Amazing Christmas gift of a classic card

[kurri17]

This is truly amazing and unexpected for me. As recently noted in the "Vintage Bucket List" thread, the 1957 Topps Johnny Unitas is in my list of dream cards I never had any thought that I could own. He was my first sports hero, and that grew into adult respect and admiration for his accomplishments.


Several weeks ago, I stopped in my local shop as do regularly to see what his latest pick-ups are, make some purchases for my vintage interests, and just hang out. On this particular occasion, my jaw dropped as he told me a guy had come in with a near complete set of '57 Topps football in amazing condition. Included with the set were several dupes, including three Unitas RCs along with a Hornung among others. The condition was amazing, and I was thrilled to even have the opportunity to personally handle and inspect the Unitas RCs. He sold the set and kept the Unitas RCs and extras to sell individually.


Couple of weeks later I stopped in and just inquired out of curiosity if any of the Unitas RCs had sold and he told me yes, a couple passing through town had bought one of them.


Fast forward to Christmas morning, and everyone seemed especially excited for me to open my last present. I was simply shocked to find wrapped in a large box the Unitas RC shown below. The "couple passing through town" was actually my wife and daughter, and I never in my wildest dreams could have guessed they would have done this. So, without further adieu and apologies for the long read,
"Heeeeeeere's Johnny".

[lzjp]

Awesome!! Congrats

[lzjp]

Awesome!! Congrats!

[Lexis]

Great pickup there! Luck you!

[dadandsoncards]

Just read this, congrats great pickup. Great story, and one white whale down.

[theGUNSLINGER]

congrats very cool

[kurri17]

Thanks for the responses guys. I still look at it every day haha.

[Jeremy_Falcons]

What a nice story. It looks like it's in really good condition. Have you considered getting it graded?

[kurri17]

Thanks. It is in outstanding shape. You just never know on grading, but I feel its at least a 7 if not higher. I am thinking I will keep this one raw, as it was a gift. And honestly, I really hate to have it out of my hands to send off for grading. The shop she bought it at actually has one more of the three left. If it hangs around long enough, I might actually buy that one myself and send it off for grading. It is very nice, just not quite as nice as this one.