Gorgeous collection of 1965 Topps football cards, missing 17 for completion, along with 16 duplicates.  Original owner collection that was purchased in the year of issue, nearly completed, and inserted into six-pocket pages as soon as they were available.  The result is an incredible grouping of cards, most with nary a hint of wear save for some toning on the reverse and the occasional corner ding.  Two cards have been removed from the set - the Joe Namath rookie (graded PSA 7) and George Blanda (graded SGC 8) featured elsewhere in this auction.

We have taken four additional cards from this set and submitted them to SGC, and feel they were graded quite harshly.  The grades are as follows: #3 Buoniconti (SGC VG/EX 4), 116 Hill (SGC EX+ 5.5), 153 Biletnikoff (SGC VG/EX 4) and 174 Westmoreland (SGC EX 5).  We feel it is likely that the grades were assigned based on the reverse toning, which was likely the result of residue from older plastic sheets.  An additional factor, of course, was centering, often a problem with this set.  For the purposes of consistency, we attempted to employ the same grading standards to the remainder of the set, which we consider approximately 9% NM, 18% EX/MT, 52% EX, 19% VG/EX, and the remaining few VG or lesser.  Key cards would grade as follows: #35 Kemp (EX), 91 Bell (EX), 94 Buchanan (EX), 99 Dawson (EX/MT), 109 Robinson (EX), 121 Maynard (EX/MT), 139 Flores (EX), 145 Otto (EX), 155 Alworth (EX), and 168 Mix (EX/MT).

All but one of the cards missing for completion are tougher single prints.  They are #1, 14, 19, 37, 46 Brown (HOF), 60, 61, 66, 69 Blanda (HOF), 75, 77, 90, 108, 122 Namath (HOF), 136, and 152.  The two checklists have been filled in, and thus grade POOR.  

Duplicate cards include #9, 18, 43, 45, 47, 50, 58, 59, 93, 97, 98, 115, 126, 147, 153, and 160, in grades similar to the rest.  

A sharp and colorful near-set of 1965 Topps cards, one of the more attractive and desirable football sets of the era.  159 cards total.