Forget the SMR! Post your Knowledge and or write ups on Vintage here.
perkdog
Posts: 30,641 ✭✭✭✭✭
Not sure if you guys are interested in this or not but in regards to the '48 Leaf thread I figured I would try this.
Although I dont collect the '48 Leaf set I would love to read any "write ups" by you serious collectors right here. This goes for any of you guys who have information regarding any of the vintage sets that dont get much exposure in the SMR or in general. This is NOT a knock on the SMR as I enjoy it very much but like others have said it could focus a little more in detail about the sets we love to collect.
My passion as most of you know is the 1952 Bowman Large set. There is a limited amount of info on this set as far as Im concerned but what I do have I will post within the next few days as I dont have my copied information handy.
Other than the 52 set and 48 leaf what about the 35 National Chicle? or the '49 Leaf set?
I dont know how much interest this will generate but Im giving it a try.
EDIT: Baseball guys chime in too if you like!
Although I dont collect the '48 Leaf set I would love to read any "write ups" by you serious collectors right here. This goes for any of you guys who have information regarding any of the vintage sets that dont get much exposure in the SMR or in general. This is NOT a knock on the SMR as I enjoy it very much but like others have said it could focus a little more in detail about the sets we love to collect.
My passion as most of you know is the 1952 Bowman Large set. There is a limited amount of info on this set as far as Im concerned but what I do have I will post within the next few days as I dont have my copied information handy.
Other than the 52 set and 48 leaf what about the 35 National Chicle? or the '49 Leaf set?
I dont know how much interest this will generate but Im giving it a try.
EDIT: Baseball guys chime in too if you like!
0
Comments
Topps chose to test the waters of Mexico in 1977 by releasing an American football set manufactured and issued in Mexico with the text written in Spanish. While the exact details of the printing and distribution have been and remain somewhat a mystery, it is known that the production of this issue was quite miniscule in comparison to the regular issue 1977 Topps Football set issued in the States.
The 1977 Topps Mexican Football set resembles the standard issue in many ways, but it is the subtle (and very distinct) differences that make it unique, mysterious, extremely collectible, and almost a cult-like obsession for those that collect and are trying tediously to complete the set.
Featuring the exact same 528 cards as its American counterpart, the Mexican set was printed with Spanish team names and position abbreviations on the obverse of the card. The reverse was printed entirely in Spanish. Player's weights and measures are listed using the Metric Standard. The cards were cut much differently than standard issue cards. The Mexican cards were cut utilizing a perforated system (has ANYONE actually seen a full, intact sheet???) that left remnants of the perforations at each corner as well as three additional perfs across each the top and bottom of the card and two perfs on each side of the card. That's 14 perforations on each card. Some of the perfs are much more evident than others and vary from card to card. In fact, there are some cards that appear to be virtually void of the perforations.
Although no one has been able to confirm the existence of an uncut sheet, portions of sheets have been seen from time to time. Often referred to as "panels," two, three, four, and six card panels have been offered for sale over the past few years.
The packaging of the cards may be one of the zaniest oddities of the issue. The cards were packed in both two card and four card packs with 36 packs per box, and a very unusual number of 54 boxes in a 2 card per pack case. The two card packs included a piece of banana and/or grape flavored gum (some purple, some yellow) that was flat on one side and had a railroad tie appearance on the other. There also have been reports of some two card packs without gum. The packs that included gum, the gum almost always caused one of the cards to have either a gum stain (which vary greatly in degree) or other damage associated with the gum. This resulted because of the humidity and storage which caused the gum to dampen and subsequently flaw the card it was in contact with. The other card was usually gum stain free, but was subject to wax stains. The four card packs did not include the stick of gum and are highly coveted as they typically yield at least three stain-free cards. The packages were manufactured with 5 different and equally distributed wrappers. The wrappers featured O.J. Simpson, Bob Griese, Steve Bartowski, Mike Boryla, and Brian Sipe.
Collation of the cards within the boxes is nothing short of a nightmare. It is not uncommon to open a box and get numerous duplicates. I have heard of boxes yielding as few as 9 different players with as many as 17 of the same player in the box including packs with two of the same player. From a set builder's standpoint, that would be horrible, but if one of the duplicated cards was a Walter Payton or Steve Largent, I doubt that many would complain. Also, of the 72 cards from the packs, half will probably be damaged by the gum. And given the horrible quality control that appears to have been practiced during the production, many cards suffer from factory creases, roller marks, miscuts, ink stains and printing flaws, wrong or missing backs, and a myriad of other detrimental characteristics.
The most interesting, as well as the most frustrating aspect of this set is the scarcity of more than two dozen cards within the set. The scarcest of them, often referred to as the "Dirty Dozen," frequent almost every want list and command significant premiums when offered for sale, regardless of condition. Additionally, there are several other levels of scarcity within the guise of the shorts in this set. There is no definitive list that will identify the exact scarcities and their relationship to other cards in the set. Several dealers have set up websites and have listed several levels of short prints. Keep in mind that some of the short prints these folks list are predicated as much by their current inventory as they are by their actual scarcity. For the sake of sanity and to eliminate argument, we will avoid referring to any card in this set as an SP, short print, short print plus, or a super short print. However, the prices we quote, report, or use as trade value will be representative of the difficulty in locating them.
The "Dirty Dozen:"**
# 8 Rick Volk - Giants
# 21 Lawrence Gaines - Lions
# 89 John McDaniel - Bengals
# 98 Ray Rhodes - Giants
#231 Eddie Brown - Redskins
#269 Archie Griffin - Bengals
#276 Wilbur Jackson - 49ers
#404 Ray Jarvis - Lions
#434 Eric Torkelson - Packers
#444 Mike Pruitt - Browns
#488 Rich Sowells - Jets
#528 Super Bowl
**There are also some that suggest card numbers 3, 147, 295, 332, 374, 417, 453 and/or 474 are equally difficult to locate and are worthy of similar consideration as, or could be substituted for the above.
After additional research, it appears that there is a basis for understanding the scarcity of certain cards within the issue. Given the assumption that the cards were printed with the same sheet layout as the American version of the set, it appears that many of the so-called short prints actually are border cards in the printing process. This would lead one to rationalize, based upon the fact that printing plates deteriorate during use, that many of the outlying cards on these sheets were damaged or poorly printed and subsequently destroyed without making it into circulation. Reviewing the American sheets, one will find most of the "Dirty Dozen" are the outer edge cards.
Bear in mind that there are also some cards in the set, that while not exactly scarce, are extremely difficult to find without specific flaws (stains, ink errors, centering, etc). As a result, there are some "common" cards that command surprisingly high prices when found without flaws. Why? The answer is simple. A small segment of the collector base for this set are working on graded sets, typically PSA (Professional Sports Authenticators), and are trying to obtain the cards in the highest grade and/or upgrade their existing cards. While building a PSA Set Registry set, qualifiers (notations of specific flaws) tend to be frowned upon as most Registry Set builders would prefer their graded cards to be "qualifier-free."
In part because of the limited production of the issue and the virtual impossibility of locating the "Dirty Dozen," its not difficult to understand why there are less than 15 known complete sets that exist in the hobby. From time to time, some of the tougher cards show up, usually in G to VG condition. And recently, a few partial sets have changed hands, but all-in-all, there is nothing to suggest that there is much of this product that will suddenly surface.
Production numbers are unknown. Topps has no records that they can provide, claiming the records were lost when the Mexican plant was closed. A limited amount of the product was discovered nearly a decade after manufacture and shortly before scheduled disposal. This small find was brought to the States by a New Jersey collector. Estimates suggest the quantity may have been as few as 20 cases, all of which were opened prior to entering the US by customs agents, so there are no "sealed" cases. The collector/importer eventually sold off the inventory, and at this time, it is believed that only a very limited amount of unopened boxes exist and it is suspected that there are no longer any complete or original cases.
There are several pricing sources for this issue on the Internet, but none are very realistic, so after exhaustive research and compilation of private sales, auctions, and communique with other Topps Mexican traders, buyers, and sellers, I have compiled a representative price list of the entire 528 card set, commons, minor stars, 2 card and 4 card wax packs, and complete unopened 2 card wax boxes. Keep in mind, that while most common cards will typically sell at or around the common price, there are some that due to certain characteristics may have very high demand in strict NM-MT condition and subsequently command very significant premiums.
You could cut and paste that to the SMR for next months magazine. Thats the kind of insight you want in an article.
Well done my friend!
That was just an awesome article !!!!! Thanks for sharing. We need more of this stuff
Mr madison and a few guys on the registry do have great knowledge on the 48 leaf.
On the mexican set....I have a mexican psa 8 dave casper...one of my fav cards.
however....I don't think it has perforation....willhave to check.
1948-76 Topps FB Sets
FB & BB HOF Player sets
1948-1993 NY Yankee Team Sets
The Art Deco phenomenon, first developed from a characteristically French image of luxury and refinement in the 1920's, came to symbolize a type of simplified modernism by the 1930's. From Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural heritage to George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", the cultural influences from this time period would leave an identifiable "signature" on many parts of society. Still popular today, the Art Deco style, with its geometric formality and simplicity, has elevated what were formerly "cult" collectibles and nostalgia into highly prized and ferociously devoured memorabilia.
Among its various forays into the burgeoning bubble gum business in the 1930's, the National Chicle Gum Company of Cambridge, Massachusetts, attempted to capture the icons of sports and culture in its baseball card series (1934-1936 Diamond Stars), aviator series (1934 Skybirds) and most importantly, its Football Stars set of 1935.
With characteristic geometric design and refined simplicity, the National Chicle football series combined vibrant colors and simple shapes in a culturally influenced movement away from the ordinary and unremarkable designs of their chief competitors. Each card was prepared from a striking, 4.25" by 5.5" original oil painting, consistent with the works that reflected the landscape imagery and nouveau "refinements" of the Art Deco galleries of the time. There were 108 each of the Diamond Stars and Skybirds, but only 36 Football Stars -- even though the back of each card clearly indicated that 240 were planned.
Each card throughout the series is printed on an approximately 2 3/8" by 2 7/8" piece of relatively thick cardboard stock. The majority of the cards each contain an action picture on front accompanied with surrounding football scenery, as well as the player's name near the corner. The cards are unmistakably similar and there are no distinguishable variations on the front.
The reverse of each card can be divided into six parts or sections. The first includes a line of text with the name of the series (Football Stars) and a number (1-36). The second part includes a short biographical illustration of the player by legendary college and NFL football coach, Eddie Casey. Players were often used to provide an instructional example on proper football technique or execution. Underneath the write-up is Eddie Casey's name and qualifications, followed by statistical information about the athlete. Below this, appears the statement that this was "One of 240 football players with playing tips". At the very bottom is the copyright information.
With regard to the text on the first 24 cards, there are variations in the location of Eddie Casey's facsimile signature. His name is either centered, with his qualifications to the right (Type I), or his name is slightly smaller and positioned to the right, above the qualifications (Type II). In addition, I have seen #21 Cliff Montgomery with the latter variation (Type II), only with the qualifications (Coach Boston Redskins, Former Coach Harvard) missing. Since the second series (#'s 25-36) is of only Type I variety (name centered), there are between 60 and 84 different possible front/back combinations in the set.
The set itself contains 35 NFL players and one college member -- Legendary Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne (#9). The teams represented in the set are the Boston Redskins, Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Bears, Chicago Cardinals, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates. It is likely, based upon available evidence, that the comparative scarcity of the second series is reflected by is sale in only the cities where the featured teams played. By comparison, the first series received considerable national distribution, including much in the western part of the United States.
Of the three-dozen gridiron pioneers pictured in the set, six would later be enshrined in Canton, Ohio. They are #1 Dutch Clark (pictured above right), #7 Ken Strong, #10 Cliff Battles, #11 Turk Edwards, #24 Clark Hinkle and #34 Bronko Nagurski (pictured above left). By virtue of its inclusion in the high number series and the player's elevated status in the game, card #34 Nagurski has become the most valuable football card in existence. In mint condition, the October 1998 Sportscard Market Report suggested a value of $20,000 for this card. Now, a mint condition copy is listed for $66,500 (Feb. 2000, SMR). Among the other noted scarcities, particularly in high-grade are #4 Ed Matesic, #27 Bull Tosi, #29 Jim MacMurdo.
Other noteworthy players include #22 Shipwreck Kelly (pictured at right), #23 Beattie Feathers and #36 Bernie Masterson. Kelly, a Brooklyn Dodger, was a spectacular open field runner and the last to perform without a helmet. Beattie Feathers, a former Tennessee Volunteer, was not only one of the first Native Americans in the NFL, but also was the first back to rush for 1,000 yards. Finally, Bernie Masterson was a pretty fair quarterback for the World Champion Chicago Bears; however, the high value of his card is based primarily upon its inclusion as the last card in the 1935 set, and its related scarcity.
Over time, a variety of factors have contributed to the scarcity of the 1935 National Chicle football series: staining, toning, poor printing, erratic cutting and mishandling. In fact one long-time collector recalls that the cards were once used as admission tickets to local cinemas and movie theatres in the 1930's. In reality, though, these cards represent more than just cardboard-based pictures of forgotten football icons -- they represent the genre of the 1930s and embody the popular and classic Art Deco style.
FINISHED 12/8/2008!!!
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A brief history of the early 1950s sports card era.
1952 was a magical and landmark year for gum cards after World War II. The Topps Gum Company produced one of its most attractive and valuable baseball card sets and Bowman countered with what is currently the most valuable football card set of its era. This year was also historically significant because of the debut of larger sized cards, which could now be found neatly sealed in wax wrappers available on store counters and candy shelves across the country. The size difference in the cardboard singles also rapidly spelled the beginning of the end for the Bowman Gum Company as it began its foray into one of the hobby's most popular football series!
A year earlier in 1951, the Bowman Gum Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania had circulated cards that were 2 1/16 by 3 1/8 inches in size. This was a 25% increase over the 2 1/16 by 2 ½ inch issues that were available from 1948 to 1950. By comparison, Topps saw a three-fold increase in size from 1948 (7/8 by 1 ½ inches) to 1951 (2 by 2 5/8 inches). The 1951 Team Cards, Connie Mack All Stars and Current All Stars, which each received limited distribution and were a gigantic 2 1/16 by 5 ¼ inches, all sold remarkably well. Buoyed with the certainty that Bowman would likely repeat the size of its 1951 offerings the following season, Topps concluded that an increase in size was needed to thrill collectors and dominate the bubble gum trading card market.
Therefore, in the spring of 1952, as the United States began to embrace what would become the most significant era of gum card production; Topps Chewing Gum of Brooklyn, New York and later Duryea, Pennsylvania offered collectors a remarkable choice in chicle. Equipped with the sound marketing principle that for the same price everybody would logically choose a big piece of gum and an enlarged card rather than a small piece of gum and a shrunken card, Topps' machinery churned out a new size of 2 7/8 by 3 ¾ inches. These new Topps dimensions, in addition to its enhanced 407-card set, did not bode well for the competition. By October, Topps had gained the lion's share of the market and Bowman was beginning to fade.
Towards the end of the baseball season, Bowman toyed with the idea of increasing the size of its baseball cards, but only managed a few 2 ½ by 3 ¾ inch prototypes (larger versions of the regular 1952 Bowman series). Bowman went back to the gridiron drawing board and made two assumptions that would prove to be financially fatal. First, Bowman assumed that Topps would release a competing football issue, following its collegiate issues of 1950 and 1951. Second, Bowman assumed that if it made bigger, better, and more diversified football cards in 1952, it could lure the bubble gum card collecting public back to its product line.
That year, Bowman was the only gridiron game in town. Topps correctly reasoned that the football card market was very small, especially given the comparative popularity of the college game. Even with some of the greatest cards in the world, producing a football issue in 1952 would prove to be anything but a huge financial success. No less important was the fact that the American public had long since adopted baseball as the National Pastime, making football a secondary sport. It should not have been surprising then that he sale of football cards would be only a tiny fraction of the entire bubble gum card market. Instead of understanding this, Bowman retooled and decided to make two football issues, each consisting of 144 different subjects. The first was the standard 2 1/16 by 3 1/8 inches and the second was 2 ½ by 3 ¾ inches. Both issues were distributed in two 72-card series with the second series being slightly more difficult to find based on later chronological distribution.
According to the Beckett Sports Collectibles Vintage magazine, the larger set (termed 1952 Bowman Large) is valued at $12,500.00 in Near Mint and the smaller set (termed 1952 Bowman Small) is valued at $5,000.00. However, if you assemble the sets card by card and pay the Near Mint high column Beckett, you will have to fork out more than $19,835.00 and $7,565.00 respectively. Both of these issues have exceptional "breakup" value with respect to the price of the complete sets; but the trick is finding these series in their totality since each set is extremely challenging to assemble.
The constitution of the 1952 Bowman Large and Small Series
Both the 1952 Bowman Large and Small sets were available beginning early in the fall of 1952 and the subjects depicted were identical except with respect to size. Bowman had previously offered only NFL players (in 1948, 1950 and 1951), but to counter the competition's college cards (Topps in 1950 & 1951), it invented draft pick cards. Bowman titled the series "College to Pro Football Picture Cards," and among the 144 different subjects, it included 49 players in college uniforms. On the reverse side, the NFL team for each of these college football players was indicated.
Including the draft picks, the 1952 issue featured all 12 NFL teams at the time (Chicago Bears, Chicago Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Texans, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins) and the number of cards per team ranged from 10 to 13. Surprisingly, the World Champion Detroit Lions only had 10 players while the worst team in the League (Dallas Texans) had 13 (tied with 4 other teams). Coincidentally, the 50th anniversary of this set coincides with the introduction of the expansion Dallas Texans in the NFL.
Bowman also introduced many new players in 1952, notwithstanding the draft picks. One might think that all of the 49 college players are rookies, but only 42 hold that distinction since 6 were covered in the 1951 Topps Magic Set (Bill Reichardt, Babe Parilli, John Karras, Jerrell Price, Ray Beck, and Bert Rechichar) and one was featured in the 1950 Topps Magic Set (Ed Modzelewski). Still, there were an amazing 76 Rookie cards, including the cameo appearance of a thirteen Hall of Famers -- Steve Owen, Paul Brown, Frank Gifford, Gino Marchetti, Hugh McElhenny, Art Donovan, George Halas, Wayne Millner, Andy Robustelli, Joe Stydahar, Ollie Matson, Jack Christiansen and Yale Lary. Five of the Hall of Fame Rookie cards belong to NFL coaches, whom were represented in a football card set for the first time. While Owen, Brown, Halas and Millner are rightfully enshrined in Canton for coaching, Joe Stydahar (Ram's Coach) was elected for his outstanding play as one of the mightiest Monsters of the Midway. In the entire set there are 34 Hall of Famers, the most of any period football set ever made.
1952 Bowman Large examined
If you are able to find all 34 Hall of Famers in the 1952 Bowman Large Series as well as the remaining 110 singles, you have accomplished quite a remarkable feat. This is because 32 cards are, in varying degrees, more difficult to find that the rest. The short print phenomenon occurred because Bowman had difficulty cutting a nonstandard sheet of cards. For two years, the Bowman cutting presses had cut the standard 2 1/16 by 3 1/8 inch baseball and football cards and was poorly tooled for anything that was unusually variant. It has been discovered that this set was printed on 4 sheets with each sheet comprising 4 rows of nine cards. The sheets were numbered consecutively from left to right and then from top to bottom.
Despite a different sized sheet - almost four full inches larger than that for the 1952 Bowman baseball cards -- a similar cutting format was used. Once the larger sheets were received from the printing presses, Bowman was forced to cut off the excess material in order to accommodate the cutting machinery. This was accomplished by alternately destroying the left or right side of the sheet. The miscut cards were thrown away and cards instantly became systematically scarce. Numerically, these Short Prints are cards beginning with 1, those that are divisible by nine, and those numbered one higher than those divisible by nine.
It has also become clear that more of the cards on the right side of the sheet (divisible by 9) were damaged and discarded than those on the left (#1 and those divisible by nine plus one). This procedure accounted for all of the short prints except for 8 of the cards (the far right column bottom cards: 27, 36, 63, 72, 99, 108, 135, and 144) that are by far the most difficult to find. It is currently unknown why these eight cards are less available than the rest. Unless one of the original workers is still around or historical documentation is discovered, an accurate reason for this disparity might never be known.
1952 Bowman Small examined
Although less valuable than their over-sized counterparts, this set can be more difficult to complete due to the difficulty in locating the second series. It has long been my observation that the second series of 1952 Small is the least available of all regular issue Bowman football cards. It has been theorized that once the first series of Large sold well, Bowman cut production of the second series of the Small and focused primarily on the second series of the Large. Additionally, because of lower distribution, the second series of 1952 Bowman Small is very tough to find in Near Mint to Mint condition. Adding up all of the graded populations, there are less than six of each of these singles in NM-MT or better condition. In comparison, there are an average of ten high-grade examples of the each card from the Small first series and more than 10 each of the entire 1952 Large set. Even more telling is the fact that there are less than ten different specimens graded Mint (9 out of 10) in the entire second series of the Small.
Comparing the Series
These two exceptional sets were the best that Bowman ever produced and despite their great appeal and value today, they were just not popular enough to ensure the viability of their manufacturer. The next three issues of cards paled in quality and by January of 1956, Bowman was purchased by Topps. That same fall, Topps issued its first NFL set. In the last half century, no other set has been able to capture the wonderful artwork and include the great number of Hall of Famers and important Rookies cards. If football cards were as popular as baseball cards, it is very likely that the 1952 Bowman Large would be more valuable than the 1952 Topps baseball card set.
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FINISHED 12/8/2008!!!
FINISHED 12/8/2008!!!
I got started on this set without any knowledge and after 50% of the set,
I still don't have any.Let's hear some stories!
Needs'
1972 Football-9's high#'s
1965 Football-8's
1958 Topps FB-7-8
The cards were issued in penny packs. I think there were 2 cards per pack and one stick of gum -- can anyone confirm this? There was a mail in offer on the wrappers -- 20 wrappers earned you a photograph. The set of photographs is the R311-2 Chicle Premium set. The set includes 17 6" x 8" photos, including Eddie Casey, Red Grange, others, and many team pictures. Also, I have heard that the penny packs weren't sealed -- they were simply folded tightly. Can anyone confirm this?
Regarding the back variations, BMW's write up is not quite right. There are a total of 4 primary back varieties. I have heard of a 5th back variety, but never seen one. A description of the 4 back varieties is shown below. This list was compiled with the help of several collectors.
1. Eddie Casey's signature is near the center of the card back (his credentials are shown to the right)
2. Eddie Casey's signature is near the right edge on the card back (his credentials are shown below his signature)
3. Eddie Casey's signature is near the right edge on the back, but his credentials are missing
4. Eddie Casey's signature is near the right edge of the back, credentials present, but no copyright line near the bottom of the card back.
Some backs are available on some cards and not on others. I do not know the relative scarcity of the various backs, but they seem to be equally prevalent. Here is some additional information on the different backs:
-- All of the cards in the high number series (#25-36) are only available with back #1.
-- All of cards in the lower number series (#1-24) can be found with 2 different backs.
-- All cards except for #13 (Homer Griffiths) and #21 (Cliff Montgomery) can be found with back #1.
-- Cards #1-14, 17, 18, 21, and 22 can be found with back #2.
-- Cards #13 and 21 are the only ones that can be found with back #3.
-- Cards #15, 16, 19, 20, 23, 24 are the only ones that are available with back #4.
The amount of text on the back of each card varies. Homer Griffiths and Cliff Montgomery may have the most text, making it difficult to squeeze in Eddie Casey's signature and credentials. This could be why neither of these cards comes with back variation #1, since it takes up the most room on the card that way.
Doug
Edited to add #23, 24 both can have back #4.
My 1966 Funny Ring Set
by Art Miller
I have alot of funny rings. I bought them along time ago and used to punch them out and ware them on my fingers. They have silly faces on them that make me laff. They gave me a bad paper cut one time so my mom made m,e stop wearing them. I also used to watch a lot of TV in 1966. Remimber the silly horse Mr. Ed ... that could really talked? I always wonderd how they taught him to talk like that. I wish I wood have had a pet horse back in 1966. Did you ever notice that a 6 turned upside down looks like a 9? Once I had a 1966 card turned upside down by mistak and i thought i really had a card from the year 9961! Wow, that wood be cool ... huh? HA HA hA !
Funny rings also have many pretty colours, like blue and red and yellow and green and black and orange. my favoright colour is probibly yellow, cauz it reminds me of a sunny day. I like sunny days. I also like Sunny-D! You no, the drink Sunny delite. Have you ever had a big glass of sunny-D on a sunny day? Ha HA ha! ONly problem with Sunny-D is that it leaves stains on my shirt when i spill it. I spill stuff a lot. :-(
Ok, gotta go now .... nuff said. Buy lots of funny rings! - art
The set consists of 33 cards,all black and white images on a colored background. It would seem simple enough, but each card is printed with 4 different background colors- blue, green, yellow and red. Anecdotal evidence would indicate that red is a bit tougher.
In addition, 5 of the cards- #'s 21-25- were short printed and are pretty tough. I'm not sure a couple of others weren't short printed either, although that goes against current belief.
The cards themselves are often found badly miscut, cut short, or just horribly off center. Rough cuts aren't uncommon either. At least you don't have to worry about the back centering, as those a blank.
There are only 2 HOFers in the set, Hubbell and Ott. The rest of the players were lesser known to obscure.
Thru some lobbying by a few of us, PSA will now grade them with the color designated, helping to get some sort of handle on color scarcity. At this point SGC has yet to do the same.
PSA will also grade examples as "authentic" due to the short cuts. Since it's really tough ever even seeing some of these, let alone in gradeable condition, this makes putting together a holdered set much easier. A card in PSA 5 is considered pretty decent- an unqualified 7 or higher would be in pretty high demand. Size doesn't mean much, as they tend to be legitimately all over the place
One of the more interesting cards is that of pitcher Hugh Mulcahy:
The first card in the set, Hugh Mulcahy of the Phillies, has the notation "1st Major Leaguer drafted into the US Army".He received his draft notice in March of 1941, and served thru the end of the war in the Pacific. Mulcahy twice lost 20 games in a season and was tagged with the nickname "Losing Pitcher".
Also in the set is #25, Moe Arnovich. Besides being one of the tough short prints, Arnovich's card is in demand from those collecting Jewish players.
Wrappers occasionally come up and go in the $200-300 range. I've yet to see a pack, box, or uncut sheet or panel.
As of this writing there are only 2 master sets on the registry, and neither of us are complete.
Goudey definitely got their butts handed to them on this one- it is their worst issue by any measure, and competed directly against PlayBall's iconic '41 set. Even the '41 Doubleplay set would have a better player selection, so it's not surprising this set did not have a lot of examples survive. But if you're looking for a bit of a challenge or just trying to finish off a run of Goudey issues this set should definitely be on your list.
Always looking for Topps Salesman Samples, pre '51 unopened packs, E90-2, E91a, N690 Kalamazoo Bats, and T204 Square Frame Ramly's
I apoligize for not contributing as Dave posted the articles from BMW that I had saved and unfortunately that is all the stuff I have on my 52 Football.
Here are a few pics that I have saved in my photobucket account-
1933 Goudey Sport Kings Wrapper
1952 Bowman Large Box- you dont see these too often!
Always looking for Topps Salesman Samples, pre '51 unopened packs, E90-2, E91a, N690 Kalamazoo Bats, and T204 Square Frame Ramly's
I've got a raw set I'm going to list again on ebay, it got lots of questions at $1350. but no takers, but that gives you a rough idea.
Short prints go for more, red backgrounds go for more, the first card has a bit of a premium, so it's tough to have one set price on anything.
Always looking for Topps Salesman Samples, pre '51 unopened packs, E90-2, E91a, N690 Kalamazoo Bats, and T204 Square Frame Ramly's
I would ramble on about 1971 Greatest Moments, but Shane could do it better. where are you 1954? You must have a word document saved about this set's roadblocks. we voted it #1 on the smr's most off-base set
Beautiful display of cards and a nice insight on the set.
However,
I do believe that the wrapper you show is for the 1935 4 in 1 set.
Fuzz
I'll post the '33-'36 wrappers tonite
I'm 99.999% sure this is '41 based on various books, articles and auction catalogs but if there is different info I'm all ears
Always looking for Topps Salesman Samples, pre '51 unopened packs, E90-2, E91a, N690 Kalamazoo Bats, and T204 Square Frame Ramly's
'33
'34
'35 (4 in 1 set)
'36
'38 (not mine, but from www.swingbattaswing.com)
'41
there are multiple variations for '33 and 1 for '38.
Always looking for Topps Salesman Samples, pre '51 unopened packs, E90-2, E91a, N690 Kalamazoo Bats, and T204 Square Frame Ramly's