[Archive]

Posted By: Hankron

Paul, I don't know of the existence of others. That is not intended to mean that there aren't others, just that I'm not aware of them if there are. The pictured test designs are pasted into the book, which was sort of a like an artist's or draft book. I think this lot (which I do not own) sold for something like $7,000 (guess, someone may be able to correct me).

These were the three prospective Bowman designs. Bowman had an official survey of kids to see which design was most popular-- and the knothole design won. This would suggest that the 1956 Bowmans were going to be the knothole design.

It is noteworthy, that in later years Topps used two of these designs (the 'single' design being a rehashing of the the 53 Bowman Colors). The 'double' was used for the 1957 Topps football and, as noted, the knothole design was used for the Hires Rootbeer cards (Topps printed the cards for Hires).