When Topps returned to basketball for 1969-70, they made a statement: Wilt Chamberlain at card #1 of the oversized “tall boy” set collectors prize.

It is his first Topps card after nearly a decade in the game — the bridge from the Fleer rookie to the modern hobby.

Card #1: the top of every stack, and the hardest to find sharp.

Being the set’s first card is both blessing and burden — the most handled, most chipped, and therefore most difficult to find well-centered and clean.