30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Monday, February 17, 2014

Cheap Cool Cards #41: 1972 Topps U.S. Presidents #31 FDR

I've always had a soft spot for non-sports trading cards.  In fact, the first packs of cards I ever opened had pictures of Jedis and Wookies, not pitchers and catchers.


That's why I quickly grabbed this 1972 Topps U.S. Presidents card of Franklin Delano Roosevelt when I saw it in the weekly specials section at my favorite online card shop.  This forty-two year old piece of cardboard set me back a whole dollar and features one of the most popular presidents in U.S. history.

I really enjoy the set's simple design and beautiful artwork.  The forty-three card set features the first thirty-seven presidents (Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th President of the United States had only one card issued in the set), along with seven presidential candidates from the 1972 election.

You can typically find singles from this set in the $1 to $4 range, while the more popular presidents tend to sell in the $4 to $10 range.  In December there were two auctions for completed sets... both fetching less than $50 delivered.

So if you're looking for an affordable, vintage non-sports set with a great design and enjoy a piece of Americana, then you might want look into a few of these for your own collection.

By the way... if you're into collecting cards of U.S. Presidents here are some links to my past presidential posts:



Happy Presidents' Day and sayonara!

5 comments:

Commishbob said...

I'm more into presidential campaign pins but I do love some of those cards. I collect Lincoln, LBJ and Teddy Roosevelt and a few others.

I'm old enough to remember when Lincoln's Birthday and Washington's Birthday were real, full blown, take the day off holidays. None of this lame 'President's Day' stuff.

Dawgbones said...

awesome pick-up! love the presidential stuff.

Mark Hoyle said...

Just sent a few of these to Nick over at Dime Box. I remember buying these in 72. My dad was really into politics I would open packs with him and a history lesson would always follow. Great memory.

BobWalkthePlank said...

I always had dreams of pulling one of those President Auto's out of Topps.

Nick said...

Great card! A fellow collector recent sent me the James Buchanan and WIlliam Henry Harrison from this set.