Extremely Rare 1970 "Topps Teamates" Employee #4 Art Department PSA EX 5 - The Only Graded Example!

Sold For:

$780

Year:

1970

Auction:

2023 Summer

Lot #:

1437

Category:

Postwar Baseball - 1970s to Present Cards

One of the rarest sets ever produced by Topps is the 1970 "Topps Teamates [sic]" set. This set was produced only for the employees of Topps and was never distributed to the public, which explains its rarity today. Each of the cards in the set is designed in a horizontal format with a black-and-white image featuring staff members from one of Topps' many departments. Offered is card #4 Art Department. This is the only example that has ever been graded by PSA! One of the Art Department's responsibilities was to locate printing errors, yet this is the only card in the set that has a printing error (located practically dead center above the head of one of the staff members seated in the front row). This might have been done on purpose as an inside joke among the employees. It is also possible that the same person responsible for misspelling "teammates" also had something to do with the printing fault. The entire set was certainly produced in the spirit of good fun. The back of the cards lists the names of persons from the pictured department. The printed slogan "Topps Grow Power '70" is designed in the shape of a tree on the right portion of the reverse. This is only the second example of this unbelievably rare issue that we have offered in the past twenty years! Opening Bid $300.