[Tooper10]

I recently won some lots of vintage football cards in an online auction. When I received the cards, I noticed that many of them have what appears to have holes punched in them and I have no idea why. I've tried searching for reasons, but haven't come up with anything concrete. Does anyone have any insights? They seem to only be in the 1956 and 1957 topps cards and not all of them have holes (if that helps at all). I also attached an example so you can see what I am talking about. Thanks all!

Dave

[chads-cards]

They are 1956 and 1958.

And the hole punches are just damage, bringing the value down to nearly nothing. The only cards that are worth anything with that kind of damage would be the big key rookies. Jim Brown, John Unitas, Starr, etc.

Hope that helps you.

[rjcj2017]

And it's most likely kids just pinning them up on their wall back in the day or whatever.

[Tooper10]

I thought about the pinning thing, but they aren't consistent in location and wouldn't be where you would want to pin them up. Not all the holes are the same either, they are either circular or somewhat diamond shaped. I had read something about dealers having cards with punch hole, but I have no idea why that would be. It's a shame it makes the cards completely valueless though.

[y2hood]

Everyone let's please remove our hats, rise up, and have a moment of silence for these poor beautiful cards and the lack of care they previously received.

Stuff angers me.

[GnC_Fricker]

The holes look too clean to be pin holes. The shape of the hole on the second card definitely suggests a hole punch of some kind. Many of us here are military and have dealt with our equipment exchange process before. The damaged items you turn in have a hole punched in them before the re-sell the item as surplus. This keeps people from buying surplus and trying to turn it in again. I wonder if these holes have a similar story? They look pretty deliberate