1969 topps white letters….is it worth the chase?

[JollyElm]

It's funny, I just touched on this while making an SGC Reveal video, because I had sent a pair of them in.

They used to be magical, treasured finds, but if you actually look up sold prices for PSA 6s or 7s of say, Casanova, they're less than $30!
That was entirely shocking to me. Shouldn't these rarities be more 'valuable'???
Big bummer.

But to answer your question (as a variation nut), "Hell yes!!!!"

[G1911]

I skipped them, about the only Topps variation I’ve skipped. The problem to me is that, while 100% legit, it’s so easy to take a yellow letter and remove the yellow to create a white. Not a big deal when I’m buying a $8 Jose Arcia, but with the Mantle the money incentive and difficulty in identifying a card spot doctored to fade the yellow out of that spot while covering the rest of the card from the light used is just too high considering how easy it is to fake. I have a few of them, but I’m skipping the full set, which does feel wrong for my master runs.

[Harliduck]

It's funny...I've put more 1969 sets together than any other year (my favorite Topps set) and I've always avoided the White Letters. I would get my usual Clendenon, Nettles, Rodriquez, and Dalrymple and such variations and call it good. Then I found a couple White Letters in a common box at a shop while traveling a year or so together and decided to finally finish that out. So I now have all but the Mantle in my master set...and one day will get the Mantle to complete. So yeah, if you don't now, one day you will...

[Kutcher55]

Yes. I think the white letter variations look great and nicer than the yellow letters. Just be careful with the Mantle, as I think it's possible to create a white letter version by stenciling his name and putting it under a light for a long time to fade out the yellow.

[savedfrommyspokes]

In most cases, it is easy to determine if a card has been sun-faded to create a "white letter" version. With the green backgrounds, the green will appear blue (as seen below). The brown backgrounds will appear more purple.

The 10 or so red background cards may be tougher to tell as red is a primary color, but red does typically fade faster than blue but not as quick as yellow. While I have not seen a faded red version (yet, in my west facing window now),
my speculation is that the red background will have a dull/faded appearance.

I would not let the possibility of sun fading deter you, just apply common sense/caution when considering any of these WL cards.

Yes, this subset is well-worth the chase.

[raineybt]

Figure I might as well hop on this thread - as a Senators collector, I've been working to get all variations, including '56 white / grey backs, '58 letter variations, '62 green tint, etc. For some reason, this white letter set has been one of the hardest to close out, with some of the widest spreads of costs.

It has been surprising that the slightly higher quality (PSA 6-8) examples, outside of Mantle, can go for $20 or $30, when you find them at shows or at buy it now prices that are probably 50% above comps. I'm not sure if that's simply an imbalance of demand between collectors not knowing about these variations and / or not caring, but its clear that supply believes the value of this set is significantly higher than what ongoing market clearing prices seem to indicate.

All of that said - 1969 Topps #441b Dennis Higgins White Letters is one of the last 3 Senators cards I need to close out every VAR from '49 to '74. If anyone has one they are willing to sell, or would be willing to trade, let me know!

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by raineybt

All of that said - 1969 Topps #441b Dennis Higgins White Letters is one of the last 3 Senators cards I need to close out every VAR from '49 to '74. If anyone has one they are willing to sell, or would be willing to trade, let me know!

What are the other two?

[Kutcher55]

Originally Posted by savedfrommyspokes

In most cases, it is easy to determine if a card has been sun-faded to create a "white letter" version. With the green backgrounds, the green will appear blue (as seen below). The brown backgrounds will appear more purple.

The 10 or so red background cards may be tougher to tell as red is a primary color, but red does typically fade faster than blue but not as quick as yellow. While I have not seen a faded red version (yet, in my west facing window now),
my speculation is that the red background will have a dull/faded appearance.

I would not let the possibility of sun fading deter you, just apply common sense/caution when considering any of these WL cards.

Yes, this subset is well-worth the chase.

True, but you could avoid making the rest of the card (including the button) fade if you did a very careful stencil of just the letters themselves and cover the other 99% of the card. Not that I would bother engaging in such subterfuge, but the WL Mantle comes with a pretty big premium and I suspect this has been deployed before.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by Kutcher55

True, but you could avoid making the rest of the card (including the button) fade if you did a very careful stencil of just the letters themselves and cover the other 99% of the card. Not that I would bother engaging in such subterfuge, but the WL Mantle comes with a pretty big premium and I suspect this has been deployed before.

I would be astonished if a scammer would waste their time on such a detailed endeavor just to net out a $30-40 WL card. Most of the Mantle WL cards are graded, although that does not mean PSA will catch such detailed work.