The 1959 Topps baseball card set is one of the most iconic issues in the entire hobby. Produced by Topps Chewing Gum, Inc., the 1959 set was the sixth series of modern baseball cards and contained 520 cards issued in wax wrappers. The 1959 Topps cards introduced the colorful cartoon-style design that became a Topps trademark for decades. They also increased in size from the previous 2.5-inch by 3.5-inch dimensions to 2.5 by 3.625 inches.
Collectors today seek out high-grade examples of these classic cards to showcase in their collections or potentially profit from. One of the top third-party grading services for vintage cards is Professional Sports Authenticator, commonly known as PSA. PSA assigns cards numeric grades of 1 to 10 based on their centering, corners, edges and surface quality compared to a pristine “mint” example. A PSA 10 grade is the holy grail, indicating a “gem mint” card that appears identical to how it would look freshly out of the pack.
Some of the most sought-after and expensive 1959 Topps cards to find in high grades from PSA include rookie cards of future Hall of Famers like Pete Rose, Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan, and Hank Aaron. An Aaron rookie PSA 10 recently sold for over $360,000, shattering records and showing how prestigious a black-border true “gem mint” grade can be from the leading third-party authenticator and grader. Other popular high-grade 1959 rookies include future NL MVPs Dick Groat and Willie McCovey, as well as future 300-game winners Don Drysdale and Jim Bunning.
Beyond rookies, collectors pursue PSA-slabbed gems of particularly iconic players like Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Ted Williams and Stan Musial. A Mantle PSA 10 is highly sought, with the “say hey” style photo making his one of the most visually appealing cards in the set. Other baseball legends like Whitey Ford, Duke Snider and Early Wynn can bring respectable sums as well in top PSA grades, especially when they showcase their teams’ classic uniforms.
Condition is even more critical for this set than others due to the larger card size, which gives flaws more room to be magnified. Centering tends to be the most prevalent issue, as Topps’ quality control was not as refined then. Corners also often show rounded defects because the cardboard stock was more brittle compared to today’s card materials. Surfaces likewise face issues like scrapes or stains more easily with their open space. While a PSA 8 grade for a 1959 Topps card can be considered “very fine” for collectors, true strong examples at the PSA 9 or 10 level command massive premiums.
To have a 1959 Topps card achieve a perfect PSA 10 grade is about as rare as finding a four-leaf clover, partly due to the age and larger size increasing wear, and also because Topps’ printing process. Experts estimate only about 1 in 1000 – 1500 raw 1959s would score a PSA 10, making a “black label 10” endlessly chased. Discoveries of new PSA 10 1959s in recent years often make national news headlines. In 2010, a previously unknown condition census PSA 10 Mantle was revealed, taking the hobby by storm.
Condition standards have tightened over the decades, so grades may fluctuate if cards are resubmitted for reevaluation by PSA. Still, the leading authentification placed about 1350 raw 1959 Topps cards at PSA 10 as of 2020, establishing a population report that sets record prices. Owning a “gem mint” 1959 Topps Hall of Famer card certified perfect by the top service is a true pinnacle achievement for any collector, bringing with it bragging rights and one of the strongest long-term investments around. As rarer than a perfect 1952 Topps Mickey or T206 Wagner, a PSA 10 1959 will stay a cherished treasure.
