Original Artwork

The Artwork for John Schweder’s 1952 Bowman Rookie Card

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Here’s the original artwork used for John Schweder’s 1952 Bowman football rookie card. REA sold it for $1,800 in the fall of 2014, but its sales history goes back to Guernsey’s Topps Auction in 1989 and the 13th Annual NSCC Auction in 1992.

Here’s a bit of the auction history for the card (as much as I could find): first, it was included as an individual lot, 68C, in Guernsey’s Topps Auction in 1989. It sold for $800 plus the 10% buyer’s premium. Here’s a scan of it in the catalog.

Then, it was included as part of Superior Galleries Official 13th Annual National Sports Collectors Convection Auction in July 1992. A color photo was included on the Color Plate 1 page at the front of the catalog (it wasn’t common to include color photos of every item in early ’90s catalogs) and in B&W above its description that simply said “1952 Bowman Football Artwork of John Schweder. A very rare item in Near-Mind condition.” The estimated value then was $1000-1200.

Finally, in the fall of 2014, Robert Edward Auctions sold it for $1800. They included the following item description including the details about the item having been a part of a museum’s collection:

One-of-a-kind original artwork for 1952 Bowman football #72 John Schweder short-print rookie card (Pittsburgh Steelers). This is the actual artwork used in the production of both the 1952 Bowman Small and Large Football series.Original artworks from this set are extremely rare. This artwork has survived beautifully, with bold colors, a flawless surface, and only light wear to the corners. The reverse bears standard production-related remnants along with the pencil-written name of the player. The artwork measures 4 x 6.25 inches and is in overall Excellent or better condition. 

The item in this lot is part of the deaccessioned property of a prominent northeast museum which has selected Robert Edward Auctions to handle the sale of donated sportscards and memorabilia in an effort to fund purchases more in line with the mission and goals of the museum.

And just for completeness, here’s an example of a high-grade Bowman Large variation of Schweder’s card that Memory Lane Inc. sold for $1171 in January 2023.

The Original Artwork Archive

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Welcome to the Original Artwork Archive! This is the hub for all the articles I’ve written about original artwork used to produce cards, sorted by sport and set. A lot of these pieces originate from the Topps Archives and Guernsey’s Topps auction, while others remain “lost,” buried in private collections. But thanks to the hobby library, I can scan and share photos from these and other past auctions and magazines, preserving these treasures for collectors to enjoy.

If you have any examples to share, shoot me an e-mail.

Baseball

Basketball

Football

Non-Sports

Original Artwork Hobby Books, Magazine Articles, and 101s

1965 Topps John Huarte Original Football Card Artwork

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Here’s the original flexichrome artwork for John Huarte’s 1965 Topps #117 Football card.

Ron Oser Enterprises offered it in their December 2000 auction catalog.

They described it as a “Very desirable 3 3/4” x 5 1/4” flexichrome artwork of Huarte’s Short Print rookie card #117 from Topps’ popular 1965 ‘over-sized’ issue. Beautiful condition, neatly affixed to a 7” x 11” black paper backing, accompanied by an example card (EXMT).”

Here’s the artwork next to the final card.

1953 Topps #136 Ken Heintzelman Original Artwork

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I’ve previously shared the original artwork for the 1953 Topps Willie Mays and Whitey Ford cards that Guernsey’s sold in its famous 1989 Topps Auction. But other examples have also tricked out over the years, including this one of Ken Heintzelman.

Mastro offered this example in its April 2004 Sports Premier Catalog Auction. The hand-painted piece was described as 3-1/2” x 5” in near-mint condition and, obviously, one-of-a-kind.

Here’s the artwork next to the final card.

A Curious Item – The “Original Artwork” For Darrell Johnson’s 1957 Topps Baseball Card

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I ran across an item in Ron Oser Enterprises’ December 2000 catalog that perplexes me. It was described as a 3 1/2” x 5 1/2” flexichrome artwork for Darrell Johnson’s 1957 Topps card, but I always thought flexi’s were used to color black and white images.

I reached out to The Topps Archives, and he pointed out that flexi’s can look different but also thought they were only used to color black-and-white images. He also wondered if Topps just cut out the image with an Xacto knife as it would have already been in color. He pointed out that it sort of looks like an alternate for Johnson’s 1958 Topps card, which has a slightly different pose.

Any ideas? Did Topps have other plans for the 1957 Topps set? Were they going to use the cutout for another set?

1953 Topps #244 Willie Mays Original Artwork

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In July, I shared the original artwork used for Whitey Ford’s 1953 Topps baseball card; today, the details for Willie Mays.

Again, the original full-color paintings of Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Bob Feller, Jackie Robinson, and Roy Campanella’s 1953 Topps baseball cards were first made available to the hobby in Guernsey’s Topps Auction in 1989.

Here’s the section’s description in the catalog and the details for the 3 1/2″ x 5″ VG conditioned 1953 Willie Mays original color artwork. It sold for $80k (+10% Buyers Premium).

I’m curious if the owner of the original artwork has managed to pick up a copy of the original news photograph that inspired the piece. REA sold this circa 1951 PSA/DNA Type 1 example for $16,800 in the Spring of 2020.

And finally, here’s a fantastic example of the 1953 Topps #244 Willie Mays card.

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!