http://www.beckett.com/estore/news/?eskin=beckett&a=9648&s=1&utm_source=062208hobbyemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Featured%20StoryBy Grant Sandground
One of the more prominent trading card sales of the year took place yesterday on eBay, when a three-count lot of 1959 Three Stooges cards (issued by Fleer) sold for a staggering $75,667.
The three cards are the scarce checklist variations for card #'s 16, 63 and 64, each graded Mint 9 by PSA. According to The Sport Americana Non-Sports Cards 1930-1960 annual guide by Christopher Benjamin, "The checklists were available only in the gum packs and could not be ordered separately. I was told they appeared only in the final print run of the cards and only as a last minute decision due to problems with the original dies on the three cards."
PSA's population report currently lists cumulative totals (blending the scarce checklist backs and more common standard card backs) for the three cards as follows:
* Card #16 (Six Mint 9s of 68 total submissions; none better)
* Card #63 (Five Mint 9s of 73 total submissions; none better)
* Card #64 (Two Mint 9s of 82 total submissions; none better)
Beckett's Graded Card Investor bi-monthly title just added a six-page Price Guide covering all of the key, vintage Non-Sport material dating from 1933-1985, including the 1959 Three Stooges set. Look for continuing coverage of this burgeoning section of the hobby in each new issue of GCI.
It's worth noting that two other interesting Three Stooges sales took place this month. In Mastro's Premier Catalog Auction, checklist #16 in PSA 10 sold for $11,400. In addition, a complete 96-card 1959 Three Stooges set, graded by PSA with a GPA of 8.16, sold on eBay for $35,000.
