Bob Lemke's Custom Cards
 

Mary Ann Lemke has sent Bob's remaining inventory of his custom cards to me here in Wisconsin and I am taking care of the orders. There is a very limited supply since he never created too many extras.
Collectors should let me know which cards they are interested in and I'll tell them what is available.
Check or money order should be made out to T.S. O'Connell. Mary Ann will still get the receipts; it's just simpler this way. I will reimburse her in the spring when she returns to Iola.
tsoconnell1959@gmail.com
T.S. O'Connell
P.O. Box 56
Iola, WI 54945
(715) 445-2902

Sent an email over!

Maybe a picture would help of what they are.

email sent

Inquiry sent

Can we get a price list and or photos?

Recently sent in a request for 3, and only 2 were available. They were 20 dollars with shipping included. I found a list

with images in one of Bob Lemke's blogs. I am looking forward to getting them, online reviews indicate they are high quality and the cards I ordered were of players never issued but they should have been.

Could you provide a link?


Thanks,
Raymond

Here are links to all of Bob's custom football cards:

1960-77: http://boblemke.blogspot.com/2016/12...all-cards.html
1951-59: http://boblemke.blogspot.com/2016/12...all-cards.html
1955 All-American: http://boblemke.blogspot.com/2016/12...an-custom.html

And links to all his custom baseball cards:

Pre-war: http://boblemke.blogspot.com/2016/09...cards-pre.html
1970-90: http://boblemke.blogspot.com/2016/09...-cards_45.html
1957-69: http://boblemke.blogspot.com/2016/09...-cards_51.html
1951-56: http://boblemke.blogspot.com/2016/09...all-cards.html

Non-sport cards: http://boblemke.blogspot.com/2016/07...on-sports.html

And there was just a handful of the 52 topps left


Now gone

For anyone who's never seen one (particularly in person), I can tell you that they're amazingly well done. I'm glad to have purchased several from Bob a few years ago.

Me too. I did not buy them for future appreciation; however, I suppose that could happen. I bought them because I really appreciated them. Bob Lemke's work was flat-out great. I only own five--a couple football and three baseball. When I get them properly mounted in a good one-screw, they will be placed beside my period cards. I have Bob's re-creation of a 1963 JELL-O Black Raspberry box, using the heart of the compelling photo of Mickey Mantle the JELL-O people chose for their in-store advertising placard. Beauty is where you find it, and I find Bob's creations cardboard works of art.

So, if you're still on the fence as to whether to buy one or more examples, I urge you to act NOW! The cost is peanuts compared to the price if it was original period, which of course it is not. So much of our hobby is imagining the past and what it was like to collect these gems. Many of us have mused about cards we wish would have been made. Years ago our dear Mr. Lemke finally "threw down the gauntlet" and decided to do something about his inner yearnings for "cards that never were, but ought to have been". I salute him for sharing his passion with us, rather than keeping all his customs to himself!

I put that same passion into the final chapter of my book; fantasy cards are very fulfilling. Bob Lemke sure thought so.

---Brian Powell

Great Card!
 

Mr. Lemke will surely be missed.

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PM sent.

All 4 I requested were available and I recieved them yesterday.

Absolutely great cards and Bob did an amazing job. So happy to have them as a piece of my collection.

Thank you to Chris for doing this.

Got this beauty today, and am very thankful to have this in my Fisk collection. Thanks Chris and TS!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...aac15ba7f0.jpg

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

Email sent

Email sent.

email sent
 

Too often we don't appreciate what is in front of us until it is gone! I saw some of these creations along the way - thought they were great, never pulled the trigger. Just sent an e-mail hoping I get some of what I asked for. Will really miss the ongoing incredible contributions that Bob made to this hobby of ours!

He chose just the right photos for these cards. The card companies couldn't have -- and often didn't -- do any better.

Then you have this guy stealing his creations and selling them...

http://www.ebay.com/usr/mr.0ddball420

Hadn't seen those. Are you sure they're not originals?

No they are not originals. That seller copies anything they can find on the internet and sells it.

EDIT: Bob helped me on materials to use when making custom cards/items and people like the one stealing his stuff really irritated him.

Thanks for calling attention to this. If I'd stumbled across those cards, I might have thought they were the real things.

I think I bought one last year - before I knew about Mr. Lemke's.

Is there any chance it could have just been a resell of the original?

Not from that seller. Like we complain about some sellers on this forum the one in the link get complained about over on the BO forum. Another give away is look at the prices. That person sells stuff for $3-4 each and Bob never sold stuff at those prices. Another give away is the card stock they are on. That seller uses greeting card stock and Bob used 2 layers to get his desired affect and a much nicer card.

They look like very poor copies from looking at the listings, Bob's are very clear and well printed.

This looks terrible:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JACKIE-ROBIN...kAAOSwiDFYNzfu

Well, the one I have is a 1967 Topps format of Koufax that matches the image shown on Mr. Lemke's site. Comparing it to the 1965 Spahn I just purchased via this thread's links, the quality is the same - though, under a magnifying glass, I can see the layering a little better on the Koufax.

Anyway, I hope my Koufax is legit - see what you think:

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There is really no way of knowing from a picture. If you know what you are doing you can use any decent picture and make a decent card from it. I know I have made a few custom cards from pictures of custom cards a fellow member on here designed. If you make a high gloss Tiffany style custom card you can actually improve upon the image you copied.

Lemke customs
 

I'm just waiting for the ones I ordered to arrive. I got the 1952 Topps Paul Pettit, and the 1954 Bowman and Topps Charley Pride cards. I can't wait to see them in person.

I had an old beat up PSA slab so I made this today.

I pointed out an error on one of his cards and he thanked me and offered me a free copy, which I thought was nice. I didn't take him up on it.