You don’t see original artwork used for the 1952 Bowman football large and small issues up for sale very often, and when you do, they’re pricey! Even in 2000, when Ron Oser offered this example featuring Chuck Hunsinger, it had a minimum bid of $375 and was the first they had ever offered.
The brightly colored piece was described as 4” x 6 1/8” with minor corner wear; otherwise, it was in excellent condition. Oser included the example card in the lot.
Over the years, REA has sold most of the publicly offered examples (since they were first offered during Guernsey’s Topps Auction in 1989 with estimates of $300-400 per lot – more on these another time). Three of the priciest have been the card artwork for:
#28 Kyle Rote – $2962 in the spring of 2013
#29 Hugh McElhenny – $2666 in the spring of 2013
#61 Leslie Richter – $2340 in the spring of 2024
