1954 Bowman Help
 

I just bought what was shown as a 1954 Bowman Johnny Antonelli (#208) from COMC. I got the card yesterday and it is in fantastic shape. Too fantastic. It is perfectly centered, sharp corners and edges, and still glossy on the front.
It is the correct size for 1954 Bowman (2 1/2" x 3 3/4"), but it just seems way too nice for a card that is 57 years old.

Does anyone know if there ever was a reprint of 1954 Bowman and, if so, how would I differentiate it from a legit 1954? Thanks.

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Edit: Here are scans.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...B_JA_Front.jpghttp://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...4B_JA_Back.jpg

Yeah, that's horrible. Send it to me and I'll deal with it properly --
By checking it off and adding it to my collection:D

Looks good from that scan, there are still plenty of nice 50's cards out there.
A higher res scan would show the really fine points of the printing, especially of the solid areas like the name panel on the front. Most reprints are rescreened and show the dot pattern.

I had the same reaction around 1982 when I saw the first really NM Goudey I'd ever seen. That incredulous moment of "that can't be real can it? " It was, and I should have bought it.

Steve B

I took the same image and blew up a detail of it.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...nt_Closeup.jpg

Yep, that's just fine.

Steve B

Thank you. To be honest, when I saw the detail when I blew the image up, I was getting increasingly worried. I will now return to being ecstatic about having this card.

That's a beautiful card. Don't get it graded.
Doug

If you dont want that ugly card I will take it and put it in my collection. LOL
Nice card!! There are actually a lot of 50s cards out there in great shape. I am putting together a 56 topps set and all the cards are in the same shape as the bowman you have.
Happy trading
Ron

I'll be happy to trade you that Bowman for your 1956 set. Straight up, you don't need to throw anything else in.

I love the 1956 set and have started working on it slowly. I am just back into collecting and have been focusing on the 1970s sets I knew as a child, but I've been pulling 56s out of the discount boxes at shows. I have about 40 cards now. My only criteria is that there is some white border all the way around and it doesn't look like it was used as a drink coaster or baby pacifier. After standing at a counter in a card shop with a want list and obsessing about which 1977 common has better corners, it is a lot of fun to just get cards for the heck of it.

Then you wouldn't want many of my 56s. They're pretty much the whole range from really nice to ones that look like the baby gave it to the dog after using it. Most of the bad ones came from my first "deal" a big stack of very poor grade cards from 48-59 maybe 400 or so. Pretty much every sort of damage included creases, holes, writing, some were even waxed to make them fly farhter for flipping. I sold all the extras a few weeks later for what I paid for the whole bunch.

Steve B

Its a nice looking card! I have a few in my 54 Bowman set in that condition! Are you working on the set?

Not sure, but maybe some of the doubt this card inspires is from the re-dubbing done by Bowman on the original photo. Antonelli was traded to the Giants while the gum maker was proofing its 1954 press run, so it simply used a photo of him in a Braves uni, air-brushing the cap logo, and apparently either stuck his head on a Giants uni or imposed the uni below his head. I guess all that would lead to some question about the card's bona fides, but the photoshop did such a nice job, except for making the cap logo too small, it's nothing to complain about.