Vintage — Cardboard Police

October 02, 2026

1961 Fleer #8 Wilt Chamberlain RC: At PSA 9, Qualified Copies Outnumber Clean Ones, 34 to 33

The copy pictured here is a PSA MINT 9, cert 08172084. PSA's cert page puts 33 straight 9s in the population and three graded higher. There are also 34 more copies of this card at the 9 level that carry a qualifier, one more than the straight 9s. Th...

Card of the Day Basketball Vintage Hall of Fame Rookie Card

CASE #0355 Informational

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October 01, 2026

1954 Topps #201 Al Kaline RC: Straight From High School to the Tigers, and One PSA 10 in 4,082 Graded

Al Kaline reached the Detroit Tigers at 18, straight out of high school, and never played a day in the minor leagues. His 1954 Topps rookie card has been through PSA's grading room 4,082 times. Exactly one copy came back a Gem Mint 10. The Player T...

Card of the Day Baseball Vintage Hall of Fame Rookie Card

CASE #0352 Informational

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September 30, 2026

1963 Topps #82 Bob Lilly: A Short-Printed Rookie Graded 922 Times, Second Only to Jim Brown Among the Set's 76 Short Prints

The bottom corner of 1963 Topps #82 lists Bob Lilly's position as END. That was already out of date in the year the card came out. According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Lilly starred at defensive end as a rookie in 1961, then moved to defensive...

Card of the Day Football Vintage Hall of Fame Rookie Card

CASE #0349 Informational

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September 28, 2026

1965 Topps Battle #15 Dog Warrior Owns Its Set's Best Top End: 10 of 69 Copies at PSA 9 or Better

Only ten copies of 1965 Topps Battle #15 Dog Warrior have ever come back from PSA at a 9 or a 10. That sounds like a small number until you see the set around it: no other card among the 66 in 1965 Topps Battle has done it at a higher rate. The card...

Card of the Day PSA Topps Vintage Non-Sports

CASE #0346 Informational

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September 25, 2026

1948 Bowman #69 George Mikan — 40 PSA 1s, Five Times Any Other Card in the Set, and One of Its Twelve PSA 10s

PSA has graded 40 copies of 1948 Bowman #69 George Mikan a PSA 1. No other card in the 72-card set has more than eight. The same card also holds one PSA 10. In a set where perfect copies barely exist, the most famous card is one of the few that has ...

Card of the Day Basketball PSA Vintage Hall of Fame Rookie Card

CASE #0343 Informational

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September 24, 2026

1951 Parkhurst #66 Gordie Howe — 50 Copies Sealed as Authentic, More Than His PSA 8s and 9s Combined

The copy pictured here sits in a PSA slab graded NM-MT+ 8.5, cert 20915377. Look past the label and the card does something modern cards rarely bother with: it prints the player's record on the front. Under the portrait of a young Detroit right wing ...

Card of the Day PSA Hockey Vintage Hall of Fame Rookie Card

CASE #0340 Informational

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September 23, 2026

1959 Topps #514 Bob Gibson — the Fifth-Most-Graded Card in a 572-Card Set, Behind Only Mantle, Clemente, Aaron and Mays

Bob Gibson's rookie card sits at #514 in the 1959 Topps set, the same season Gibson was still two years from his first All-Star selection and more than a decade from the Cardinals retiring his number. Nobody printing this card in 1959 was betting on ...

Card of the Day Baseball PSA Vintage Hall of Fame Rookie Card

CASE #0337 Misdemeanor

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September 22, 2026

1968 Topps #196 Bob Griese — Two Gem Mints in 2,007 Tries, and a Population That Crests at PSA 6

Bob Griese's rookie card sits at number 196 in a 219-card set, well into the second series, on a checklist that opens with Bart Starr and runs through Joe Namath, Gale Sayers, Johnny Unitas and Dick Butkus. It is the most-graded card in that set. PSA...

Card of the Day Football PSA Vintage Hall of Fame Rookie Card

CASE #0334 Misdemeanor

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September 21, 2026

1976 Topps Star Trek #3 Dr. "Bones" McCoy — the Most-Graded Card in the Set, and the Only One of 88 That Peaks at a Seven

PSA has straight-graded 259 copies of card 3 from the 1976 Topps Star Trek set — more than any other card in it. Not one is a PSA 10, and only six are PSA 9s. That is the fewest nines on the 88-card checklist. The card is Dr. "Bones" McCoy, third in...

Card of the Day Topps Vintage Non-Sports

CASE #0330 Informational

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September 17, 2026

1957 Topps #77 Bill Russell — More PSA 1s Than Slabs at PSA 8 or Better, and the Set's Only PSA 10 Belongs to Dick Atha

Every card in the 1957 Topps basketball set was walked through PSA's population endpoint for this case file — all eighty of them. Across 25,426 whole grades, the set contains exactly one PSA 10. It is not Bill Russell's card, and it is not Bob Cousy'...

Card of the Day Basketball Vintage Hall of Fame Rookie Card

CASE #0327 Misdemeanor

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the cardboard chronicle

Tagged: Vintage

1961 Fleer #8 Wilt Chamberlain RC: At PSA 9, Qualified Copies Outnumber Clean Ones, 34 to 33

1954 Topps #201 Al Kaline RC: Straight From High School to the Tigers, and One PSA 10 in 4,082 Graded

1963 Topps #82 Bob Lilly: A Short-Printed Rookie Graded 922 Times, Second Only to Jim Brown Among the Set's 76 Short Prints

1965 Topps Battle #15 Dog Warrior Owns Its Set's Best Top End: 10 of 69 Copies at PSA 9 or Better

1948 Bowman #69 George Mikan — 40 PSA 1s, Five Times Any Other Card in the Set, and One of Its Twelve PSA 10s

1951 Parkhurst #66 Gordie Howe — 50 Copies Sealed as Authentic, More Than His PSA 8s and 9s Combined

1959 Topps #514 Bob Gibson — the Fifth-Most-Graded Card in a 572-Card Set, Behind Only Mantle, Clemente, Aaron and Mays

1968 Topps #196 Bob Griese — Two Gem Mints in 2,007 Tries, and a Population That Crests at PSA 6

1976 Topps Star Trek #3 Dr. "Bones" McCoy — the Most-Graded Card in the Set, and the Only One of 88 That Peaks at a Seven

1957 Topps #77 Bill Russell — More PSA 1s Than Slabs at PSA 8 or Better, and the Set's Only PSA 10 Belongs to Dick Atha