1957-1958 Topps Basketball #77 Bill Russell Rookie PSA NM+ 7.5

Sold For:

$150,000

Year:

1957

Auction:

2021 Fall

Lot #:

2234

Category:

Post-1900 Baseball Memorabilia

Graded NM+ 7.5 by PSA (submitted by REA). Outstanding high-grade rookie card of Boston Celtics Hall of Famer Bill Russell from the classic 1957-1958 Topps set. Russell's rookie card is recognized as one of the great classics of all basketball cards. Besides being Russell's most popular card, this is the key to the set. This is a particularly attractive example, with bright colors, a crisp image, four sharp corners, and superb centering. The reverse is clean with bold print. In our opinion, this card would not look out of place in a higher grade. 1957-1958 Topps Basketball is well known for production quality issues, making high-grade examples, especially of such a key card like Russell, particularly scarce and desirable. Russell's Topps rookie card is part of PSA's Top 250 Sportscards in the Hobby set, based on the book Collecting Sports Legends: The Ultimate Hobby Guide, by Joe Orlando, which selects the most significant cards from all the different sports. Examples of premier rookie cards, such as this, in high grades have realized especially strong prices recently. This is a superb high-grade example of one of basketball-card collecting's iconic cards. Reserve $10,000.