1957-1958 Topps Basketball #77 Bill Russell Rookie PSA EX+ 5.5

Sold For:

$34,800

Year:

1957

Auction:

2021 Spring

Lot #:

2843

Category:

Post-1900 Baseball Memorabilia

Graded EX+ 5.5 by PSA. Outstanding rookie card of Boston Celtics Hall of Famer Bill Russell from the classic 1957-1958 Topps set. Russell's rookie card is universally 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, light corner wear (a crease across the lower left), and centering toward the top right. The reverse is entirely clean with bold print. 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. Bill 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 and particularly attractive example of one of basketball-card collecting's most iconic cards. Reserve $5,000. Estimate (open).