Tyler Texas Basketball Find-2001

1957 Topps Basketball Vending Boxes plus Non-Sport

In 2001, we returned from Tyler Texas with a terrific new sportscard find!

We uncovered a small hoard of 1957 Topps basketball vending boxes plus many non-sport card vending boxes. We received a phone call from a wonderful lady in East Texas who stated she had some basketball she wanted to sell. We made arrangements to go and see here and stumbled upon three and a half fresh vending boxes of the difficult issue 1957 Topps Basketball.

It seems her husband had a vending maching route in the mid to late 1950's. Approximately 4 years ago she found the 11 vending machines in her garage and proceeded to sell them to the surrounding antique dealers in her area. This past July she dug deeper into her garage and found the strangest boxes which she thought we mason jars. After bringing them into the house did she realize she had some basketball cards instead. Feeling disappointed, she contacted her niece who found us at our website.

Upon arrival in Texas we witnessed a minor miracle. There, on her kitchen table, were 1,711 basketball cards still fresh and crisp as the day they were made. Neither rain nor insect had defiled these cards. As we blew the printers dust off the top of the cards we saw what was there. Over 16 Bill Russells and 40+ Bob Cousy's made it all the way to 2001. This was truly a sight to be seen.

But the minor miracle didn't stop there. Behind all that basketball was over 16 vending boxes of non-sport cards in the same condition as the others. Sets like the 1956 Topps Elvis, 1959 Fleer Three Stooges, Target:Moon, Hit Stars, Zorro, TV Westerns, Popeye and several other smaller sets. What a shame the top Non-Sport Price Guide didn't want to tell their readers about this find although we approached them.

This was a terrific new find for the industry. Look for press coverage in T.S. O'Connell's column in the Sports Collectors Digest and in the PSA's Sports Market Report.

 In the picture below, barely visible, are the all the Bill Russells. In front of all those vending boxes are the separate stacks of the basketball. Hidden from view are some other separate complete sets of the basketball too as well as some of the non-sport.