With its crisp close-up photography and simplistic design the 1957 Topps set is one of the most beautiful postwar baseball sets ever produced. Its popularity remains high among vintage collectors due to the beauty of the design as well as the strength of the player selection. Several years ago a sports auction house acquired an assortment of uncut "panels" from the 1957 Topps sale and offered them for direct sale at the National. Some were creased and worn but some were in relatively pristine condition. This is one of the pristine ones purchased at the show and put away immediately afterward for safekeeping. The panel which features Joe Adcock Jack Harshman and Bobby DelGreco is remarkably well-preserved with a Near Mint appearance four sharp corners no creases very little surface wear and a very light tiny smudge on the back of the Adcock smaller than a pencil eraser. Speculation is that these panels were at some point cut from a sheet. Slightly wavy top and bottom edges lend credence to this theory. However while uncut strips of 1957 Topps frequently find their way to auction they are typically four-card square panels or two or three-card vertical panels and the majority are in rough shape. An interesting curiosity and beautiful companion piece from a popular postwar set.