November 14, 2019: Sports & Americana Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/14/2019
The great postwar Leaf Boxing complete set is offered here in a highly collectible essentially Very Good to Ex-Mt condition, with only eight cards falling below the broader range. The 2 3/8-by-2 7/8-inch cards depict many of the greatest names in boxing from the first half of the 20th century, a roster that includes the likes of Jack Johnson, John L. Sullivan, Jack Dempsey, Sugar Ray Robinson, Jess Willard, Jake LaMotta, Gene Tunney and more. The skip-numbered cards present in a style remarkably similar to the important Leaf baseball and football issues of the same year; more than 41 of the 49 boxers in the issue are members of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Rocky Graziano, an extraordinarily rare and seemingly unissued component of the offering, is so difficult to find that it is not generally considered necessary for completion, and is not present here. Two cards have been third-party slabbed: No. 7 and No. 32 Schmeling, both PSA 5. The breakdown: Ex-Mt (7) – No. 13, 25, 29, 58 o/c, 73 Tunney (back is miscut), 82 and 88; Excellent (8) – No. 7 – PSA 5, 32 Schmeling – PSA 5, 33, 35, 38, 60, 77 and 95; VG-Ex (11) – No. 2, 3, 17 Johnson, 20, 36, 44, 48 Louis, 64 Robinson, 65, 80 and 98; Very Good (15) – No. 1 Dempsey, 9, 15, 18, 19, 24, 27, 55 Corbett, 57, 63, 67, 74, 78, 90 and 101 Sullivan; Good (7) – No. 8, 42, 47, 51, 69 Willard, 71 and 102 LaMotta; Fair – No. 93 Baer (presents Ex-Mt but pencil mark on the reverse).
1948 Leaf Boxing Complete Set (49)
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