Anyone who has collected the larger Topps and Bowman issues of the early to mid-1950’s knows how ‘condition sensitive’ they are. It just seems no matter which set you’re talking about, it’s hard to find high grade examples. This week, we’re offering a PSA 9 1956 Topps Football rookie card of Hall of Famer Lenny Moore. It’s one of only five ever graded at the mint level by PSA. For football card collectors who specialize in 1950’s material, it isn’t overstating a fact to say the competition is fierce whenever a truly high grade star or hard to find common card comes up for bid. The supply is much, much less than the demand among collectors of graded set of Hall of Fame players. In fact, in the 1956 set alone, just 23 of the 116 cards issued have PSA populations of 10 or more at the ‘9’ level. The other 93? You can count the mint condition cards on two hands! Moore is pictured on the card with a helmet that has no face mask. In his first NFL season, the card represents the dawning of what would be an amazing career. Moore was one of the key players on the great Baltimore Colts teams of the late 1950’s and early 60’s. A versatile athlete, the Colts used him as both a flanker and running back but it was as a receiver that he made his indelible mark, grabbing passes from Johnny Unitas. Moore scored touchdowns in 18 straight games during a stretch from 1963-65, an NFL record. He was a seven-time Pro Bowl selection before his career was done, with 12, 451 combined net yards and an incredible 113 touchdowns. The 1956 Topps set represents the first of a still intact string of NFL trading card sets issued by Topps and it’s the Moore card that is the key.
