1981 Topps Raiders of the Lost Ark #2 Indiana Jones: The "Freelance Adventurer" Card, and One PSA 10 in 356
Card #2 of 1981 Topps Raiders of the Lost Ark captions Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones a "FREELANCE ADVENTURER." Ford himself played the character as an academic first and an adventurer second. PSA has graded 356 copies of the card, and exactly one is a Gem Mint 10, a recent addition to the population.
The card is #2 in the 88-card set Topps issued for the film. It is a portrait from the film: Ford in the brown fedora and leather jacket, a satchel strap across his chest, the coiled bullwhip held low at his side. The photo sits inside a red frame on a yellow pedestal, like an artifact on display, and the whole thing is set on a green border. At the base, in red, it reads "Indiana Jones," with "FREELANCE ADVENTURER" in capitals beneath.
Smith, Selleck, Then Ford
George Lucas conceived the film in 1973, wanting to update the adventure serials he had watched as a boy. The hero began as Indiana Smith. Steven Spielberg hated the name, because it would remind audiences of Steve McQueen's Nevada Smith, and Lucas, Spielberg and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan agreed on "Jones" instead.
Ford was not the first choice to wear the hat. Lucas wanted a relatively unknown actor, and the production settled on Tom Selleck, who was contractually bound to Magnum, P.I. if CBS made it a series. When the network picked the show up, Selleck had to drop out, leaving Raiders with no lead weeks before filming. Spielberg had seen Ford in The Empire Strikes Back and thought he was perfect for the part.
Ford prepared for it physically. He trained for several weeks under stunt coordinator Glenn Randall to use the bullwhip, the one on this card, and became good enough with it to disarm one of the film's villains. And he played Jones as an academic first and an adventurer second. Topps' caption skips the professor and goes straight to the adventurer.
The Summer of 1981
Raiders opened in the U.S. and Canada on June 12, 1981. Pre-release polling had shown little audience interest, especially next to Superman II. It became the highest-grossing film of 1981, played in some theaters for more than a year, and won five Academy Awards. In 1999 the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry. Four more Indiana Jones films followed.
Topps' 88 cards for the film went into packs the same year, and #2 is Jones' own card, with his name and that title at its base.
PSA Population Report
| PSA Grade | Population |
|---|---|
| PSA 10 | 1 |
| PSA 9 | 10 |
| PSA 8 | 82 |
| Total Graded (All Grades) | 356 |
* Population data as of October 22, 2026. PSA population counts are dynamic and increase as more cards are submitted for grading.
One 10, Newly Arrived
For a card more than four decades old, the top of the population is nearly empty. Ninety-three of the 356 graded copies are PSA 8 or better, about one in four. Ten are 9s. Only one has ever come back a Gem Mint 10, and that one was graded recently. Until it arrived, the highest grade PSA had given this card was a 9.
The other 263 copies did not reach an 8. Eighty-two of the 93 at the top are 8s, so the curve thins out fast above that line: eight times as many 8s as 9s, and ten 9s for every 10.
Verdict: Topps called him a freelance adventurer in 1981, though the man who played him saw an academic first. The card comes from the summer his film became the year's biggest hit. Of 356 copies graded by PSA, one is a Gem Mint 10, and it is a recent one.
