My First Big 1957 Topps Pick Up

After picking up a couple of nice player cards (Ted Kluszewski and a Rocky Colavito RC) and a majority of the team cards from 1957 Topps in a local estate auction late last year, I decided to start the long quest to complete the set.  My typical vintage set building approach has been to buy large lots of commons on eBay or at an LCS to knock off a decent percentage of the set then start filling in the more expensive cards.  I know the Mike Schmidt RC was my last 1973 card and I believe my last 1975 card was the George Brett RC.

I decided to take a different approach with this set and try to focus my set build start on some of the more expensive/valuable cards.  While I know BV isn't accurate for a purchase price, I thought I would use it as a gauge for what cards to pursue.  The auction purchases were a decent start with the Klu booking at $80, the Rocky at $160, the ChiSox team card at $120, the Dodgers at $300, and the Reds and Giants at $160.  The goal I set was to pick up 12 cards (1/month) that have a book value exceeding $100.  After the auction purchases, I was left with 30 cards fitting that level and I am off to a pretty good start with 6 but I have only blogged about 1 so far.  Right now 3 of them are sitting in my COMC inventory and I still need to blog about 1 but a card that came in today's mail jumped to the front of the line.

In my 2019 Collection Goals post I shared that there were 10 cards valued at over $500.  I finally pulled in my first off this list and I wanted to share it:

This is the rookie card of Dodgers HOFer Don Drysdale  I had just gotten my annual work bonus and decided (with spousal permission) that I was going to consider splurging on a card or two and that happened to coincide with this card showing up for auction on Sportlots.  There was a bit of a bidding war but I was able to bring it home for what I thought was a very nice price, especially considering the condition.  It isn't perfect but the corner wear is minimal, the centering is pretty solid and the surface isn't too bad.  For a card that is 62 years old, I think it looks amazing.

I thought since this was a 1 card post I would share the back as well.  Don had a solid first year start to his career but it went up from here.

I am hoping to bring home one more of the biggies in 2019.  I am currently in a Sportlots bidding war with another person for a really exciting card.  I haven't decided what my limit is yet which is dangerous, I just want to win.  I can promise you that despite my sporadic blogging of late, if I bring the other card home it will jump to the front of the blog line as well.