Hi David
Very interesting stuff. I collected 1948 Bowman BB and FB cards when I was an 11-year old kid in the Fall of 1948. In our neighborhood (Hillside, New Jersey)
the BB cards were not too available. But, the FB cards (108-card set) were quite available. However, early in 1949 our local candy store started selling 1-cent
packs of 1948 Bowman BB cards.
The printing of the 1948 BOWMAN set is very interesting.....the printer took their 36-card production sheet and produced a 48-card set. In their 1st press runs
they printed cards #1 - 36. Then, in their later press runs they modified their printing plates by replacing 12 cards in the first group of 36 with cards #37 - 48.
The 36-card uncut sheet shown here represents the later press runs. Cards #37 - 48 are interspersed among the lower number cards. Therefore, this process
created Double-Prints of 24 low numbers....Single-Prints of 12 low numbers....and, another set of Single-Prints of the 12 high numbers.
I thought this tidbit of information would complement the neat stuff that you posted here.
TED Z
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