Unopened 1950 Bowman Baseball Pack sells for $25 K But Is It Really A 1950 Pack?

[Steve_NY]

Okay, Here I go again.

A graded GAI pack of what GAI originally called a 1950 5 cent Bowman baseball pack sold in October at auction for $25 K. I would have guessed somewhere around that figure, between $20 to $30K.

1 -- Same pack that was sold in the Mr. Mint auction in 2005 for $3.5K.

But I am still convinced that GAI probably mislabled a 1949 Bowman pack as a 1950 pack.

Three years ago, I studied all of the available research and concluded that the 1949 packs had a red stitching on the ball being thrown, and that the 1950 dated one cent packs had a blue stitching on the ball. But there is also no evidence of a 1950 dated or undated five cent pack.

Could Bowman have decided to use the same five cent wrapper from 1949 in 1950 as well? I have been searching for a dated 1950 five cent wrapper for years -- can anyone share further light with actual evidence versus heresay?

I know of a number of pack experts and I don't expect that they will be able to share any light on this issue. But over the last five years, I have focused all of my hobby collecting on wrappers, boxes and five cent unopened wax packs. In fact, I now own every five cent wax pack of all but six regular issue 1948 to 1973 sports related wax packs, all baseball, football, basketball and hockey wax packs. I now have over 350 to 400 such packs, which include many, many duplicates.

So we do know that an unopened wax pack of what I will call an unopened 1949 Bowman five cent pack has been opened and that five 1949 Bowman baseball cards were inside. Can anyone say the same for a five cent wrapper that held 1950 Bowman baseball cards? Yes, the dated one cent 1950 packs have one 1950 Bowman baseball card inside -- but will we ever know if Bowman used the same or different wrappers for the five cent Bowman baseball card?

2 -- Just a 1949 PCL update -- several years ago I did own what I will call it an unopened 1949 Bowman PCL pack that was green and orange -- but I wasn't collecting every pack at that time, so I sold it to one of the largest collectors of unopened wax packs in the country and now I am actively looking for a replacement. I had no intention of opening that pack to prove my theory and should I get a second one, it will also remain sealed and placed in my collection.

I am getting a number of packs soon that will include one Parkhurst pack that will reduce the number of packs I personally need to five. Pretty good for a few hard years of collecting and buying.

Stay Safe!

Steve
914-522-3853