Dropping the Hammer on my 1957 Topps setbuild

The other day I caught wind of a "flash coupon" from eBay that was $15 off any purchase of $X amount. With less than an hour left to take advantage, I searched around for a nice vintage card I needed that I could find priced low at or a little above that amount. I ended up with this bad boy..

Not just a big card for my '57 setbuild, but a damn fine Hank Aaron for my collection, now the earliest card of his I own. Plus 1957 was arguably his finest year, as he won his only MVP award and World Series.

It's an uncorrected error, with a reversed negative making Hank appear to be lefty. The backwards 4 in the jersey number is the other obvious sign that something's up with the photo.

If I'm going to spend significant money on a vintage card of big-name player, I like to go graded, simply because of all the counterfeits out there. Still irks me that counterfeiters can get away with selling fake cards simply by saying "it's a reprint that doesn't say it's a reprint." Yeah, that's pretty much the definition of counterfeit. But Topps is apparently fine with that behavior, and eBay doesn't care, so it's rampant on there. I'm sure many of those "reprints" end up being bought and then relisted with the new seller forgetting to mention the fact it's a reprint. I've ranted about this shit here before, but man, it really bugs me.

But yeah, anyways, I bought this PSA 4 Hank Aaron. With the $15 off coupon factored in, this is easily the cheapest of the completed listings for similar PSA 4 copies of this card, so I think it was a solid deal. I probably should have focused on big names I still need for 1965 Topps, but maybe I panicked a bit with the clock running and jumped to searching 1957 cards, even though I really shouldn't be focusing too much on that set yet. Oh well. Feels good to have both the Mantle and Aaron out of the way for my '57 set, even with a long road ahead of me there.

I picked up these 5 in my latest COMC order, searching by lowest price and seeing what was available in decent condition for a buck or less.

And Robert from $30 A Week Habit dropped a dozen '57s on me earlier this past week. Great looking cards! I definitely don't have many Brooklyn Dodgers in my collection.. in fact, I'm at a loss trying to think of any other vintage Brooklyn cards I've got, so Al Walker here might be the first.

And the other six. Very appreciated! With just a couple more cards, I'll crack 10% complete with 1957. (Wantlist here, in case anyone else can help.)

Robert also included a trio of needs for my 1965 Topps build. Now just a couple more cards away from being 75% complete! The 7th Series checklist is one of the very few variations in the set. Basically this version has room for 2 more rows on the bottom. There's a variation with slightly larger text that only has room for 1 more row on the bottom. Yeah, it's not the most exciting variation.

Big thanks for the cards, Robert! I've got a return for you packed up and ready to be dropped in Monday's mail.

And since this post has morphed into a trade recap, let's close with the other cards I received from the cardsphere this past week... which coincidentally also happen to be vintage cards sent by a guy named Robert...

Commishbob, the Five Tool Collector himself, read my recent post showing off my Hoyt Wilhelm collection and kindly volunteered to fill some open slots for me. Love 'em! Obviously the '63 is the star of the show here, as the other 2 feature generic blacked-out caps due to Hoyt bouncing around at the end of his career.

Thanks, Bob! I'm working on dropping a little return your way soon as well, even though you graciously said it wasn't necessary.