Football Cards

Bowman’s 5-Star Series Picture Card Collectors Club

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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.

Calvin Murphy and Fran Tarkenton Topps Prototype Cards

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I ran across these circa 1970 Calvin Murphy and Fran Tarkenton “prototype” cards in Ron Oser Enterprises’ April 2000 auction catalog.

I’m unsure what to make of these items; the lot’s description explained that they appeared to be Topps prototype cards that were never issued.

The basketball card features Calvin Murphy of the San Diego Rockets, who moved to Houston before the 1971/72 season started. The writer said the style and size of the card were similar to those of the 1969/70 and 1970/71 Topps issues.

The football card features Fran Tarkenton as a New York Giants player, where he played from 1967-1971.

Both cards were still adhered to the original artist board and were described as being in perfect condition.

Let me know if you know anything about these items.

1948-1952 Exhibit Supply Co. Football Card Machine Front Advertising Display

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A little over a month ago, I published a piece about the Exhibit Supply Co. checklist cards. I highlighted slicks as being particularly important to this hobby niche. I then shared some vending machine header sign examples with slicks pasted on them.

Well, how cool is this display of 1948-1952 Exhibit Supply Co. football card machine-front advertising display pieces that was offered for sale back in December 2005?! 

The consigner arranged a group of seven different W468 football machine-front ads into a single, incredible, wood-framed, 32’’ x 43’’ display piece. The minimum bid in December 2005 was $300, but unfortunately, I don’t know what this lot sold for. The cards were all described as paper-thin (slicks) and adhered to the cardboard. And the upper-left example includes a super rare checklist printed on the image of Chuck Bednarik. There are just a handful of these checklist cards in the hobby. 

I also can’t say I’ve ever seen an Exhibit machine sign with yellow or green text either, AND the cards in the lower-left example appear to be attached (i.e., a partial uncut sheet of sorts)!

Here’s Mastro’s complete description:

The products of Chicago’s Exhibit Supply Company were designed to be sold in amusement parks and penny arcades. A lot of noisy excitement took place in those establishments, however, and a means was needed to divert customers toward the mute vending machines standing quietly ready to accept pennies and nickels in exchange for cards. The assembled layouts here offered were used on machine-fronts to draw attention and promote sales of Exhibit’s W468 football subjects, and the gridiron greatness depicted in this group of 7 different, very scarce pieces is astonishing in its scope. Featured among the placards’ depictions are key Hall of Famers, short-printed subjects, and the Exhibit collector’s most sought-after piece: the very rare Check List. Each layout consists of thin-paper Exhibit cardfronts adhered to cardboard or paper backings, with titles and graphics added; the layouts have been nicely arranged and matted within a wooden-framed surround (32″ x 43″ total dimensions). The items’ overall display quality is at least EX (some individual components are lesser), with most faults limited largely to fragile, once-exposed corners and surfaces. Includes: MACHINE-FRONT DISPLAYS (7) 12-1/2″ x 19″ panel 1) “Football Stars” display, 9 subjects w/ Young/Baugh/Lujack/Harder/Check List SP/Motley/Graham/Layne/Christman. (Check List SP with text overprinted on the image of Chuck Bednarik-is apparent EX/MT.) 8″ x 12-1/2″ panels 2) 3-subject, 2¢ display w/ McColl/Connor/Barwegan; 3) 3-subject, 1¢ display w/Morrison/Sitko/ Tripucka; 4) 3-subject, 1¢ display w/ Turner/Hirsch/Dudley; 5) 3-subject, 1¢ display w/ Mastrangelo SP/Wedemeyer SP/Coulter SP; 6) 3-subject, 1¢ display w/ Trippi/Motley/Schlinkman SP; 7) 3-subject, 1¢ display w/Ratterman/Younger/Conerly.

1964 Philadelphia Football Cello Box

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Sotheby’s auctioned this 1964 Philadelphia Football cello box in 1993. It looks amazing in B&W with all the packs laid out. However, given BBCE wrapping/authentication, it’s unlikely to see a box displayed like this again!

Sotheby’s described the lot as a “full box of 36 ten cent packs, Cello packs have a printed blue, red and yellow wrapper, box is only good condition, packs are untampered with and mostly mint condition.” They expected a final price between $4,000 and $5,000.

While the black-and-white image is pretty nice, they’re actually super colorful, impressively designed, standout display pieces. Of course, they aren’t cheap anymore; Heritage sold this example first-year issue 1964 Philadelphia Football cello box for $32,400 in May 2000.

1950-1951 Junge’s Bread for Energy Advertising Poster

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Christie’s offered this incredible Junge’s Bread For Energy advertising poster in their October 1993 Sports Memorabilia catalog auction. These are some of the toughest cards to find in the hobby.

Christie’s described the Bread For Energy Label Advertising Poster as follows:

The scarcest of all sports bread end label sets is the 48 label “Bread For Energy” set. It includes 16 Movie Stars, 16 Western Stars and 16 Sports Stars four each of boxing, basketball, wrestling, and football. This rare advertisement for Jungle Bread contains an uncut sheet of 16 labels in color including the following sports subjects, Johnny Lujack, Buddy Young, Kid Gailan, Joe Fulks, Gene Stanlee and the very rare Rocky Marciano. In excellent to mint condition.

The expected price was $1,800-2,200.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much information available about the set. While Christie’s said the set has 48 labels, Beckett’s online directory says the set has 44 cards, while the seller of the following sheet on eBay says 42. And if this is the D290-12 set, my American Card Catalog says there are 64 cards.

That seller on eBay wrote,

This 14 inch by 22 inch magnificent piece of sports and movie nostalgia is the only known, uncut bread-end label sheet and advertising poster for the 1950-51 D290-12 “Bread For Energy” series of 42 different multi-sport and Hollywood celebrities.  The labels were distributed on the ends of loafs of various brands of breads & bakeries. Junge’s Bread was not previously known as a D290-12 bread label bakery brand and this advertising poster is as fresh and beautiful as the day it was printed and prepared in 1950.  

A 16-card, 11 inch by 11 inch, uncut sheet of 16 different bread labels, which were originally exclusively identified with Fischer’s bread, have been affixed to a cardboard poster.  These Junge’s Bread, “Bread for Energy labels” are brand new except for a slight crease that runs from Bing Crosby’s head to the bottom of the William Bendix label. The Kid Gavilan, Edgar Bergan, Joe Fulks are all affected. The sheet contains 3 of the 5 keys to the set including Johnny Lujack, Joe Fulks, and most importantly, a rookie issue of Rocky Marciano.  

Curiously, they wrote that their poster, with an asking price of $10k, is the only known piece, when there is another one on eBay with an asking price of $6k, and none of the three, compared to Christie’s, look the same.

Also, Leland’s has sold three of these Junge’s Bread-style posters. The first two have the same look as the previous three I’ve shared; the first sold for $1,364 in December 2020, and the second sold for $1,240 in February 2021 (this appears to be the $10k eBay one).

However, Lelands also sold this Junge’s Bread for Energy poster for $1,364 in April 2021. Notice that it has a few different cards on it!

If you want to see more examples of the cards, BMW Sports Cards has a nice directory. If you know anything else about them, please get in touch with me.

1952 Bowman Football Cards Original Artwork From Guernsey’s Topps Auction

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In May 2024, I shared the original football card artwork for Chuck Hunsinger’s 1952 Bowman card and mentioned that the original art was first sold to the hobby in Guernsey’s Topps Auction in 1989, so I wanted to share all the pages from the catalog with every B&W photo.

Not including the 10% buyers premium, the four priciest 1952 Bowman football card original art pieces were $6k for Doak Walker (note: my list says E61A was $6k, which could be Sammy Baugh rather than Doak Walker), $5k for Frank Gifford, $3,750 for Otto Graham, and $3,750 for George Halas.

It would be impossible to track down each piece of original artwork for a single collection today, but I may try to find pictures of them for a page here on the site as a future project. Happy collecting!