1954 Bowman

Rarity and Intrigue: The 1954 Bowman Metal Printers Sheet with Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams

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Here’s an item you don’t see every day: a 1954 Bowman baseball metal printers sheet with Mickey Mantle and, next to him, one of the set’s rarities, Ted Williams! But guess what? It’s got a twin, but I don’t know where either is anymore!

The unique sheet was lot 152 in the 1995 National Sports Collectors Convention Auction, presented by Bill Mastro as “The Best of Yesterday.”

They included a slightly larger photo of the Mantle and Williams cards, too.

Here’s the lots complete description:

1954 BOWMAN BASEBALL METAL PRINTERS SHEET WITH #66 TED WILLIAMS
26 inches by 36 inches metal printers sheet with 32 cards on it (8 across, 4 down) in the upper left corner is Mickey Mantle and immediately to his right is the rarest of all Bowman baseball cards -#66 Ted Williams, many years ago two of these exact sheets turned up, one of which now resides in the Halper collection, the offered sheet has numerous holes and spotting and although it lacks visual appeal it more than makes up for its condition defects with its extreme rarity, framed properly would surely add to its attractiveness, very good condition. MINIMUM BID: 900.00

It’s interesting that Bowman would have made two of these sheets; maybe they weren’t identical. Also, if you weren’t aware, according to BaseballCardPedia, “In 1954, Topps signed an exclusive contract with Ted Williams, which forced Bowman to pull card #66 of Williams from its set. Bowman replaced #66 with a card of Jimmy Piersall who was also featured on card #210.”

Interestingly, I haven’t been able to track down any “regular” 32-card 1954 Bowman baseball uncut sheets, just this absolutely incredible proof sheet from portland_uncut_sheets on Instagram.

But I did find that Heritage sold a 4-card uncut panel featuring Mantle, Wiliams, Mueller, and Gilliam in the same layout as the metal sheet. It sold for $13,145 in May 2016.

Robert Edward Auctions then re-sold the same sheet for just $6k in the fall of 2018. They highlighted that it was cut down from a larger 32-card production sheet

It doesn’t look like a salesman sample; those had a diamond/square sticker on the back, and the 4-card panel shows no evidence of sticker removal. Of course, it could have been intended as a sample but never used as one. Here’s an example of the back of a 1954 Bowman Salesemen’s Sample:

Happy collecting! And check out more uncut sheets on the archive!

Mr. Mint Alan Rosen’s Find II

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In my post about Seven 1954 Bowman Unopened Five-Cent Wax Packs, I mentioned that they originated from the famous Paris, Tennesse, find, which I said I would detail in a future post. Well, here’s a look back at Mr. Mint’s Find II of unopened material.

First, a “find” is when old trading cards surface with significant value that few collectors know about. And usually, those finds have a great story related to them. Alan Rosen used those stories to grow his brand (before branding was a thing in the hobby) through advertising and word of mouth.

Alan Rosen – The Buying Machine – Advertisement

Mr. Mint’s Find II was his >$400k 1954 and 1955 unopened box find from 1987 in Paris, Tennessee. Thanks to the Wayback Machine, I pulled the following screen capture from Mr. Mint’s old website, describing the Find II as having over 500 unopened boxes of 1954 and 1955 Topps and Bowman baseball cards. Plus, an additional 250+ boxes of 1954 and 1955 Bowman football unopened boxes, along with some 1955 Bowman baseball sets (I’ve read they were all missing Charles King’s card, who lived in Paris, TN).

Mr. Mint’s Major Finds via the Wayback Machine

In a November 20, 1987 advertisement, Rosen also wrote that he was called to the deal by three Paris, Tennessee collector/dealers who came across the find in the basement of a former candy wholesaler. Many boxes were ruined by bugs and thrown away, and about a third were water-damaged (some vintage packs on the market from this find show brown stains on the wrapper). 

Alan Rosen’s The Find II Advertisement

You can see from the advertisement that he was selling:

  • 1954 Bowman baseball 5-cent packs for $125 and boxes for $2500. 
  • 1955 Bowman baseball 5-cent packs for $150 and boxes for $3000.
  • 1955 Topps baseball 5-cent packs for $200 and boxes for $3500.
  • 1954 Bowman football 5-cent packs for $20 and boxes for $425
  • 1954 Bowman football 1-cent packs for $10 and boxes for $1000.

Many of these products were bought and ripped to complete sets; indeed, many high-grade cards in today’s graded market came from this find. But the prices have skyrocketed for those who managed to hang on to the unopened products. Here are a few recent sales:

  • A 1954 Bowman baseball 5-cent wax pack graded PSA 8 sold for $4200 in the fall of 2021
  • A 1955 Bowman Baseball 5-cent wax pack graded PSA 7 sold for $4680 in the Fall of 2021
  • A 1955 Bowman Baseball 5-cent wax pack graded PSA 8 sold for $7200 in the Fall of 2021
  • A 1955 Topps Baseball 5-cent wax pack graded PSA 5 sold for $36000 in the Spring of 2022, yes, $36k. REA wrote that it almost certainly originated from the 1987 Paris find.
  • An empty 1955 Topps baseball 5-cent box sold for $1620 in the Summer of 2020
  • A 1954 Bowman Football 5-cent wax pack graded PSA 8 sold for $1740 in the Summer of 2020
  • A 1954 Bowman Football 1-cent wax pack graded PSA 8 sold for $420 in the Summer of 2020
  • A 1954 Bowman Football 5-cent wax box sold for $46800 in July 2020
  • A 1954 Bowman Football 1-cent wax box sold for $32400 in May 2020

It’s almost impossible to put a current market value at what a find like this one would go for today; the market saturation would be so incredible that if I found it, I would probably try to keep it a secret. 

You might think that most cards have already been “found,” but that isn’t true. We keep reading announcements about previously privately held collections, so keep your eyes open and happy collecting!

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!

Seven 1954 Bowman Unopened Five-Cent Wax Packs

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In August 2003, Mastro sold these seven 1954 Bowman baseball five-cent wax packs that originated from the famous Paris, Tennesse find, which I’ll detail in a future post.

Six of the GAI authenticated and encapsulated packs were graded NM+ 7.5, and one was graded NM 7.

If you want to add one of these packs to your collection today, it’ll be pretty expensive. BBCE Auctions sold a PSA 9-graded pack for $7588 in November 2023 and a PSA 7-graded pack for $3445 in April 2024.

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!