under contract and never released these cards to the public.

I wonder why they are graded as Altered.

Even in this shape, will likely draw heavy bidding with that POP report.

[Volod]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Those are the only 3 I am missing from the 5 baseball sets Topps put out in 1951. Even have both versions of the Team Cards. These 3 were never issued, maybe for the reason Paul mentioned but their scarcity would seem to incicate they were not printed and held back but probably never printed in any volume. A board member created some fantasy versions that in hand would never be confused with the originals but look pretty good in the binder with my set.

I think Larry S told me he once bought one of them some years back at a show but that he ulitimately decided was a fake and returned it. I may be wrong in that recollection

The last time I saw them come up I bid a lot but was not enven close. Not going to even try this time

Me neither, Al. Maybe Keith Olberman or Bill Gates, eh?
The ancient rumor I heard long ago was that Larry Fritsch wondered why he could only find eight cards in the set, so he wrote to Woody Gelman asking about it and Gelman pulled copies of the three unissued cards out his files and sent them to Fritsch. Don't know if Fritsch was ever told the reason the cards were not issued, but I think it's possible that Stanky may have complained about compensation for his Redback card, while Roberts and Konstanty had other contractual issues. Perhaps Gelman saved the prototypes because he hoped to resolve those problems because the "Whiz Kids" were quite popular at that moment.

[ALBB]

cool story that might have happened..

.but Ive always thought these rare " missing 3" ...there were quite a few that made its way into the hobby

[hcv123]

While these are better known, possibly because they have traded hands a few times, there are other Topps Prototypes. I own 2. See attached pictures. 1972 Clemente prototype and 1967 Topps Pinup Sticker.

[ALR-bishop]

That Pin Up is awesome Howard. It was in the Big Book

[brad31]

To me absolutely the holy grail is to complete the ‘51 AS set. Those short prints are absolutely impossible. I have a Berra which I am very proud to own but that card is easy compared to these three.

[toppcat]

I am aware of what I believe are five extant copies each of the three rare MLAS cards and can't tell if these bring each pop to six as I don't have great scans/back scans for some examples. I got into the weeds on the origin of some of these awhile back, curious if anyone can shed more light on the current Heritage offerings or overall. The summary of origin conclusions are at the end of the post:

https://www.thetoppsarchives.com/202...dozen-ish.html

I think there's an excellent chance the Roberts gets to $150K or so, not sure the other two will get to six figures but it's going to fun to watch.

[ALR-bishop]

These are as close as I will get, courtesty of a fellow board member. I do have the other 8 and the 11 Connie Macks

[toppcat]

Wow, except for Stanky they all went for far less than I expected. Healthy prices to be sure but soft considering the rarity.

With juice:

Konstanty $19,200
Stanky $43,200
Roberts $66,000

[brad31]

Agree less than I would have thought - all out of my price range.

[bigfanNY]

I agree very rare and f even past sales I thought this group sold soft. Less than $150k for the group. I hope the new owner enjoys them.
Many of the one off prototypes of lesser known players are tough sales but those of Clemente Mays Aaron Mantle etc. Have always done well.
It was exciting just to see these 3 pop up for sale.

J

[Rickyy]

Wow Konstanty went really cheap...given how rare these cards are.

Ricky Y

[Volod]

Originally Posted by Rickyy

Wow Konstanty went really cheap...given how rare these cards are.

Ricky Y

Yeah, don't know if it's really that puzzling, after all, why does some investor want an old tape-stained piece of paper sitting in a bank vault for the next couple of decades? Can he/she really enjoy the sense of greedy exclusivity that thinking about it would bring?