Being involved in the hobby for more than 40 years gives on an immense appreciation of its true rarities - items that inspire a double-take due to rarity, complexity, or beauty.  During that time, we have developed a tremendous appreciation for the difficulty in assembling any vintage card set, particularly sets of significant size.  Assembling an autographed set, however, is a horse of a different color.

For years, card collectors frowned on the concept of a signed card, the logic being that the autograph was a detriment to the condition of the card.  Autograph collectors typically chose different media for their collections: single-signed or team baseballs, index cards, autograph books, and the like.  In recent years, however, collectors began to realize the scarcity of signed vintage cards, and the incredible difficulty in compiling a complete autographed set.  Complicating matters, of course, was the reality of life, in that some players did not have the luxury of a long life, resulting in some cards being virtually impossible to achieve.

Presented here is the result of one collector's passion: a collection of 459 autographed cards out of a possible 494 (a few of the tougher examples are offered elsewhere in this auction).  The cards were carefully assembled over a lengthy period by our consignor, who collected the finest quality signatures he could find, only settling for lesser-caliber signatures in instances of true scarcity.  An astonishing collecting achievement, the collection includes 20 cards that have been encapsulated by PSA/DNA, and one encapsulated by GAI.  The encapsulated cards are as follows: #25 Drysdale (PSA/DNA 10), #76 Farrell, #798 Williams, #88 Snider, #93 Amoros, #139 Brunet, #178 Kluszewski, #204 Kiely, #243 Rain es, #252 Trowbridge, #267 Lollar, #299 Simpson, #300 Harridge/Giles (signed by both), #369 Lumenti, #400 Fox, #436 Mays/Snider (signed by both), #456 Brown, #465 Portocarrero, #475 Stengel/Haney (signed by Stengel), and #486 (Mays AS).  Card #484 (Robinson AS) has been authenticated by GAI.

The remaining cards include the following: #2 Lemon, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19 (signed by Bill Rigney), 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 Kell, 41, 42, 43, 44 (signed by Roy Sievers), 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70 Kaline, 72, 73, 74, 75, 78, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85 Aparicio, 86, 87, 88 Snider, 90, 91, 91, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134 (signed by Robin Roberts), 135, 136, 137, 138, 140, 141, 142 Slaughter, 143, 144, 146, 147, 149, 151, 152, 153, 155, 156, 157, 158 (signed by Tito Francona), 159, 161, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174 (signed by Lou Boudreau), 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 185, 188 (signed by both Bolling and Berbert), 188 (signed by Bolling only), 189, 190 Schoendienst, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 216 (signed by Solly Hemus), 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228 Maas, 229, 230 Ashburn, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 239, 240, 241, 242, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 253, 254, 255, 256 (signed by Billy Pierce), 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 269, 270 Spahn, 271 Martin, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285 Robinson, 286, 288 Killebrew, 289 (signed by both), 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295 Minoso, 296, 297, 298, 301, 302, 303, 304 (signed by both), 305, 306, 307 Robinson, 308, 309, 311, 312 (signed by Bobby Doerr), 313, 314 (signed by Snider), 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320 Ford, 321 (signed by Kluszewski), 322, 323, 324 Wilhelm, 325, 326, 327 (signed by Ernie Banks), 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 334 (signed by both), 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 341 (signed by Dick Groat), 342, 343 Cepeda, 344, 345, 346, 348, 349, 351 (signed by Mathews), 352, 353, 354, 355, 356, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365, 366, 367, 368, 370 Berra, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375 Reese, 376, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386 (signed by all three), 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397 (signed by Al Kaline), 398, 399, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408 (signed by Milt Pappas), 409, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417, 418 (signed by Aaron), 419, 420, 422, 423, 424 Doby, 425, 426, 427, 428 (signed by Gus Bell), 429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 437, 438 Mathews, 439, 441, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447, 448, 449, 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 457, 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463, 466, 467, 468, 469, 470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 476 Musial, 477, 480 Mathews, 481, 482 Banks, 488 Aaron, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493, 494 Spahn, and 495.  Several of the missing cards are included unsigned, including Clemente (G-VG condition).

An extraordinary collection of autographed cards, comprising 93% of a complete, signed 1958 Topps set.  Auction LOA from James Spence Authentication for the unencapsulated cards.  458 cards total.