Anyone Collect 1959 Bazooka Football?

[clamendo]

This is a tough card
http://sgccard.com/imageconverter.as...rds/us5966.jpg


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[supplex55]

I recently posted my 1959 Bazooka set on imageevent.com. It took me almost 20 years to complete, with the Groza being the last card to finish the set. I had to borrow 600.00 from my Dad in the 1996 to purchase it as I had just returned from the National Sports Collector's Convention in fruitless pursuit of finishing the set (but spending my last dollar anyway), and a letter arrived from Don Niemi telling me he had one! According to Don, he felt the Groza was the toughest in the set and that there were less than 15 or so in existence (don't know how he came by those numbers). He also said he felt it was one of the 5 rarest football cards in the hobby.
http://imageevent.com/supplex55/1959bazookafootballset

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by supplex55

I recently posted my 1959 Bazooka set on imageevent.com. It took me almost 20 years to complete, with the Groza being the last card to finish the set. I had to borrow 600.00 from my Dad in the 1996 to purchase it as I had just returned from the National Sports Collector's Convention in fruitless pursuit of finishing the set (but spending my last dollar anyway), and a letter arrived from Don Niemi telling me he had one! According to Don, he felt the Groza was the toughest in the set and that there were less than 15 or so in existence (don't know how he came by those numbers). He also said he felt it was one of the 5 rarest football cards in the hobby.
http://imageevent.com/supplex55/1959bazookafootballset

Damn that is impressive.

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by supplex55

I recently posted my 1959 Bazooka set on imageevent.com. It took me almost 20 years to complete, with the Groza being the last card to finish the set. I had to borrow 600.00 from my Dad in the 1996 to purchase it as I had just returned from the National Sports Collector's Convention in fruitless pursuit of finishing the set (but spending my last dollar anyway), and a letter arrived from Don Niemi telling me he had one! According to Don, he felt the Groza was the toughest in the set and that there were less than 15 or so in existence (don't know how he came by those numbers). He also said he felt it was one of the 5 rarest football cards in the hobby.
http://imageevent.com/supplex55/1959bazookafootballset

Great set and images!

The 1959 Bazooka set is one of my favorites. They are just beautiful cards. I would say at this point, though, that the Groza is not one of the 5 rarest football cards in the hobby as so many oddball and obscure sets have been identified since Don told you that decades ago. It is still a very difficult card to find, though. I've been trying to upgrade mine for years without any luck. Same for Tom Tracy.

jeff

[Justus]

http://imageevent.com/supplex55/1959bazookafootballset[/QUOTE]

Wow, that is incredible!

[samosa4u]

A few things I want to say about this set:

I didn't know that Bazooka made a smaller box for these cards. I always thought that all the Bazooka boxes from this period were of the same size and that kids would just buy these gums individually and a lucky one in the end would be given the empty box by the store owner. So the only way to get your hands on these cards was to purchase a sealed box, correct? How much did the box cost? Anyone have a clue?

Now I agree that these cards look awesome, but I hate how almost all of them are portrait shots. The Jim Brown card is awesome because it is an action shot and Bazooka should have included more action shots in this football set.

And speaking of the Jim Brown card, I would love to own one, but the people listing them on eBay are asking for INSANE amounts of money for theirs. Now I don't mind overpaying a little for it, but I am not going to spend thousands of dollars for it. I have seen beautiful ungraded examples selling for less than $1,000 USD at auction.

[spec]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

A few things I want to say about this set:

I didn't know that Bazooka made a smaller box for these cards. I always thought that all the Bazooka boxes from this period were of the same size and that kids would just buy these gums individually and a lucky one in the end would be given the empty box by the store owner. So the only way to get your hands on these cards was to purchase a sealed box, correct? How much did the box cost? Anyone have a clue?

Now I agree that these cards look awesome, but I hate how almost all of them are portrait shots. The Jim Brown card is awesome because it is an action shot and Bazooka should have included more action shots in this football set.

And speaking of the Jim Brown card, I would love to own one, but the people listing them on eBay are asking for INSANE amounts of money for theirs. Now I don't mind overpaying a little for it, but I am not going to spend thousands of dollars for it. I have seen beautiful ungraded examples selling for less than $1,000 USD at auction.

As I recall, the Bazooka boxes cost about a quarter, far more than 12-year-old me could spend on a single card. I should have bought the boxes and sold the gum at school as I did in later years when I realized it made more sense to buy a box of each Topps series rather than try to piece them together pack by pack.

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by spec

As I recall, the Bazooka boxes cost about a quarter, far more than 12-year-old me could spend on a single card. I should have bought the boxes and sold the gum at school as I did in later years when I realized it made more sense to buy a box of each Topps series rather than try to piece them together pack by pack.

I believe the boxes had 25 pieces of gum in it that were each 1 cent so 25 cents to purchase the entire box.

I complete this set probably four or five years ago and really love it! What a beautiful set it is.

jeff

[samosa4u]

Alright, this is getting a little confusing now. Somebody here posted a picture of a box that once had 20 pieces of gum inside (Alan Ameche). Now I found this Jim Brown box online:



This is a 40 pack box. So we now know that there were at least two different sizes. This got me thinking about one thing: if you wanted to get your hands on one of the stars, such as Jim Brown or John Unitas, then maybe you had to purchase the 40 pack box. In other words, to get the stars, you had to spend more money. Only the less popular players were found on the 20 pack boxes - what do you guys think? I just came across another 20 pack box now with Chuck Conerly on it and this further supports my above argument. Here it is below:

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

A few things I want to say about this set:

I didn't know that Bazooka made a smaller box for these cards. I always thought that all the Bazooka boxes from this period were of the same size and that kids would just buy these gums individually and a lucky one in the end would be given the empty box by the store owner. So the only way to get your hands on these cards was to purchase a sealed box, correct? How much did the box cost? Anyone have a clue?

Now I agree that these cards look awesome, but I hate how almost all of them are portrait shots. The Jim Brown card is awesome because it is an action shot and Bazooka should have included more action shots in this football set.

And speaking of the Jim Brown card, I would love to own one, but the people listing them on eBay are asking for INSANE amounts of money for theirs. Now I don't mind overpaying a little for it, but I am not going to spend thousands of dollars for it. I have seen beautiful ungraded examples selling for less than $1,000 USD at auction.

Yeah same reaction to the ebay prices.

[toppcat]

I wonder if Ozzie Sweet took some of the pix in this set?