Only three major vintage basketball card sets (all released by chewing gum companies) exist, although there were some other small regional issues produced in the 1950s and 1960s.
The first set was produced by Bowman in 1948. It was their third set of cards, and their first in color. The second major basketball set was produced in 1957 by Topps, and the final important set was issued by the Fleer Company in 1961.
Basketball was a much less important sport in the late 1940s and 1950s than it is today. This meant that when sets were printed at all, they were printed in much smaller quantities than baseball cards and many of famous players feature on only one card. Additionally many of these cards were off-center as quality control was very low, however, due to the rarity of basketball cards this is not as detrimental to value as it is with baseball cards.
- PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) is a third party trading card authentication service, which will authenticate and grade the condition of trading cards or other memorabilia for a fee. Cards such as this are sealed in a ‘slab’ so that they maintain the condition at which they were graded.
- PSA’s grading system runs from PR 1 – Poor to GEM-MT 10 – Gem mint/virtually perfect. This card has been ranked 8 (near-mint-mint) so it is very desirable.
- Wilt Chamberlain is widely considered the NBA greatest offensive player.
- Wilt Chamberlain’s rookie card is one of the most valuable from the Fleer set. Also desirable is Oscar Robertson’s rookie card, no. 36 and Jerry West’s rookie card, no. 43.
Price Guide: £1,000-1,500 ($2,000-3,000)
Find out more...
'Beckett Official Price Guide to Basketball Cards 2010', by Dr. James Beckett, published by House of Collectibles, 2009.
PSA: www.psacard.com
