Reflections on 1949 BOWMAN's (25 HOFers, many Rookies)...show-N-tell us of your cards

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by jayshum

Can you comment on the light and dark backs of the first series (1-73 minus #4)? Are the dark backs rarer? When I put my set together without paying attention to the backs, I ended up with 44 light backs and 28 dark backs so it appears that the dark backs are harder to find. Do you know if that is really true?

Hi Jay

BOWMAN printed and issued their 1st series (72 cards) with White backs. These cards were very plentiful in the Spring of 1949, especially in the Northeast.
The Gray backs followed (circa May-June 1949), and it's my understanding that these cards were distributed in the South. And, the Mid West.

Apparently, the Gray backs were printed in lower quantities than the White backs.

TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Hi Jay

BOWMAN printed and issued their 1st series (72 cards) with White backs. These cards were very plentiful in the Spring of 1949, especially in the Northeast.
The Gray backs followed (circa May-June 1949), and it's my understanding that these cards were distributed in the South. And, the Mid West.

Apparently, the Gray backs were printed in lower quantities than the White backs.

TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Hi Ted,

Thanks for the confirmation. I am currently trying to find the backs that I don't have in my set, and so far, the white backs have definitely been easier to get.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by jayshum

Hi Ted,

Thanks for the confirmation. I am currently trying to find the backs that I don't have in my set, and so far, the white backs have definitely been easier to get.

Jay

I have two complete sets (252 cards). The first one with all the 1st series cards with White backs. And, the 2nd set with all Gray backs.
Completing the 1st series cards with Gray backs took me a long time. Bobby Doerr (#23) was the last one I needed.

Which reminds me....regarding the Gray backs, the first 36 cards [#1 - 3, 73, 5 - 36] were considerably more difficult to find with Gray
backs than cards #37 - 72.

Was this pattern the same for your ?


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Jay

I have two complete sets (252 cards). The first one with all the 1st series cards with White backs. And, the 2nd set with all Gray backs.
Completing the 1st series cards with Gray backs took me a long time. Bobby Doerr (#23) was the last one I needed.

Which reminds me....regarding the Gray backs, the first 36 cards [#1 - 3, 73, 5 - 36] were considerably more difficult to find with Gray
backs than cards #37 - 72.

Was this pattern the same for your ?


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

When I initially collected the set, of the 28 grey backs I have, 16 were from the first 36 cards and 12 were from the second 36 cards so it doesn't seem like it so far. We'l see how it goes now that I am trying to find the specific back colors. Also, the Bobby Doerr card I originally had was a grey back.

My set is generally VG to VG/EX so that could have something to do with it as well.

Would you say the grey backs tend to have a premium since they appear to be more scarce?

[tedzan]

Hi Jay

Back in the 1980's, the Gray backs of the 1st Series (72) cards had a slight premium for them. However, in recent years no one deems them anymore valuable.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[samosa4u]

Ted,

You stated that the 5th series are tough because Bowman was in a hurry to get out the 6th (and last) series, so they rushed the 5th series. Did Bowman regularly do this with their other sets as well?

You also mentioned that the cards from 1948 - 52 were printed on a 38-inch (track width) press. Is this a five-color press you're talking about or was it a smaller one? I know that Zabel Bros. had many presses in their plant. They would use the big presses for the bigger jobs and small presses for smaller jobs. Back then, they did not have the technology to print on both sides of the sheet at the same time. After printing the fronts, they would then move the sheets to a smaller press to print the backs.

Oh, and I never knew the PCL cards existed! Very cool!

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

Ted,

1st

You stated that the 5th series are tough because Bowman was in a hurry to get out the 6th (and last) series, so they rushed the 5th series. Did Bowman regularly do this with their other sets as well?

2nd

You also mentioned that the cards from 1948 - 52 were printed on a 38-inch (track width) press. Is this a five-color press you're talking about or was it a smaller one? I know that Zabel Bros. had many presses in their plant. They would use the big presses for the bigger jobs and small presses for smaller jobs. Back then, they did not have the technology to print on both sides of the sheet at the same time. After printing the fronts, they would then move the sheets to a smaller press to print the backs.

Oh, and I never knew the PCL cards existed! Very cool!

samosa4u

1st…..The first Series (cards #1 - 72) in the 1950 BOWMAN set are more difficult to find than the rest of the 180 cards in this set. So, this may be another example.

2nd…..The larger BOWMAN cards (1953 - 1955 sets) were printed using a 43-inch (track width) press.

The printing of all the BOWMAN Sportscards was done using a 4-color process.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[62corvette]

Ted,
I have 7 49 Bowman with double-printed backs. What can you tell me about those? I got those in St. Louis in 1972--same guy had uncut sheets of 49's, but I was putting myself through my 7th year of college and didn't have two nickels to rub together.