1960s-70s R.G. Laughlin World Series and All-Star Games Original Artwork (73)

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This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/3/2025

Presented is a stunning accumulation of the original pen-and-ink artwork of the fabled hobby artist R.G. Laughlin whose unique sets served as a welcome staple for several generations of hobbyists who didn’t know where to turn once they finished their annual Topps entry. This amazing group of original drawings was obtained directly from the artist, creating an unmatched historical archive for this legendary hobby figure. With literally dozens of baseball small sets under his fabled name, the multi-talented Laughlin kicked off his hobby career with the charming World Series and All-Star Game drawings featured in this lot. He launched his World Series sets in the late 1960s, later handed off to Fleer for several versions with more traditional distribution, and the Renaissance Man would complement his World Series sets with nods to the All-Star Games, the Negro Leagues, Baseball Pioneers, Famous Feats, Wildest Plays and a lot more. With PSA-graded examples of some of his cards selling for hundreds of dollars, the implications for the original artwork that brought those cards to life is staggering. His first effort was a black-and-white, self-published World Series set in 1967, but he would turn to full color in the 1970s, most notably with his collaboration with Philadelphia-based Fleer Corp., which would team up with the artist for several World Series sets – including national distribution in packs – and many of his other ventures, all anchored by his minimalist pen-and-ink renderings. While many of the World Series cards were cartoonish and did not depict individual players, quite a few featured more realistic likenesses of many of the great stars. This vast array of his original drawings is presented on many of the complete or partial pasteup boards that would have been sent camera-ready to the printers. They touch on any of the half dozen or so World Series sets Laughlin and Fleer produced in the 1970s-80s, including extension sets and the 1980 Fleer Revival offering, with the original pen-and-ink drawings pasted up here enroute to the printers. As is not uncommon, the original artwork is slightly larger than the roughly standard-size cards from the 1970s; in the various-sized paste ups there can sometimes be graphic elements like paper type strips missing, and in some instances the individual World Series card may have been carefully reaffixed to the larger board. In all there are 52 original drawings included here, with a handful with two originals for the year and a pretty straight run from 1903-20, missing only 1914; for the ensuing four decades, the lineup can range between three and five years missing in each decade, finished off by originals from 1971-77, missing only that remarkable World Series from 1975. Add in another two dozen or so original drawings from his 1974 All-Star Game set (pasted to four heavy boards), and a half dozen originals that have been neatly matted to boards interspersed with some of the resultant actual cards and the curriculum for this particular branch of his archive is complete. And one of those paste up boards has been neatly autographed by the remarkable Mr. Laughlin himself.