Ron Oser Enterprises offered these three 1961 Topps World Series baseball card original full-color artworks (card #’s 309, 310, and 311) in a lot together back in the spring of 2000.
All are from the “1960 World Series” specials. The full color artworks measure approximately 4″ x 5″ and each is accompanied by an original 1961 Topps example card. All are bordered by the artists color “wash” which runs into the artists board that the artworks are still attached to. Includes: #309 “Cimoli Safe in Crucial Play’ #310 “Face Saves the Day’ #311 “Ford Pitches Second Shutout Reserve $250.
Ron Oser Enterprises
Here are the final products:
Now, cards 306-313 make up the World Series subset, and I managed to find one other original artwork online; REA sold card #308 for $830 in the fall of 2013
Please let me know if you’ve seen any of the other four World Series cards’ original artworks.
In 1954 and 1955, when kids were ripping packs of Topps baseball cards, many were undoubtedly disappointed when they learned that they wouldn’t be pulling a Mickey Mantle card. And the reason why is simple, Topps never printed them. This article will explain why and show a few of my favorite custom 1954 Topps and 1955 Topps Mickey Mantle cards and the versions Topps has shared.
Topps didn’t print a Mantle card as part of its 1954 or 1955 baseball sets because it legally couldn’t. Bowman and Topps had such a fierce rivalry in the early post-war era that they each tried to sign exclusive agreements with the most popular players to differentiate their products. In 1954 and 1955, Bowman managed to sign Mantle. In 1956, Topps purchased Bowman, so Topps sets were more “complete” from that point forward.
However, even though Topps didn’t print a Mantle card in 1954, it didn’t stop them from publishing an example of what one would have looked like on paper stock. They partnered with Sports Illustrated Magazine in 1954 and printed a black & white Mantle “card.”
Sports Illustrated Black and White 1954 Topps Mickey Mantle
Sports Illustrated wanted to boost magazine sales and included 27 paper-thin cards in its first two editions. The first edition included stars like Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Duke Snider, and Eddie Mathews. The second edition was exclusively Yankees, and the 27 printed cards included a 1954 Topps-style Mickey Mantle card.
Sports Illustrated Magazine – First and Second Weekly Issues
Topps also, many years later, gave us an example of a 1955 Topps Mickey Mantle card. Topps was printing their own magazine during the peak of the junk-wax era, and in their third edition, released in the summer of 1990, they had a special on “Mantle Mania,” and the center-fold included a 1955 Topps Mickey Mantle style card.
Many other collectors and hobbyists have produced custom 1954 and 1955 Topps cards, but my favorites come from hobby pioneer Bob Lemke, who unfortunately passed away in 2017. On his blog, you can read about his custom efforts: “Ho-Hum … another 1954 Topps-style Mantle. But mine has a story” and “My ’55 Mantle completes Topps-style customs.” I think it’s fantastic that he re-used the portrait that he put on the 1954 custom on his 1955 Mantle, too, just as Topps often did back then.
Bob Lemke’s 1954 Topps Mickey Mantle Custom Card – Front
Bob Lemke’s 1954 Topps Mickey Mantle Custom Card – Reverse
Bob Lemke’s 1955 Topps Mickey Mantle Custom Card – Front
Bob Lemke’s 1955 Topps Mickey Mantle Custom Card – Reverse
Bob Lemke’s 1955 Topps Mickey Mantle Custom Card – Red Variation
Bob Lemke’s 1955 Topps Mickey Mantle Custom Card – Green Variation
I’m sure that many Mantle collectors are bummed that Bowman had the exclusive contract to print his cards in 1954 and 1955. But their pocketbooks must be thankful; can you imagine how pricey those Topps cards would be now? Leave your price estimates down in the comments, and happy collecting!
It’s always a notable hobby event when original Bowman art comes up for sale, so I wanted to share this 1952 Sam Mele piece that was offered for sale in April 2000 in case anyone is looking to track them all down.
Ron Oser Enterprises offered this one, framed and matted with an example card. Here’s the full auction description:
Striking 4″ × 6 1/4″ one-of-a-kind full color artwork for 1952 Bowman card #168 Sam Mele. The artwork has been professionally framed and matted (along with an example of Mele’s original 1952 Bowman card) to measure 13 x 13 inches. Early Bowman artwork has become increasingly desirable in recent years. Reserve $500.
I apologize on behalf of whoever wrote that description confused Mele’s 1951 Bowman #168 with the number of his 1952 Bowman card (#15), the subject of the art piece. Card #168 is Preacher Roe in the 1952 Bowman set.
So many of us overlook card backs in this day of hard plastic card encapsulation and grading, so I was super happy to find an article dedicated to them while perusing the September 1991 issue of Baseball Cards Magazine.
Baseball Cards Magazine – September 1991
Jim McLauchlin penned an article titled “Card Backs,” in which he celebrated the reverse side of cards. He kicked it off by stating that he likes card backs more than he likes card fronts! Here are the first two pages of the article.
Card Backs – Jim McLauchlin
He talks about the plethora of data that has been included on them, chats about some growing pains in card back design in our hobby’s history before digging into the real story, the specific card back highlights over the past 50 years of sports cards that he jokingly called “the first quasi annual Sy Berger Awards for Card Back Excellence (or Lack Thereof).”
I thought the Set Awards were so well-researched and accurate that they deserved to be shared with folks who don’t have junk-wax-era card magazine back issues, so I’ll share a highlight card from many of the categories before sharing the rest of the article.
Best Cartoons: 1977-78 Topps Basketball
He noted their incredible variety.
1977 Topps Swen Nater
I’ll also note that Guernsey’s sold a lot of original card cartoon art in the 1989 Topps Auction.
Topps Basketball Cartoons – The Topps Auction 1989
Best Cartoon Theme: 1974 Topps Football
Leisure-time activities.
1974 Topps Ken Stabler
Best Back Photography
Anything by Upper Deck.
1991 Upper Deck Jose Lind
Best Narratives
1955 Bowman Baseball.
1955 Bowman Vern Law
Best Non-Use of the Word “Defenseman”
1990-91 Pro Set Hockey for using terms like rugged blue liners, crafty blue liners, veteran blue liners, and bruising blue liners.
Best Bios
1961 Fleer Football.
1961 Fleer Gene Lipscomb
Word Card Back Idea
Puzzles.
Worst Use of Stats
Classic.
Best Quote
1990 Score Football Johnny Johnson.
1990 Score Johnny Johnson
Best Trivia
1975 Topps Carlton Fisk.
1975 Topps Carlton Fisk
Best Prophecy
1958 Topps Sandy Koufax.
1958 Topps Sandy Koufax
Best Cartoon
1971 Topps Football Spider Lockhart.
1971 Topps Spider Lockhart
Best Overused Bio Material
He challenged readers to find a Joe Nuxhall card that didn’t say he was the youngest player in the majors.
Best Obscure Information
1990 Pro Set Football Chris Singleton.
1990 Pro Set Chris Singleton
Worst Use of Stats
1971 Topps Football Charlie Krueger.
1971 Topps CHarlie Krueger
Best Hobby
1958 Topps Stan Lopata.
1958 Topps Stan Lopata
Best Expansion of Standard Height, Weight
1963 Topps Dick Radatz.
1963 Topps Dick Radatz
Best Culinary Card
1974-75 Topps Basketball Louis Dampier.
1974 Topps Louie Dampier
Best We’ll Find Something Nice To Say About This Spud If It Kills Us
I thought some of you might enjoy reading about this motherload of 1976 Topps Football Cello cases that REA auctioned off in July 2000 (the auction with eBay that presented ‘The Wagner Card’).
At the top, you can see that the three lots included five full unopened cello cases, four full cello boxes, 43 cello packs, and ~2,000 loose cards. And as mentioned, 1976 Topps has Walter Payton’s rookie card!
More recently, BBCE had a case with one of the same product code (same case?) at the National in 2015 and one with wrapped boxes ($110k) at the 2018 National.
These days, BBCE-authenticated 1976 Topps Football Cello Boxes sell for $10-15k.
Set building was a much bigger part of the hobby in the late 1970s and early 1980s. That really stood out when I was flipping through the January 1978 issue of The Trader Speaks and saw how ads for 1978 Topps Baseball Vending Boxes/Cases were written.
Before we go through each of the four ads, a couple of things: first, there was no mention of wax or cello products, and second, these were pre-sales with expected delivery in March/Early April.
The first ad related to 1978 Topps was an early bird special from Stephen Garrihy.
First, he targeted set builders directly, offering one, two, or three. Then, he offered 500 ct boxes (vending) for $6.50 for one, $11.50 for two, and $6.00 for each additional. You could also order a case of 24 boxes for $94.00. What’s interesting is the offer of ten free cards for folks who bought two boxes to fill in missing numbers within a set build.
The second ad was from Okey Blankenship.
He also first offered complete sets and then single vending boxes, as well as vending cases for sale.
Edward Mathewson chronologically had the third 1978 Topps baseball ad in the ‘zine. He offered a similar missing card offer for collectors who ordered two vending boxes.
The final ad was from G. S. Gallery. They offered one, two, or three vending boxes with a guaranteed 726 card set.
They also offered credits toward future purchases, ‘vinyl see-through pages,’ and a ‘1978 Baseball Yearbook’ for sale.
By the way, here’s what 1978 Topps Baseball Vending Boxes (~$3k these days) and Cases look like.
I shared Dr. Jim Beckett’s first price survey results a few weeks ago. Well, the following year, he kicked off an update with the following bit of hobby history that I scanned from the January 1978 issue of The Trader Speaks: Dr. Jim Beckett’s Price Survey Update!
David Kathman on the net54 boards pointed out that SCD published the 1978 survey update results in their July 15, 1978, issue, with an abbreviated version in the 1978 edition of the Sport Americana Baseball Card Checklist book. I believe The Trader Speaks published the updated results in their April 1978 issue; I just don’t happen to have that one in the Hobby Library to be able to include a scan.
Then, in 1979, Beckett’s first price guide book, The 1979 Sport Americana Baseball Card Price Guide, was published with the help of Dennis Eckes.
