Ultra Rare 1966 Topps Punch Out Tops Auction

Content Originally Published by Sports Collectors Daily on Monday April 4, 2011.

One of only four graded 1966 Topps Punch-Out cards generated some knockout bidding in Huggins & Scott's latest catalog auction.  Featuring Willie Mays and Tony Conigliaro, the SGC 84-graded rarity brought 31 bids and a final realized price of $29,375.

One of the most rare items Topps is known to have produced, the test issue never made it to market and the surviving examples are treasured.

Advanced Topps researcher David Hornish said of the '66 Punch Out cards, “If you can even find one of these very elusive cards consider yourself blessed. If you can afford it, you are more blessed still.”

Huggins and Scott had several other unusual pieces in the auction, including what is likely the last autographed baseball Thurman Munson ever signed.

The ball, signed for the son of an acquaintance in Canton, Oh., as Munson left for the airport where he would lose his life in a plane crash, sold for $5875 including the company's 17.5% buyer's premium.

One of the more desirable Upper Deck cards of all-time also sold in the auction.  A 2008 Mt. Rushmore quad autograph featuring the signatures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, brought $24, 675.

A nearly complete set of T206 cards (519 of 524) in lower to mid-grade, sold for 422,325.

Other highlights included:

• T206 Sherry "Magie" error card PSA 3  $21.150
• 1952 topps Mickey Mantle PSA 7 o/c  $15,275
• Richie Ashburn's 1993 Phillies NL Champions ring $111,162
• 1958 Hires Root Beer Willie Mays test issue with tab SGC 20  $6,462
• Richie Ashburn's 1948 game-worn cap  $7,050