Scarcest Post 1952 Topps Regular Issue Card

[Gr8Beldini]

I'm curious to see your opinions on this. I've been doing this a long time and I find it hard to believe that there is any card more difficult to find than a sharp 1971 Topps Claude Raymond that is centered. On the exceedingly rare occasion that I locate a centered example, the corners are bad. There is no such thing as a sharp, centered, '71 Raymond... making it the toughest post 52 Topps regular issue card. Much scarcer than any 66 or 67 high number card (in my opinion). What do ya'all think?

[Brianruns10]

Finding a '53 without paint chips along the edge of the red/black name field can be damn near impossible

[Griffins]

I think you have to differentiate between a condition rarity and a true rarity.
In regards to regular Topps issues, I'd have to go with '58 Herrer as the scarcest.
I can think of a dozen other cards that are tougher though- '60 Fleer #80 Collins, Grove or Tinker, '63 Pepsi Bateman with tab, any '58 Hires Test with tab, '51 Current All Stars Roberts, Stanky or Konstanty, any '61 Topps Dice game, '55 Topps stamp, '70 Topps cloth, '62 Salada Brandt just to name a few.

[toppcat]

Limiting this to regular issue Topps cards is an interesting exercise but are we looking at overall scarcity or condition scarcity? The 71 Raymond is a known condition sensitive issue but in terms of "hard to find" I think the 11 true Short Prints in the 67 high numbers would rank up there. Distribution of the 67 highs was very spotty to begin with and the entire run is sought after.

[Gr8Beldini]

Originally Posted by toppcat

Limiting this to regular issue Topps cards is an interesting exercise but are we looking at overall scarcity or condition scarcity? The 71 Raymond is a known condition sensitive issue but in terms of "hard to find" I think the 11 true Short Prints in the 67 high numbers would rank up there. Distribution of the 67 highs was very spotty to begin with and the entire run is sought after.

Which 11 are the "true short prints?"

[hangman62]

Some that come to mind are -

67T Bunning
67T Cash
66T Clarke
53T Podres
63P Aspromonte
59F Ted Signs

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by Gr8Beldini

Which 11 are the "true short prints?"

I've done a bit of research on this and have come up with:

552 Savage
553 Yankees Rookies
558 Orioles Rookies (Belanger)
563 Adcock
568 Sullivan
581 Mets Rookies (Seaver)
586 Jiminez
591 Cline
597 Abernathy
603 A's Rookies
607 Stanley

All from the same row on the uncut sheets. This was discussed briefly here a few years ago but the thread is missing scans so I just spent my morning writing up a blog post about it that details my reasoning:

http://toppsarchives.blogspot.com/20...lin-short.html

If you count all regular issue Topps cards, i.e. not proofs or tests but including secondary issues, then Al's assessment of the "Small" '55 Hocus Focus cards as being the toughest is spot on.

FYI-I have an in-depth article on Hocus Focus in The Wrapper #264, which just came out this week. As a further shameless plug, I have an article in every issue of The Wrapper and have for about a year now, although they are all Non Sports themed and generally about Topps.