Reflections on 1949 BOWMAN's (25 HOFers, many Rookies)...show-N-tell us of your cards

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Hi Jay

BOWMAN printed and issued their 1st series (72 cards) with White backs. These cards were very plentiful in the Spring of 1949, especially in the Northeast.
The Gray backs followed (circa May-June 1949), and it's my understanding that these cards were distributed in the South. And, the Mid West.

Apparently, the Gray backs were printed in lower quantities than the White backs.

TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Hi Ted,

Thanks for the confirmation. I am currently trying to find the backs that I don't have in my set, and so far, the white backs have definitely been easier to get.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by jayshum

Hi Ted,

Thanks for the confirmation. I am currently trying to find the backs that I don't have in my set, and so far, the white backs have definitely been easier to get.

Jay

I have two complete sets (252 cards). The first one with all the 1st series cards with White backs. And, the 2nd set with all Gray backs.
Completing the 1st series cards with Gray backs took me a long time. Bobby Doerr (#23) was the last one I needed.

Which reminds me....regarding the Gray backs, the first 36 cards [#1 - 3, 73, 5 - 36] were considerably more difficult to find with Gray
backs than cards #37 - 72.

Was this pattern the same for your ?


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Jay

I have two complete sets (252 cards). The first one with all the 1st series cards with White backs. And, the 2nd set with all Gray backs.
Completing the 1st series cards with Gray backs took me a long time. Bobby Doerr (#23) was the last one I needed.

Which reminds me....regarding the Gray backs, the first 36 cards [#1 - 3, 73, 5 - 36] were considerably more difficult to find with Gray
backs than cards #37 - 72.

Was this pattern the same for your ?


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

When I initially collected the set, of the 28 grey backs I have, 16 were from the first 36 cards and 12 were from the second 36 cards so it doesn't seem like it so far. We'l see how it goes now that I am trying to find the specific back colors. Also, the Bobby Doerr card I originally had was a grey back.

My set is generally VG to VG/EX so that could have something to do with it as well.

Would you say the grey backs tend to have a premium since they appear to be more scarce?

[tedzan]

Hi Jay

Back in the 1980's, the Gray backs of the 1st Series (72) cards had a slight premium for them. However, in recent years no one deems them anymore valuable.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[samosa4u]

Ted,

You stated that the 5th series are tough because Bowman was in a hurry to get out the 6th (and last) series, so they rushed the 5th series. Did Bowman regularly do this with their other sets as well?

You also mentioned that the cards from 1948 - 52 were printed on a 38-inch (track width) press. Is this a five-color press you're talking about or was it a smaller one? I know that Zabel Bros. had many presses in their plant. They would use the big presses for the bigger jobs and small presses for smaller jobs. Back then, they did not have the technology to print on both sides of the sheet at the same time. After printing the fronts, they would then move the sheets to a smaller press to print the backs.

Oh, and I never knew the PCL cards existed! Very cool!

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

Ted,

1st

You stated that the 5th series are tough because Bowman was in a hurry to get out the 6th (and last) series, so they rushed the 5th series. Did Bowman regularly do this with their other sets as well?

2nd

You also mentioned that the cards from 1948 - 52 were printed on a 38-inch (track width) press. Is this a five-color press you're talking about or was it a smaller one? I know that Zabel Bros. had many presses in their plant. They would use the big presses for the bigger jobs and small presses for smaller jobs. Back then, they did not have the technology to print on both sides of the sheet at the same time. After printing the fronts, they would then move the sheets to a smaller press to print the backs.

Oh, and I never knew the PCL cards existed! Very cool!

samosa4u

1st…..The first Series (cards #1 - 72) in the 1950 BOWMAN set are more difficult to find than the rest of the 180 cards in this set. So, this may be another example.

2nd…..The larger BOWMAN cards (1953 - 1955 sets) were printed using a 43-inch (track width) press.

The printing of all the BOWMAN Sportscards was done using a 4-color process.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[62corvette]

Ted,
I have 7 49 Bowman with double-printed backs. What can you tell me about those? I got those in St. Louis in 1972--same guy had uncut sheets of 49's, but I was putting myself through my 7th year of college and didn't have two nickels to rub together.

[Bram99]

Originally Posted by 62corvette

Ted,
I have 7 49 Bowman with double-printed backs. What can you tell me about those? I got those in St. Louis in 1972--same guy had uncut sheets of 49's, but I was putting myself through my 7th year of college and didn't have two nickels to rub together.

I have several of these, both individual cards and some partial sheets. I suspect the partial sheets are part full scrap sheets that somehow didn't make it to the garbage pile.

I also have a few graded examples from PSA. PSA thinks this one is trimmed, but I think it is more likely just a card cut from an uncut sheet. I am sure Ted has his own opinions or evidence about whether this is right.

One interesting thing about this particular example is that it card #36 (Peewee Reese) on the front, but on the back it is Reese #36 and Ken Heintzleman #108. These cards happen to be the last numerical cards from the first sheet and the third sheet of 36. I've seen the sequence of the cards on uncut sheets and they are not in sequential numerical order from upper left across the rows to lower right. But since Heinzelman is the the highest number in sheet 3 and Reese is the highest number in sheet 1, I wonder if that means that there was some specific pattern they used for the numbering sequence between the lowest and highest card number for each sheet. But since #4 is missing on the first sheet (Jerry Priddy #4 was skipped and printed on second sheet for some reason), maybe this is just a coincidence and means nothing.

Ted probably knows...