Early 1950 Topps Scale Used to Weigh Boxes of Cards

Auction: 2023 Summer Classic

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Early 1950 Topps Scale Used to Weigh Boxes of Cards

Displayed is a great vintage item: A set of comparison scales that Topps Cards used to weigh its wax boxes of sports and non-sports cards. In the 1950s, the Shorin family in New York City owned the Topps Manufacturing Company, and their top selling item was Bazooka Bubble Gum, with a small comic added to the bubble gum package. Then, Topps decided to increase sales by adding cards to the bubble gum, specifically by producing Hopalong Cassidy cards. In 1951, Topps produced two baseball card sets, the "Red Backs" and the "Blue Backs," each containing 52 cards of players, but also allowing one to play a baseball card game with each 52 card "deck," as each card had "Home Run," "Strike Out," "Ground Out," "Single," etc., on it. Then Topps revolutionized sports collecting with its 1952 set of 407 cards. The cards measured a large 2.625x3.75", and each card featured a beautiful hand painted portrait of each player, painted by artists such as Gerry Dvorak. Topps employees Sy Berger and Woody Gelman designed the whole 1952 card set on Berger's kitchen table in Brooklyn, New York, where Topps was headquartered, The design became a classic. The front of the card had: Player name, Position, Photo, Facsimile Autograph, Team Name, and Team Logo. On the back: Height, Weight, Bats, Throws, Birthplace, Birthday, Stats and a Short Bio. The cards were beautifully done and very popular. One problem was that the sixth and final series of the '52 cards didn't arrive at local candy stores until September - during football season - and young collectors had already turned their interest to football. As a result, thousands of packs of '52 cards sat on store shelves and were returned to Topps. Sy Berger decided to solve the over-supply problem by hiring a tugboat, with a towed barge, with thousands upon thousands of boxes of Topps '52 Sixth Series cards on the barge, and Sy had the tug and barge dump all of those cards, including many Mickey Mantle "rookie" cards, into the Atlantic Ocean off the New Jersey Coast. Who could know that in 2022, a 1952 Mickey Mantle card sold for 12.8 million dollars? Perhaps some of those cards were weighed on this scale. The 1950s were a fantastic time for Topps as they won the "Baseball Card War" with Bowman and became the baseball card giant. Topps is still producing cards under the name Topps, but in 2022 the company was bought by Fanatics. The offered scale was used to detect if a marked (or known) weight on a package or packages, was correct. For example, a five-pound weight would be placed on one "tray" and packs or boxes of cards on the corresponding "plate." The arrow in the center of the scale would indicate if a supposed weight was correct, low or high. The scale measures approx. 6x17" at the base, and the item is 19" in height. The scale still works. Its weight is a sturdy 33 pounds. There is a Topps Duryea, PA plate on the side, the first we have ever seen. On the bottom of one side of the scale is a metal tag reading "ITN I - 0067" and on the bottom of the other side of the scale is a metal tag reading "1447 Topps Chewing Gum." The scale shows extensive use, and it exhibits chipping, paint loss, scratches, stains, and darkening, particularly on the "Detect-o-gram" top part where the weighing "needle" is visible. The early 1950s Topps cards were weighed on this scale, and although the scale's use is evident, it's still a working scale, built to last, and a classic like the iconic Topps cards it weighed.