March 24, 2022: Spring Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/24/2022
Presented is a really nice example of one of the most important basketball issues in the hobby, the groundbreaking 1948 Bowman issue that features the players of the Basketball Association of America (BAA), the forerunner to the NBA. The unique status of being the first major hoops issue ever makes virtually every card in the set a Rookie, headlined by the legendary George Mikan, which is the sole missing card from this array. The 2 1/16-by-2 ½-inch classics are found here in overall grades markedly better than how these cards are typically encountered in mature collections, coming out at 10 percent Near-Mint or better, 31 percent Ex-Mt, 23 percent Excellent and 25 percent Very Good to VG-Ex, with just eight cards below equally divided between Good and Fair. Fully ¼ of the array has been third-party graded and slabbed, including many of the key cards. The breakdown: No. 1 Caverly – Very Good, 9 Phillips – PSA 2, 10 Davies – VG, 18 Rocha – PSA 4, 23 – PSA 4, 25 Senesky – PSA 6 o/c, 26 Brookfield – PSA 4, 27 Norlander – PSA 4, 32 Holzman – Ex-Mt-Plus, 34 Fulks – Ex-Mt-Plus o/c, 36 Tidrick – PSA 2, 38 Jeanette – PSA 8 o/c, 43 Halbert – Ex-Mt-Plus o/c, 46 McKinney – Ex-Mt-Plus, 51 Dwan – PSA 4, 54 Palmer – VG, 55 Zaslofsky – PSA 4.5, 58 Risen – PSA 1.5, 59 – PSA 3, 63 Mahnken – PSA 1.5, 64 Byrnes – PSA 4, 65 – PSA 5, 66 Pollard – Ex-Mt o/c, 67 Mogus – PSA 1.5, 70 Budko – PSA 4 and 72 Braun – PSA 2.
1948 Bowman Basketball Near Set, 18 Slabs (71/72)
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