1950 Bowman Football help...

cyots82

I have a few questions for anyone who has some input on 1950 Bowman Football. Recently my appetite for this set has been wet. I just picked up my first card of this issue, card number 103, Charley Conerly. I picked up a very sweet looking 5 that is in an old flip and should grade out at least a half grade to grade higher. I picked the card up because I was originally going to collect all of Conerly’s cards, but have now been thinking of doing the whole 50 Bowman set instead. When I first started looking at all of Conerly’s cards, the 50 Bowman just jumped out at me. I love to classic artwork look of them! They seem like the football version of the T206 baseball set with their classic images of players from a golden era of the sport. As I looked more into the set, I found out how loaded with HOF’s and RC’s and RC’s of HOFers that are in this set. I mean Otto Graham, Y.A. Tittle, Marion Motley, etc. These are legends of the game and this set has their RC and there are more icons I didn’t mention. Also, this is a smaller, more manageable set at 144 cards. So, I figured I’d turn to the message boards for some good answers. First question I have about the set is the availability of these cards slabbed. Are there enough out there slabbed in the mid grades to make completing this set possible? I’d be looking to complete this set in the 5 to 6 grade range, no higher or lower for me, at least not starting out. Also, what is the average price for a common card in that grade range? Are we talking $15-$25 or $20-$40? Also, since I’m not shooting for these cards in the 7 or 8 grade range, I want to pay more attention to centering and print focus. I’m not going to get hung up on snowy white boarders and sharp corners. I like the fact that vintage issues look more real with some soft corners and fading of the boarders. However, I do prefer the image to look clear and be as centered as possible, making the boards look like classic framework for the great artwork in between them. I’ve always had a hard time appreciating the vintage issues that are way out of focus and off center, to me that detracts more from the cards eye appeal than sharp corners! So is it possible to find good examples in the lower grades? Are they always poorly centered and out of focus? So those are some of my questions at the moment. One last one I would have is that if there is anyone who’d be willing to sell me a starter set or lot of cards in the grades I’m looking for, please let me know. If anyone has extras or upgrade leftovers that they are looking to get rid of, in bulk or singles, I’d be very interested in seeing what you have that I could pick up also. Any help with this issue I’d be very appreciative of! I’ve attached a scan of the Conerly I just picked up so you all can get a feeling for the condition I prefer. I know they all won’t look like this, there will always be cards that you have to compromise on, but in general I think this card is a good rule of thumb on centering and focus. Love to hear what you all have to say. I think this set is going to be a fun journey I can’t wait to kick off, no pun intended!

cyots82

Ahmanfan

nice Conerly!

cyots82

Thanks, I'm very happy with this one. I've never had one card make me want to collect a whole set, but this one did it!

BigDaddyBowman

The 50 Bowman set is a great set to build..especially in the 5-6 range. You will be able to pick up many of the Hofers in this grade for 25-50 buck range....and commons for 10-15.

cyots82

Thanks for the info Big Daddy! Any tips for this set or good people/places to go to for cards?

BigDaddyBowman

<< <i>Thanks for the info Big Daddy! Any tips for this set or good people/places to go to for cards? >>




I would go after at least 6's because the price difference between 5 and 6 is minimal in many cases...at least the stars and HOFers in 6 and maybe commons in 5. The bigger price jump is from 7 and up. I would start on this board and post on the buy sell trade that you are looking...you may get some interest...then look ebay. With the current economy, there are some real bargains out there on ebay.

elsnorto

I have been chasing this same set in the same grades for around 2 1/2 years and just hit the 75% mark this week.

I too have put an emphasis on centering (nothing worse than 60/40) and haven't been very aggressive in looking outside of eBay or in my bidding (I stick to around VCP), so I am happy to be as far along on it as I am.

So, yeah, it's doable to pick the entire set up already graded... but will take some patience. These don't show up on eBay every day and, when they do, they tend to come in few and far between bunches.

Commons typically sell anywhere between $5.00 - $15.00 in PSA 5 and $10.00 - $20.00 in PSA 6.

As far as the big names I paid $115 for Tittle (PSA 5), $85 for Perry (PSA 5), $155 for Motley (PSA 6), and $265 for Graham (PSA 6). Lavelli, Canadeo, and Groza will run around $60 for PSA 5. Other stars typically go around $25 - $40, depending how popular they are, in PSA 5.

Total damage for me so far has been just shy of $2K with just commons and semi-stars left... ain't that the way it always works out?

By the way, if you love this set, check out the 1950 Bowman set group build thread hosted by our resident Bowman football guru, BDB.

Enjoy!

Snorto~

gosteelers

Shameless plug, but the link below contains which '50 Bowmans I have left.

Thanks for looking,
Mark

1950 Bowman FB

cyots82

Thanks everyone for your answers.

clydecoolidge

Wow, that's a beautiful PSA 5 for sure. I might have a bunch of '50 Bowman football mid-grade commons at home. I'll check tonight and let you know.

cyots82

Thank you! Lovin the avatar, Dude!

cyots82

I just wanted to take a second and thank everyone for their responses and helping pick up a few cards to get me on my way!

cyots82

I had another quick question? In regards to subbing these cards, what is the most common issue that you come across? Is there a lot of trimming with these cards or some other issue that always comes up?

PowderedH2O

How is this working out for you? Any additions to the set?

cyots82

I just wanted to reach back out to the board for another question I had on this set. I was wondering if anyone had a listing off all the rookie cards in this set. I read that the set contains 31 RC's, but I can't find a listing of all of them. I've been able to identify all the HOFers and HOF RC's but many of the non HOFer RCs seem to be tough to identify. I tried to do a Google search with little success. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. As far as my progress... its been slow. I'm up to 10 cards, mostly PSA 6, two of them are 5's. I just registered the set over the past weekend. I wanted to have more cards before I listed my set, but I'll enjoy watching each little change in my progress tracker. I'm hoping to find more cards as football season starts up soon. I'm thinking about trying to pick up some raw cards and sub them myself. Any opions on this? Is the risk versus reward worth while with this issues raw cards? I'm open to all info I can get on this set!

SDSportsFan

Here are 27 rookie cards in the set:

5 - YA Tittle
6 - Lou Groza
7 - Alex Agase
8 - Mac Speedie
9 - Tony Canadeo
15 - Tank Younger
16 - Glenn Davis
35 - Joe Perry
36 - Frankie Albert
39 - Bob Hoernschemeyer
40 - Dick Barwegan
41 - Adrian Burk
43 - Marion Motley
45 - Otto Graham
51 - Tom Fears
52 - Elroy Hirsch
73 - Don Doll
78 - Dante Lavelli
81 - Tobin Rote
111 - Cloyce Box
114 - Chet Mutryn
116 - Lou Rymkus
117 - Dub Jones
121 - George Ratterman
123 - Buddy Young
128 - Jim Finks
144 - Knox Ramsey

Steve

cyots82

Thanks! So does the set only contain 27 rookies or is 27 all you have been able to identify?

SDSportsFan

26 of the cards I listed are identified as rookie cards in the 2006 Standard Catalog of Football Cards. Beckett's Graded Card Investor magazine identifies #39 Hoernschemeyer as a RC also, even though the 2006 Standard Catalog does not. I looked at the checklists for 1948/49 Leaf and 1948 Bowman, and Hoernschemeyer is not listed in them.

Theoretically, there could be other rookie cards in the set that aren't identified in the 2006 Standard Catalog, but I don't know about them.

Steve

cyots82

Thanks, I also identified the rest to get to 31. Your list didn't have number 90, 102, 106 and 124. Add those and you get the 31 rc's mentioned in the set description. Thanks for all your help with this, I really do appreciate it!