1956 Topps football

[Vintagevault13]

I have recently started collecting the 1956 Topps football set (slowly) as a side project to my baseball card endeavors to offer some variety. I am admittedly a newbie to the football card world but I have noticed that there seems to be very little interest or conversation about the 1956 set. Why is this the case?

I am glad that cards are relatively inexpensive, but I am just curious about the perceived lack of love for these cards.

thanks,

Ed

[Footballdude]

I don't think it's a lack of love for the set. It's one of my personal favorites. I think it may be because it is not a very hard set to complete, with the exception of the checklist card maybe. And there doesn't seem to be a lot of varieties, errors, or other oddball things to talk about. There are no high power rookie cards to drive it either.

Having said that, I would love to see some conversation on this set. It is one of the sets I have been working on for some time, along with the other 60 sets.

You are right about it being an inexpensive set, especially compared to the baseball counterpart. In fact vintage football in general, in my opinion, offers some of the greatest bargains in the sports card market. If every baseball card collector decided to add some football to their collection, I would think the supply would dry up rapidly, and prices (and popularity) would rise tremendously.

Good luck with your set.

[Vintagevault13]

I don't think it's a lack of love for the set. It's one of my personal favorites. I think it may be because it is not a very hard set to complete, with the exception of the checklist card maybe. And there doesn't seem to be a lot of varieties, errors, or other oddball things to talk about. There are no high power rookie cards to drive it either.

Having said that, I would love to see some conversation on this set. It is one of the sets I have been working on for some time, along with the other 60 sets.

You are right about it being an inexpensive set, especially compared to the baseball counterpart. In fact vintage football in general, in my opinion, offers some of the greatest bargains in the sports card market. If every baseball card collector decided to add some football to their collection, I would think the supply would dry up rapidly, and prices (and popularity) would rise tremendously.

Good luck with your set.

Thanks Richard. That definitely makes sense. I am really enjoying the set. The colors and photos are great, and I am partial to these larger cards Topps made through 1956.

[jefferyepayne]

I don't think it's a lack of love for the set. It's one of my personal favorites. I think it may be because it is not a very hard set to complete, with the exception of the checklist card maybe. And there doesn't seem to be a lot of varieties, errors, or other oddball things to talk about. There are no high power rookie cards to drive it either.

Having said that, I would love to see some conversation on this set. It is one of the sets I have been working on for some time, along with the other 60 sets.

You are right about it being an inexpensive set, especially compared to the baseball counterpart. In fact vintage football in general, in my opinion, offers some of the greatest bargains in the sports card market. If every baseball card collector decided to add some football to their collection, I would think the supply would dry up rapidly, and prices (and popularity) would rise tremendously.

Good luck with your set.

+1

I believe vintage football is undervalued and prices will continue to rise. It is less expense and the sets are smaller making it easier to complete your favorite sets (or 60!).

Why don't you start a thread on 1956 football and we can discuss it?

jeff

[PowderedH2O]

I am about 80% done with this set in Ex/Mt. It is CHEAP! It amazes me to be able to pick up nice HOFers in such a colorful beautiful set for under $10. But, it happens. About the only cards that are challenges are the Redskins and Cardinals.

[metroac]

Yes, the Cardinals and the Redskins are very tough to find centered. The John Carson #1 card is extremely difficult to find even 70/30. Other challenges are the contest cards and the checklist. And you can always look for a wrapper or even an unopened pack if you want to make the set a little more challenging. The team cards are a nice touch and they also provide a nice link to the '56 Topps baseball set if you're working on them both.

[Footballdude]

I've also noticed there seems to be a wide range of printing "qualities", I guess you could say. Especially with the Redskins cards. I have some that are very glossy with vibrant colors, and some that have a dull varnish and lighter colors.

I have also heard that the Browns (or maybe it's the Colts?) cards are also slightly harder to find.

[oddball]

Hey guys, let's keep this one quiet until I'm done with building this set! :D

I started this set a couple of years ago and it's about 65% complete with all cards PSA 6 or better. I agree with all of the previous comments. It's been a blast and surprisingly affordable to build thus far. The Redskins and Cardinals players are SP's, but I have found that the Redskins players seem to be slightly tougher than the Cardinals players. The #1 Carson still eludes me, but I have a lead to pick one of those up.

There is a really nice selection of HOF rookies in the set like Lenny Moore and Rosey Brown among others, but it doesn't quite have the iconic star power that it's younger brother ('57) has with Unitas, Starr, Hornung, and Berry. With no iconic RC's, the interest in the set as a whole has been relatively tame from what I've seen over the past couple of years. I also feel that it's slightly undervalued, much like the majority of the vintage football market as a whole.

Best of luck on the set!

[Vintagevault13]

Hey guys, let's keep this one quiet until I'm done with building this set! :D

I started this set a couple of years ago and it's about 65% complete with all cards PSA 6 or better. I agree with all of the previous comments. It's been a blast and surprisingly affordable to build thus far. The Redskins and Cardinals players are SP's, but I have found that the Redskins players seem to be slightly tougher than the Cardinals players. The #1 Carson still eludes me, but I have a lead to pick one of those up.

There is a really nice selection of HOF rookies in the set like Lenny Moore and Rosey Brown among others, but it doesn't quite have the iconic star power that it's younger brother ('57) has with Unitas, Starr, Hornung, and Berry. With no iconic RC's, the interest in the set as a whole has been relatively tame from what I've seen over the past couple of years. I also feel that it's slightly undervalued, much like the majority of the vintage football market as a whole.

Best of luck on the set!

Ty,

You are probably right. Maybe we should continue to let this set fly under the radar until we complete it, then we can start a thread to share, LOL. Great cards BTW.

ED

[oddball]

[QUOTE=Footballdude;1300693]I've also noticed there seems to be a wide range of printing "qualities", I guess you could say. Especially with the Redskins cards. I have some that are very glossy with vibrant colors, and some that have a dull varnish and lighter colors.

Thanks Ed! It's a fun set and you'll enjoy putting it together and hopefully it will stay under the radar for a while longer!

Richard: I'm pretty sure that I know what you're talking about with the printing differences. I have a handfull of those as well: Ollie Matson, Tom Fears, and a few of my commons have a slightly more of a dull, "grainy" appearance to them.

[K-Nole]

Please add me to the members starting this set.

[cmoore330]

I have a small raw starter set that is available, and they are in niice condition I'll send pics if anyone is interested. Include Matson, Gifford, Hirsch and several team cards.

[K-Nole]

Absolutely. Pm me with scans and price. Thanks!!!

[cmoore330]

Pm sent.

[skelly]

At the White Plains show recently, a couple dealers both commented how with Baseball sets from the 50's and 60's, the trend seems to be to buy high grade stars and has gone away from set building. With football, they said they had seen quite a few people looking for commons, etc... I think the smaller size of the football sets helps people go after the complete set, which I guess is a good thing going forward.

[Footballdude]

I would tend to agree. With these smaller size football sets you invariably wind up with a higher percentage of stars/HOFers/rookies. And you never know when some of the borderline stars will be added to the Hall of Fame, so it just seems logical to get them all. I've seen some of these 50's and 60's complete football sets sell for less than some of the individual star cards from the 50's and 60's baseball sets. Vintage football is insanely cheap.