The Post War Cards Newsletter #16

A 1960 CFL Uncut Sheet, Photos From Bowman's Archives, Funny Monsters, And The First Baseball Cards

Jan 09, 2025

The hobby is just getting going again after a quiet holiday break, and I’m excited for new discoveries and revisiting old favorites. Hopefully, today’s newsletter delivers on both! Here’s what I’ve got for you today:

An uncut sheet of football cards I’ve never seen before,
Two photos from Bowman’s archives,
A slew of horrific non-sport wrappers and display boxes from 1959,
The baseball card show event of a lifetime,
And Mark Rucker’s classic book on…classic cards!

🏈 A Super Rare 1960 Topps CFL Uncut Sheet

A collector contacted me a few weeks ago and shared a few photos of a 1960 Topps CFL Uncut Sheet!

The sheet shows 66 of the set’s 88 cards. To the best of his recollections, the owner purchased it along with several other partial sheets in the early '70s. I’ve only seen a few vintage Topps CFL uncut sheets over the years, and this is the first time I recall ever seeing this one. I’ll share more about it in a future blog post. And if you’re a fan of uncut sheets, check out The Uncut Sheet Archive.

📷 Two Proof Photos From The Bowman Archives

RMY Auctions, which specializes in historic and vintage photography, wrapped up its Holiday Collectors Auction on January 4th. Two related lots caught my eye: the circa 1949 proof photographs of Ray Scarborough (sold for $31) and Sam Chapman (sold for $97) used to make their 1950 Bowman Baseball cards, both came directly from Bowman’s archives!

The auction’s priciest sports-related items were a 1974 Muhammad Ali, “Knockout Blow Against George Foreman” Sports Illustrated Cover Shot ($6,166), a 1921 Babe Ruth, “New York Yankees Icon at the Ballpark” by Goerge Grantham Bain ($5,339) and a 1912 Tris Speaker, “Underrated Boston Red Sox Slugger” Detailed Paul Thompson Batting Photo ($4,412).

✍️ Great Hobby Writing

The Shlabotnik Report: Only On Paper: Nearly 1962 Colt .45s
SABR's Baseball Cards Research Committee: Cardboard Crosswalk: 1985 Donruss and Leaf
1939 Bruins: The Mack Robinson card that wasn’t
SABR's Baseball Cards Research Committee: The uneven handling by Topps of a team’s name
Night Owl Cards: Joy of a subset: What are these old guys doing in my set?
The Topps Archives: Second Team
Baseball Happenings: How Tom Qualters Went From Moneybags To Satchel Paige's Protegé
Beckett: Top 25 Sports Cards of 2024
Pre-War Collector: War! The Massive 1920s W545 Strip Card Set Focused on World War I

🧌 Unopened Item(s) Of The Week - 1959 Topps Funny Monsters

Back in early December, the following 1959 Topps Funny Monsters 5-cent Wax Wrapper sold on eBay for $207.50.

The set’s sometimes called the 1959 Topps “You’ll Die Laughing” set, the phrase found on the back of the cards. In the Non-Sports Bible, James Watson says the cards feature colorful Jack Davis (of Mad Magazine fame) drawings depicting a wide assortment of monsters with various gag lines beneath them.

From an unopened perspective, REA sold the following 5-cent display box (with an advertising letter) for $696 in the spring of 2006.

Topps also printed penny packs and boxes under its Bubble Inc. branding. In October 2018, Morphy offered examples of both, plus a near set (from Fleer’s archives); the lot sold for $1,020.

📝 On The Blog

January 2, 2025: The Upper Deck Commemorative Sheets Series: Part 1 – Baseball
January 3, 2025: Be Aware Of 1951/52 Parkhurst Hockey Counterfeits
January 3, 2025: The Upper Deck Commemorative Sheets Series: Part 2 – Hockey
January 4, 2025: The 10 Most Significant Action Photos Of All-Time
January 5, 2025: The Original Artwork for Gordie Howe’s 1957/58 Topps Hockey Card
January 5, 2025: The Upper Deck Commemorative Sheets Series: Part 3 – Basketball
January 6, 2025: 1997 Sale of a Fully Signed 1959 Fleer Ted Williams Baseball Card Set
January 7, 2025: 1973 Topps “1953 Reissue” Test Set: More Than Just a Reprint!
January 7, 2025: The Upper Deck Commemorative Sheets Series: Part 4 – Football
January 8, 2025: Unveiling a Rarity: A 1937 Goudey Thum Movies Uncut Sheet

🎟️ Card Show History - The Event Of A Lifetime

I scanned this advertisement for the “The Event of a Lifetime” card show from the May 1992 issue of the Sports Card Price Guide.

Duke Snider and Eddie Murray were an impressive pairing for the show, and Casey Weldon was a First-Team All-American in 1991 and finished second to Desmond Howard for the Heisman Trophy. But does anyone know who the surprise guest, courtesy of Pro Set, Inc., was? Gotta think it was a football player, right?

⚾️ In The Hobby Library - The First Baseball Cards

“Among the most wonderful coincidences in modern times were the invention of photography and the advent of the game of baseball. Both beginnings are placed in the year 1839, though baseball as we know it was not under way until 1845. Many forms of the game predate the establishment of the ‘New York’ style of play, which, all myths aside, was propagated in New York and Brooklyn. The New York game was essentially the same as ours.”

That’s the introductory paragraph to Mark Rucker’s incredible book Base Ball Cartes: The First Baseball Cards.