1967 Topps Jim Lefebvre Original artwork?

[mdallen22]

I have not been able to to examine this piece in person but I am told this is original artwork by the artist who drew the sketches that appear on the back of the 1967 Topps series. It is not signed or dated. I can't tell if it's an original sketch or a print. I've asked and the answer is pending. Can anyone offer some insight? Who is the artist responsible for the drawing? Was there more than one artist commissioned by Topps? Could this be an original sketch or just a print? Are they rare? What is the potential value, can anyone sight other sales?

Best,
Mike

[pepis]

I have not been able to to examine this piece in person but I am told this is original artwork by the artist who drew the sketches that appear on the back of the 1967 Topps series. It is not signed or dated. I can't tell if it's an original sketch or a print. I've asked and the answer is pending. Can anyone offer some insight? Who is the artist responsible for the drawing? Was there more than one artist commissioned by Topps? Could this be an original sketch or just a print? Are they rare? What is the potential value, can anyone sight other sales?

Best,
Mike
The artwork itself doesn't represent Lefebvre
in 1966 the dodgers didn't have stripe uniforms.

[mdallen22]

The artwork itself doesn't represent Lefebvre
in 1966 the dodgers didn't have stripe uniforms.


But it does depict the same artwork that appears on the back of his 1967 Topps card

[steve B]

A few years back Topps sold off a lot of the original art from the card cartoons. Guernseys?

It does look like a lot of the other original art I've seen.

Steve B

[hcv123]

I have not been able to to examine this piece in person but I am told this is original artwork by the artist who drew the sketches that appear on the back of the 1967 Topps series. It is not signed or dated. I can't tell if it's an original sketch or a print. I've asked and the answer is pending. Can anyone offer some insight? Who is the artist responsible for the drawing? Was there more than one artist commissioned by Topps? Could this be an original sketch or just a print? Are they rare? What is the potential value, can anyone sight other sales?

Best,
Mike

They are one of a kind! The question on value is - how many people care/want the artwork from the back of that card. My guess would be not many. Really tough to speculate on value, but I wouldn't pay $25 for it.

[Mark70Z]

Mike... Looks to be an original cartoon strip from the back of Jim's Topps card. As said it's one of a kind. The examples I have seen the artist did not sign the artwork. As hvc123 said it's probably not worth too much due to the fact that there's probably not a lot of his collectors and not a whole lot of individuals collecting the original artwork. Now, if you have a player that people collect, i.e. HOFer, then the value will definitely escalate.

[mdallen22]

Thank you all for the information. I agree, had this been the back of a HOF'er card the value would escalate.

Can anyone reference previous sales on original artwork they may have seen over the years? Maybe i can get a gauge of what "common" players artwork has sold for even though they are all one of a kind.

Just out of curiosity - Does anyone know who the artist might be? Does anyone know if multiple artists were commissioned by Topps?

[Mark70Z]

Michael... I've seen the cartoon art come up every once in a while on ebay (thetoppsvault). Topps will sell unique items from their archives to the public. Also, as someone else has already said, there was an auction that Topps had years ago within Guernsey's auction house, believe in 1989, for a ton of very nice Topps items.

I would say it's worth around $10...if you can find someone that wants this particular one.

As far as artists I don't know who the artist was, but I've seen different cartoon styles throughout the years. Maybe they had a couple?...not really sure.

[David W]

I have bid on some of the Lou Brock original art work, but did not get it, even though it went fairly cheap as I recall. It's just not easy to display or store.

I would think only player collectors would care, and I don't think to many people are collecting Jim Lefebvre.

I agree with the others $10 to $20 maybe, but also a possibility of never selling.

[Troy Kirk]

The Lefebvre artwork is definitely real, I got some of these from the Guernsey auction and they look the same. I think the values expressed here are low, these artworks from the 1960s have often sold for about $30 for commons from what I have seen. I've seen bigger names go for a lot more. Very cool one of a kind items that I think are very underappreciated.

[laughlinfan]

99.9% it is real - shows the tape and editing marks that are very common for original Topps art, and I think the odds of a faked Jim Lefebrve are low. I think the majority of the original line drawings were sold in the 1989 Topps "Guernsey" auction, although as mentioned, they do pop up from time to time in the Topps Vault auctions.

Just as everyone has said, every one is one of a kind, so it is really driven by the player, year, team and content. Player and team collectors who are interested in oddball one of a kind items will pay a decent price, and sometimes you can just never tell, but $10 is low - I think $20-$30 is more in the ball park, and I do collect some of the Topps original art and follow the auction results. I remember a few years back when Topps was selling some early 70s football artwork through the Vault, a well heeled buyer was paying upward of $100 for commons (if he had to) but would generally win them in the $25-30 range. HOFers can go very high, but sometimes are surprisingly affordable.

Unfortunately, very little info is available about who did the artwork, but they contracted out with some comic book artists for some of their artwork. Although I have never seen a signed piece of line art, I have some from the 60s that were clearly drawn by Jack Davis, and some non sport artwork done by Wally Wood.

Neat items - happy collecting!

[Mark70Z]

I know I would pay a decent price for the player I collect. Now all we need is for someone to have one of the back of the card Brooks Robinson drawings (it would have to relate to him). Wonder what it would go for.

[mdallen22]

Thanks everyone for the information; always helpful!

[laughlinfan]

Mark - if I had to guess, I would say BRobby original art would go for at least $50-75, and probably a lot more depending on the drawing. Not sure what drawings they did for his cards, but one that referenced his World Series performance, for instance, would be of more interest to collectors than one that said somethig like, "Brooks was an education major in college" or something like that (just an example). Also interesting to note that in some years, the artwork did not reference the player on the front of the card, so there might be artwork for the back of his card that says, "The 1954 Orioles lost 95 games!" or "Joe Medwick's nickname was 'Ducky'" The reverse is also true - there may be artwork based on Brooks on the back of someone else's card, too.

Happy collecting!

[Mark70Z]

Marty - you're correct. An example is his '57 Topps rookie card has on the back "Which team scored the most runs in one inning?"...and the answer is the Red Sox... At least put an O's answer!

I think if there are more than one single player collectors for the particular player then I would think the price would be more than 50-75; I know I'd personally pay more.

I personally think these are undervalued and believe this would make an interesting collection if more of these cartoons would surface and/or Topps releases a lot more...

[Tedw9]

A buddy and I went to last years National and one dealer had a TON of these at his table. I don't know the year spread, but I think they are all from the 70's. He was at the Guersney's auction and won a few of the lots. He had everything from HOF'ers to commons, artwork, proofs and plates. We ended up talking to the guy for a while, he was one of the friendlier dealers at the show. I bought the Ted Williams artwork for $350 if I remember correct and my buddy grabbed the DiMaggio for $325. They both came from the 77 Topps set.

I agree these are undervalued, I was happy to get Ted at the price I did. It's a one of a kind piece, I'll never see another.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w169/Tedw9/094ba13c.jpg (http://s176.photobucket.com/user/Tedw9/media/094ba13c.jpg.html)

[laughlinfan]

Cool Teddy Ballgame artwork! I like how those two pieces are actually drawn to resemble the player - almost always the player shown is much more generic. Might be the only artwork piece that was drawn to resemble him, other than maybe the back of the 70(?) Ted Williams manager card, which would be very cool. I'm not sure that all of the Topps artwork survived through the years - some years I have never seen any artwork, although it seems that Topps kept most everything in their files.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder on these, as some in the thread don't seem to find these too interesting, but every one is truly one of a kind, as opposed to the manufactured scarcities marketed in the past 10-15 years of card issues. To each his own, I guess!

Thanks for sharing!

[Mark70Z]

WOW... I really like both the Williams and the DiMaggio artwork and for what it is I don't think that's a bad price at all. I'm sure there would be plenty of collectors willing to pay more for those items.

I'd agree with laughlinfan that most of the artwork is just generic and it's interesting that these resemble the actual player; kinda cool!

Anyone have any Brooks Robinson one's; I'd love to see it (or purchase it!)