The curious case of 1948 Leaf

[G1911]

The quality control was so bad it sometimes seems that there are an endless number of print variations and no 2 cards are actually alike!


I have had a couple complete sets I traded away and am building another one in low grade to keep. Quite a few of the cards come with the "purple" variation; I suspect all cards that portray gloved boxers have it. I have noticed over the years that they are more common on grey back cards where it seems red ink was replaced with the purple tone throughout the image of the boxer on some cards (though the background is still red on red background cards), like for John Henry Lewis. White Back Purple's are harder, though not a true scarcity. I have white back purples of Mickey Walker, Melio Bettini (purple glove, but red trunks), Bob Montgomery. I've never paid a premium for these