This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/13/2024
Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown is considered by many to be the best at his position, perhaps the best of all players in NFL history. His 6'2" and 232 lb. frame would be considered massive for his position in today's game, but when he made his debut in the 1950s, he was about the same size as offensive lineman Frank Gatski, Jim Ringo, and Dick Stanfel; all Hall of Famers. His combination of size, power, and speed was unmatched, leading the NFL in rushing yards in eight of his nine NFL seasons and topping the league in rushing touchdowns five times. The 1958 Topps rookie card of Jim Brown is the flagship piece for the entire football card industry but often suffers from various production problems that make high-grade examples extremely rare. If you manage to find an example with strong enough edges and endpoints that also avoids the all too common centering woes and subpar registration of the central image, you still have to contend with an unsightly dusting of stray print that routinely invades the black background. The offered card largely manages to sidestep all of those problems to the point where we have to consider whether it is too conservatively graded and deserving of that extra half point that would assuredly take it well over the million-dollar mark. Delivering a central image that is no more than a degree off in any direction, the light dusting of white print that inevitably ends up on the jet-black backdrop is held to a bare minimum while the boldness of the central image, as well as the brightness of the white borders, are also telltale signs of an elite-level card. The corners border on MINT quality while the red-orange reverse shows no more than slight flecks of chipping, largely localized to the extreme tips. A testimonial to how elite this example is, there are 200 Jim Brown RCs graded PSA 8, but only 7 that have reached PSA 8.5 and just 6 on record with a grade of PSA 9. Overall, this is a truly phenomenal offering of a very difficult and highly coveted gridiron classic in exclusive yet conservative NM/MT+ condition.