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I’ve seen many examples of the 1968 Topps Nolan Ryan RC all in different conditions. I’ve even seen a fragment of this card sell at auction but even the fragment had better eye appeal than this full specimen. So it begs the question – what the heck happened?!
This card tells a story, one of love, life, and loss. It almost looks as if it was caught under something heavy and just yanked out leaving chunks behind in its wake. The dark substance closely resembles oil or grime of some sort.
When I discovered the existence of this card, it got me thinking.
If this card were in the possession of someone who doesn’t appreciate baseball cards, they might think it was trash and just discard it never to be seen again. That it remained intact and was sold leads me to believe it will be appreciated by someone.
It also got me thinking about the following question:
If offered this card at its closing price, would you buy it?
Personally, I would pass. There are just so many better looking, low grade examples at slightly higher prices and I’d rather have one of those over this one. Even so, I like that this example survived.
What about you; would you buy this card if it were offered to you at the closing price? As ugly as it is, it’s still a Nolan Ryan RC.
Sold: September 6, 2022
# of Bids: 21
Final Price: $113.50
To see the current eBay auctions for the 1968 Topps Nolan Ryan, click here.
No, I couldn’t justify paying over $100 for a card in terrible shape, even though it’s an important card from my favorite team. But I’m the kind of collector who likely won’t ever pay that much for any card. (And owning a Seaver rookie would be much bigger to me than a Ryan/Koosman.)