August 6, 2020: Summer Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/6/2020
A stunning grouping of nearly three dozen sparkling Near-Mint cards, including nearly a dozen Hall of Famers included in that mix - a roster that includes Frank Gifford, Norm Van Brocklin, Lou Groza, John Henry Johnson, Joe Perry, and Emlen Tunnell, among others - headlines a blazing 1955 Bowman Football complete set that is in a remarkable high grade for the offering. This is a truly amazing compilation of these difficult cards that is dramatically better than they are typically found in older collections, especially noting that huge array in sparkling Near-Mint condition. This is a particularly important issue from an historical context, the final Bowman Co. card set that the Philadelphia-based firm produced prior to selling out to Topps at the end of the year. The offered set is pretty evenly divided between Very Good, VG-Ex, Excellent, Ex-Mt, and Near-Mint condition, with only a couple of cards below to Good. It comes out to 21 percent Near-Mint, 26 percent Ex-Mt, 19 percent Excellent, 18 percent VG-Ex and 16 percent Very Good. There are 12 extra cards included, simply duplicates of cards within the set. The breakdown: Near-Mint (35) – No. 7 Gifford o/c, 8 Ameche Rookie o/c, 9 o/c, 10 Pihos, 13 o/c, 18, 19, 21 o/c, 23, 24, 26, 27 o/c, 28 Christiansen, 30 o/c, 32 Van Brocklin, 33, 35, 27 Groza (diamond cut), 39, 40, 42 Johnson Rookie, 44 Perry o/c, 46, 57, 65, 66, 67 o/c, 69 o/c, 124 o/c, 131 m/c, 136 Tunnel, 146 Michaels o/c, 150 o/c, 151 and 154; Ex-Mt (43) – No. 2 McCormack, 4, 6, 11 o/c, 12 o/c, 14 o/c, 15, 17 o/c, 22, 25 Matson o/c, 29, 36, 47, 51, 53, 55, 56, 58, 61 o/c, 62 Blanda, 70 Ringo Rookie, 77, 80 o/c, 88, 93, 98, 99, 105, 106, 119, 120 o/c, 121 Robustelli o/c, 122, 125 o/c, 133 o/c, 142 o/c, 144 o/c, 149 o/c, 153, 154, 155 and 160; Excellent (31) – No. 20, 31, 38, 41, 43 Fears, 45, 50, 59 Ane, 60, 63, 64, 68 o/c, 71 Layne, 78, 89, 92, 104 Nomellini, 112 Creekmur, 113, 114, 130, 135, 137, 139 Trippi o/c, 140, 141, 145, 147, 148, 156 and 157; VG-Ex (30) – No. 1 Walker, 3, 5, 34, 48, 52 Summerall Rookie, 54, 73, 74, 76, 78, 87, 91, 94, 95, 103, 109, 110, 111, 116, 117, 118 (2), 123 (2), 125, 127, 132, 134 Stautner and 158 Bednarik; Very Good (26) – No. 49, 75 McElhenny, 79, 81, 72 Richter (2), 83, 84, 85, 86 (2), 90, 96, 100, 101 St. Clair Rookie, 102, 107, 108, 115, 126 (2), 128, 129, 138 (2) and 152 Landry; Good (3) – No. 16 Conerly, 72 Tittle and 97.
1955 Bowman Football Complete Set (172)
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