High-Grade 1955 Bowman Football Near-Set (159/160)

Bidding

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/15/2021

The last of an important run of Bowman football issues is represented here in a simply outstanding Excellent to Near-Mint blazer, a condition range seldom encountered in the iconic final Bowman sports card issue before the company was swallowed up by Topps that winter. The offered near-set is missing but a single card, the No. 1 Doak Walker, just about the only discouraging word in an array of cards that is dramatically better than this classic is typically found in mature collections. It comes out to a remarkable 50 percent being Near-Mint to Near-Mint to Mint, 40 percent Excellent to Ex-Mt-Plus and a mere 10 percent below, most of those VG-Ex. Three cards have been third-party slabbed and graded, providing a nice glimpse into the wider condition range: No. 41, No. 113 and No. 115, each in SGC 88 slabs. With those specs comes a presentation of the 2 ½-by-3 ¾-inch treasures that features simply breathtaking background colors, with wonderful gloss and super-clean backs. About two dozen cards have the kind of centering that might prompt musings about upgrades, though not all of those would be severe enough to dictate a formal off-center designation. As is not uncommon, the First Series is a whisper better than the more-difficult later numbers, but in this instance the disparity is modest, jostled only by barely over a dozen cards coming in at a fairly uniform 1/8-inch short of the 3 ¾ inches (numbers noted in the listing below). The breakdown: No. 2 McCormack – Near-Mint, 8 Ameche Rookie – Near-Mint, 7 Gifford – Ex-Mt, 14 Ford Rookie – Nr-Mt, 25 Matson – Nr-Mt to Mt, 32 Van Brocklin – Nr-Mt, 37 Groza – Nr-Mt, 43 Fears – Ex-Mt-Plus, 44 Perry – Nr-Mt, 42 Johnson – Excellent, 52 Summerall Rookie – Nr-Mt o/c, 59 Ane – Ex-Mt-Plus, 62 Blanda – VG-Ex, 70 Ringo Rookie – VG-Ex, 71 Layne – Ex-Mt, 72 Tittle – Ex-Mt-Plus, 75 McElhenny – Very Good, 101 St. Clair – Ex-Mt, 104 Nomellini – Ex-Mt, 112 Creekmur – Ex-Mt-Plus, 119 Gatski Rookie – VG-Ex, 121 Robustelli – Nr-Mt o/c, 134 Stautner – Nr-Mt o/c, 136 Tunnel – Nr-Mt o/c, 139 Trippi – Ex-Mt-Plus, 146 Michaels – VG-Ex (1/8-inch short), 152 Landry – Good (1/8-inch short) and 158 Bednarik – VG-Ex. As noted in the text above, cards numbered 105-111 and 145-150 are 1/8-inch short of standard dimensions.