One of the most popular sets of the decade, the 1966 Topps baseball issue contains the requisite stars along with high-numbered short prints, several of which are members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The 598-card set features Mickey Mantle, Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, and Pete Rose, rookie cards of Hall of Famers Jim Palmer and Don Sutton, and a very difficult card #1 of Willie Mays. However, it is also one of the most condition-sensitive sets ever produced by Topps, with poor centering and central image tilts being the most common problems, especially among the high-number series. With these barriers to achieving upper tier grades, coupled with the scarcity of the short prints, the 1966 Topps set has proven to be one of the most difficult assemblages to compile in high grade. Only 12 such complete sets have ever cracked the 8.0 GPA mark. The offered set is not only one of those 12, it's the reigning and all-time champion, ranked #1 Current and All-Time with a downright absurd 9.25 GPA! There are 183 cards graded GEM MINT PSA 10, almost 40% of all PSA 10's ever graded, with every other card but one graded PSA 9. That's it, MINT and GEM MINT are words needed to describe this set! That one lone card in the entire set graded PSA 8 (#482) shows just a single copy graded higher at PSA 9. Of those GEM MINT cards, 92 of them are the one and only specimens on the PSA pop report to register a perfect score, which explains why the next best competitor is "only" at a 9.08 GPA. Key GEM MINT cards include #52 Power Plus, 101 Checklist, 116 Alston, 445 Kaat, 455 Lolich, 468 Podres, 490 Richardson, 510 Wilhelm, 530 Roberts, and 580 B. Williams. For a complete breakdown and card by card populations of this incredible collection, please visit our website for a link to the PSA Set Registry.
http://www.psacard.com/PSASetRegistry/alltimeset.aspx?s=4709
At the end of the auction, the set will be sold to the highest aggregate bidding, whether that is the sum of the individual lots or the highest bid for the complete set. Our website will automatically reflect whichever portion has received the highest bidding total. Placing a bid on this lot constitutes bidding on the complete card group.