I quickly snapped this photo while scurrying about the 2024 National Sports Collectors Convention because it looked familiar. But I couldn’t place it at the time. I’ve now realized it was Bowman’s Collectors Club.
Once I got home from the show, I remembered the logo was also on the back of 1950 Bowman baseball and football cards.
Details are super scarce, so please contact me if you have more info, but in the early 50s, I remember collectors mentioning that Bowman tried having a collectors club akin to Topps’ Trading Card Guild (Picture Card Collectors Club). The Topps Archives mentions it in a piece titled Re-Rack. Given the boxes below, it could have been how Bowman re-packed unsold cards.
I found that Lelands has sold a pair of these boxes. This first one was titled 1953-54 Bowman Television & Radio Stars/Power For Peace Partial Cello Box (27/36).
It sold for just under $2k in February 2019.
This second example is a 1953 Bowman Power For Peace/NBC Radio & Television Stars Cello Box with 14 Packs. It sold for $879 in March 2022.
The BBCE website has an out-of-stock 1953 Bowman TV & Radio Stars Cello Box that they had offered for $8k.
I also had the following early Bowman cello box in my photo archives; REA sold it in 2021 for $3,960. They resold the same box in August 2024 for $6,900.
Again, please let me know if you have more information about Bowman’s 5-Star Series Picture Card Collectors Club.
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