Here’s a true hobby one-of-one: the original artwork for card number 51 in Bowman’s 1953 football set, featuring John Karras of the Chicago Cardinals.
The piece was a part of Mastro’s December 2005 Sports Premier Catalog Auction. They described it as a hand-crafted artifact measuring 3-1/8” x 4-5/8” (larger than the as-issued card). The item description mentioned that the item’s corners were chipped as a function of the working process. Also, the art piece was matted with an Ex sample of the final card on display measuring 11-3/4” x 15”, but Mastro didn’t share a photo of the combined display in the catalog.
So, here’s an example of the published Karras Bowman football card.
Happy collecting.
PS, check out The Original Artwork Archive if you want to see more pieces like this one.