Mysterious 1949 Wrapper....need help ? ?

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

The Green-Orange-White (G-O-W) wrapper depicted on the left is a very rare 1949 Bowman wrapper.
The Red-White-Blue on the right is the normal 1949 Bowman wrapper.

I have consulted veteran experts in the hobby for many years, and so far, no one can account for the
G-O-W one.
My speculation is that it was issued with the 1949 Bowman PCL cards ? ?

I'm also posting this on the new POST-WAR thread....can any Net54er identify it ?

Thanks for any inputs on this.....

TED Z

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Posted By: barrysloate

Ted- weren't the PCL's just mixed into packs with major league players?

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Posted By: Jim

The G-O-W does not have the number 5 on it, in front of Picture Cards. Maybe they changed the number of cards in the pack.

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Posted By: Mark Macrae

Barry.... The PCL issue was salted into regular Major League packs on the East Coast, primarily Philadelphia area. On the West Coast, they were marketed seperate from the Major League issue. One Northwest collector, who is the same age as Ted distinctly remembers buying these PCL-unique packs in North Seattle during the summer of '49. His memory is sharpened by the fact that he lived 70 miles south in Olympia and only the Bowman Major League cards were sold at his local store. He was delighted when he discovered these PCL cards which depicted players that he could identify and relate to. He was sourced in the VCBC article that Ted & I jointly authored on this set many years ago. Unfortunately his memory is focused on the cards and he does not distinctly remember the wrapper...

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Posted By: barrysloate

Hi Mark- it's not surprising that packs of PCL's could be found on the West Coast, but it is surprising that they circulated on the East Coast. It's unlikely many kids in New Jersey even knew what the PCL was.

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

If you recall from our many, many conversations that in the 1980's....I bought several original 1949 Bowman
collections from the greater Philadelphia area that included factory-cut PCL cards that the owners remember
were included in regular 1949 packs. None of these were large lots of PCL cards, typically 5 - 10 PCL cards.

However, a large lot....about 60 PCL cards....were recently found in upstate NY near Cooperstown. But, the
history of this collection is unknown. And, as Mark Macrae has discovered, many of the PCL's were distributed
in the Northwest.

TED Z

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

The 2nd Edition of Darren Prince's Unopened Pack Guide (1993)lists both colors. Prices were as follows then (in "prime" condition which seems to be NM):

Unopened Pack Blue/Red Green/Orange
Series 1/3 2000 2200
Series 2 2000 2200
Series 4 1500 1750
Series 5 1500 1750
Series 6 2500 3000

5 cent Wrapper 200 500

Series 1/3 packs were shown that way in the guide, all other series shown separately. No penny wrapper in Green/Orange is noted. Packs are 5 cent variety.

Mark Murphy's guide(2002)shows 200/250 as above for wrappers, so the spread narrowed in nine years but no distinction regarding pack prices is noted. Pack prices were higher in 2002 than in 1993 by about 15 to 25%, depending on series.

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Initially, Bowman had 1-cent packs for their 1st series of 72 cards. Then, they went to 5-cent packs with
5 cards and a large, tasty slab of bubble gum for their following series.
The fact that the Green/Orange wrapper does not identify the number of cards further adds to this mystery.

TED Z

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

I contacted Mark Murphy about this wrapper many years ago and he could not really identify it with
a given series or issue, other then it is a 1949 Bowman wrapper. The price difference between these
two is Red/Blue = $200 and Orange/Green = $350. But, that is immaterial to me, I want to know what
cards were in this mysterious wrapper ?

When long time dealers and "biggies" in this hobby cannot identify it.....it is really strange.

TED Z

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

Ted, yes it's Scooby Doo time around here with all these mysteries......Actually, I was showing price spreads to give some idea of perceived scarcity at the time the guides were published. Interesting that Darren Prince has all six series available in either wrapper. I remember his ads in SCD many years ago but have no idea how accurate his research was.

Also, I cannot find it but recall reading (elsewhere and possibly here) that 49 PCL's could be bought in uncut sheet form on the left coast. I'm pressed for time right now but will look back for old posts on this. I think the PCL cards are perfectly strange and wonderful and are fascinating to read about.