This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/6/2021
If you expected recent events to slow down the upward trend of prices on high-grade rookie Hall of Famers, think again! The coveted Lew Alcindor card from the 1969 Topps tall-boy release is presented here and continues to grow in demand with each passing day. When Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain stepped off of the hardcourt for the last time, he was hailed as the Babe Ruth of his sport, a super-athlete whose contribution would never be challenged. Lew Alcindor A.K.A. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar never averaged 50 points a game like Wilt did in 1961, nor average over 20 rebounds per game like Chamberlain did (12 times), but his 20-year career of consistent excellence led the former UCLA star to six NBA championships and over 38,000 career points, ranking #1 in NBA history. Graded NM/MT 8 by PSA, the offered example shows outstanding centering with bold, bright colors and an extremely detailed image of the future superstar. It's refreshing to see an Alcindor rookie card that is lacking the overabundance of stray print marks in the susceptible white frame, one of the primary reasons for achieving such a lofty assessment from PSA, while the blue oval that houses his image is particularly bold, bright, and clean, more so than specimens of similar grade. The corners show little more than micro-touches that leave it easily within the parameters from PSA 8 inclusion while the reverse, typically shifted toward the lower left, carries a toned white canvas with blue and salmon print, boasting Alcindor's impressive performance while at UCLA. One of the most important cards ever produced by Topps that is devoted to basketball.