1959 Topps Football Cards

For 1959, Topps increased the number of cards in its football set. By doing that, the set was made larger than any that had ever come before it.

The fronts featured a player photo that was usually a head-and-shoulders shot but was sometimes a fuller posed image as well. The player is then superimposed over a fabric-type solid-colored background design. The background colors vary between pink, green, blue and yellow. A team logo is also placed somewhere inside the picture. The whit border joins with the bottom area that has the player's name, position and team. The player's name alternates between red and blue ink with each letter. Backs feature a football icon with a card number and a black box with the player's name, team and position. Below that are two lines of vital stats. For some players, a box of year and lifetime statistics appears, while other players get a short write-up instead. Most of the back, however, is taken up by a scratch-off trivia question that has part of the answer image visible. Backs that have had been subjected to the edge of a coin are less valuable than those that haven't.

Each NFL team is given two specialty cards. The first is a team card, which features an oval-shaped background like they had on 1958 cards, but feature the same fabric-type design of the regular cards, as well as the alternating blue-and-red lettering scheme. Backs of the team cards feature a checklist, which doesn't necessarily follow the series the team is a part of. The other card is a pennant card, which is basically a pennant with a logo and team name, with a drawn game-action image underneath.

The set had 176 cards in it and was broken down into two 88-card series. In a change from the usual series format, cards from the first series are slightly scarcer and more valuable than cards from the second. There are also a number of cards that have discrepancies between the front and the back (some involve names, others involve positions), but none were ever corrected and thus have no added value for being errors.

One very noticeable error includes the rookie card of Jim Taylor of the Green Bay Packers. The card identifies the running back, yet shows a different Jim Taylor who played for the Chicago Cardinals. Other notable rookie cards feature Alex Karras, Sam Huff, Jerry Kramer, Bobby Mitchell and Jim Parker.

Key 1959 Topps Football Cards:

• Jim Brown #10
• Johnny Unitas #1
• Bart Starr #23
• Paul Hornung #82
• Sam Huff RC #51

Best Match Items Ending First Newly-Listed Items First Price + Shipping: Lowest First Price + Shipping: Highest First

1959 TOPPS #50 OLLIE MATSON EX *8287 $7.00

1959 TOPPS #161 BROWNS TEAM VGEX *8346 $12.00

1959 Topps #28 Paige Cothren Rams PSA NM 7 $8.95

1959 Topps Frank Gifford #20....Solid Exmt....Nice Card! $10.97

Super 1959 Topps Football Card # 76 Los Angeles Rams MINT Centered S 2 Checklist $32.00

1959 TOPPS CFL BILL GRAHAM, HAMILTON TIGER-CATS #76 $6.40

1959 TOPPS CFL BOB MaccLELLAN, MONTREAL ALOUETTES #33 (McGILL) NR MINT $6.40

1959 TOPPS CFL CAM FRASER, HAMILTON TIGER-CATS #78 (U OF OTTAWA) EXMT $6.00