There's little question that even for the most diehard of vintage basketball collectors, the 1979-80 Topps set is a remarkably tough sell. Given the content, that's entirely understandable. The Design Here's the good: The design is passable - and even unique. In almost every Topps basketball set before it, the team names of the players in question were sprawled either … [Read more...]
1973-74 Topps Basketball Set Low on Rookies; High on HOFers
The 1973-74 Topps Basketball set may never measure up to the sets produced during the golden age of basketball cards — the emergence of 1980s stars Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, followed by Michael Jordan, was a big turning point for collectors. But the set gave basketball card collectors another taste of the two-league war being waged by the NBA and the upstart ABA, … [Read more...]
1971-72 Topps Trio Stickers Rare in High Grade
They were one of the more unique pack bonuses you could ever find, designed to be stuck on stuff but almost too nice even for kids to consider doing so. Executed in a format that would be revisited a decade later, the 1971-72 Topps Basketball Trio Stickers may be among the more underrated ‘mini sets’ of all time, with a handful of scarce panels that make accumulating a nice … [Read more...]
Big, Sticky, Quirky: 1970s Topps Basketball Inserts Ran the Gamut
To many, insert cards are a modern invention; something to push sales of modern packs. Vintage card collectors know that’s not true. Like their baseball and football brethren, basketball packs were full of unique little bonuses that are somewhat elusive today, waiting for new collectors to discover them. The 1970s Topps basketball inserts ranged from 'rulers' to posters to … [Read more...]