1955 Bowman #10 Phil Rizzuto PSA 10 GEM MINT graded

mikeschmidt

From the toughest 1950s mainstream set to exist (in PSA 9 or better condition...), recently a Phil Rizzuto example from this set pulled the coveted PSA 10 GEM MINT card - lauding it as only the 7th non-David Hall provenance PSA 10 GEM MINT example from this set to be graded. The Rizzuto card is frankly the second easiest card from the set to find in MINT or better condition (behind Al Kaline) - but a GEM MINT grade is always an exceedingly rare draw. The history of non-Hall PSA 10's is, I believe, as follows:

Two #202 Mickey Mantle cards
(one Mantle currently resides in Marshall's collection, and Candiotti's Mantle was just sold by ScP - not sure if Marshall's Mantle was David's....)

Jim Honochick #267 Umpire graded in 1988 - sold on Ebay for $500
Dave Pope #198 graded in May 2003
Tom Umphlett #45 graded in Summer 2003
Alex Kellner #53 graded in Summer 2003
Phil Rizzuto #10 graded in May 2004

The Pope, Umphlett, and Kellner cards never surfaced on the public markets. Marshall *may* have one or more of them - but this has not been confirmed or even asked. The Honochick card has not re-surfaced after 1998. It is unclear whether or not the Rizzuto will make it to the public circuit.

Thought I would post this here - as I find this set fascinating. Less than 1.7% of submitted examples ever have received a PSA 9 MINT grade - and there are numerous commons that still have PSA 8 populations of five or less.

CON40

Marc;

Wow! This set is underrated. I once submiited several 55s and received one 9 in my submission. It was #210 Earl Torgeson. It was a Pop of 1 at the time. I put it on eBay with a BIN of $250 and it was snapped up withing 3 hours. By any chance, were you the buyer? I remember shipping it to Philly. If so, was my BIN too low? I always wondered since it went so fast!

I like this set for its period quirkiness, but since it is so tough in high grade, I doubt that I would ever attempt it! I have a lot of respect for anyone who can build it in MN-MT!

Vargha

It was a Pop of 1 at the time. I put it on eBay with a BIN of $250 and it was snapped up withing 3 hours . . . If so, was my BIN too low?

Any card BIN'ed in three hours was "too low" by definition.

CON40

Vargha;

That's what I was afraid of! I should've let Adam Smith's capitalist rules of supply and demand govern that auction! But, alas, that's why I am a designer and not a business mogul!

highend

tough set, it took me nearly 10 years (pre-ebay) to build the 55 bowman set, as a teenager i was drawn to the set, i loved the design and the umpire cards. i still have the set and recently started to upgrade some of the stars and the yankees i'm not grading the whole set but recently picked up a nice mantle, slaughter, reynolds and mc dougald in psa 7. my rizzuto is very sharp but it is slightly out of focus, i was wondering if that is common with that card.

mikeschmidt

<< <i>tough set, it took me nearly 10 years (pre-ebay) to build the 55 bowman set, as a teenager i was drawn to the set, i loved the design and the umpire cards. i still have the set and recently started to upgrade some of the stars and the yankees i'm not grading the whole set but recently picked up a nice mantle, slaughter, reynolds and mc dougald in psa 7. my rizzuto is very sharp but it is slightly out of focus, i was wondering if that is common with that card. >>



Highend:
The 1955 Bowman set, in general, is plagued by fuzziness. Should I ever find the time/energy - I will try and do super-size scans of the "Color TV" logo on the bottom of the 1955 Bowman cards - more than anything else, those are the first and easiest indicators of a sharp or a slightly misaligned cards. Some are just downright fuzzy - but it is very rare to find a very sharp example from this set.

Cheers-
MS

mikeschmidt

<< <i>Marc;

Wow! This set is underrated. I once submiited several 55s and received one 9 in my submission. It was #210 Earl Torgeson. It was a Pop of 1 at the time. I put it on eBay with a BIN of $250 and it was snapped up withing 3 hours. By any chance, were you the buyer? I remember shipping it to Philly. If so, was my BIN too low? I always wondered since it went so fast!

I like this set for its period quirkiness, but since it is so tough in high grade, I doubt that I would ever attempt it! I have a lot of respect for anyone who can build it in MN-MT! >>



Con40:

I was the purchaser of that card. The BIN was definitely not too low - at the time, there were perhaps two or three people who *might* spend that much on a 1955 Bowman PSA 9 card - but, even as of this date - I only know one person who is aggressively purchasing such 9s (despite their rarity). Although I know quite a few people that will spend on Yankees, Dodgers or other star 9s from the set (one of the Rizzuto PSA 9s, with their high population, just sold for $1,080...) - the commons are an entirely different ballgame.

The 1955 Bowman set is, I believe, the only 1950s mainstream set that still has no verified or complete sets that are all NM-MT or better (I realize that there is one hidden set on the Registry - but my communications with that person indicate that they still have a handful of PSA 8 cards to obtain before finishing....)

mikeschmidt

<< <i>It was a Pop of 1 at the time. I put it on eBay with a BIN of $250 and it was snapped up withing 3 hours . . . If so, was my BIN too low?

Any card BIN'ed in three hours was "too low" by definition. >>



Not necessarily, Vargha. I often overpay for Schmidt PSA 10s put out by 4_Sharp_Corners and others (knowingly...) to avoid the hassle of tracking, expedite shipping, and just not have to deal with things. Sometimes they list too high and I wait - but I often will hit bins well over opening bids and projected final bids as a matter of convenience and overall risk mitigation.

Also - sometimes certain set collectors have "bidding alliances" set up so as they take turns on certain cards they want. I certainly have heard some stories of people hitting BINs solely to hope that the other party never realized a card was listed in the first place....

CON40

I was the purchaser of that card. The BIN was definitely not too low - at the time, there were perhaps two or three people who *might* spend that much on a 1955 Bowman PSA 9 card - but, even as of this date - I only know one person who is aggressively purchasing such 9s (despite their rarity).

Marc;
I've been scratching my head on that one since I sold it! I thought your name was familiar from those auctions a couple years ago. Thanks for putting 2 and 2 together for me and for allaying my fears that I gave it away! I'm glad earl found a well-deserving home!

mikeschmidt

<< <i>Marc;
I've been scratching my head on that one since I sold it! I thought your name was familiar from those auctions a couple years ago. Thanks for putting 2 and 2 together for me and for allaying my fears that I gave it away! I'm glad earl found a well-deserving home! >>



Con40:

Combine the timing with a devout Phillies fan - and someone who was probably working at Deloitte with a T1 line and too much boring consulting work to not check ebay every few hours ;-)

Virtualizard

<< <i>...The 1955 Bowman set is, I believe, the only 1950s mainstream set that still has no verified or complete sets that are all NM-MT or better (I realize that there is one hidden set on the Registry - but my communications with that person indicate that they still have a handful of PSA 8 cards to obtain before finishing....) >>




Marc,

Which set is yours on the registry? Just curious.

JEB.