The Post War Cards Newsletter #302
A Forgotten National Auction and an Unused 1952 Bowman Original Artwork / Great Hobby Writing / Vintage Cards on LA Law
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š¼ļø A Forgotten National Auction and an Unused 1952 Bowman Original Artwork
How many of you remember that there was an auction held at the 10th National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago benefiting Ronald McDonald Childrenās Charities?
The auction was cataloged, compiled, produced, and published by Krause Publications and featured several interesting items, many of them Chicago-focused since thatās where The National was held. However, one of the more interesting pieces to me, as someone building The Original Artwork Archive, was an original 1952 Bowman artwork of Tom Ferrick that was donated by Mr. Robert Foster.
The thing is, the original color painting that was intended to serve as the basis for Ferrickās 1952 card was never used. As the auction lot describes:
Ferrick appeared as a Yankee in the ā51 Bowman set, was traded to Washington in mid-1951, but never again appeared on a Bowman card. He was 40-40 with a 3.47 (ERA) for th Aās, Indians, Browns, Senators and Yankees between 1941-1952.
The piece popped up framed, along with another unused painting of Bob Cerv, at SCP Auctions, where the pair sold for $471.60 in November 2011.
Neither piece was part of the 15 Gelman Phantom finds that TCMA later issued as a supplemental set (more details in this blog post).
And back to just Ferrick, according to TCDB, his only other mainstream release, besides that ā51 Bowman card, was in the 1960 Topps set, card #461, as a coach for the Tigers. The priciest sale of that card came in December 2012, when a PSA 10 example sold for $1,801.66 via Memory Lane Inc.
āļø Great Hobby Writing
The Topps Archives: Take and Give
Sports Collectors Daily: 2026 Panini World Cup Stickers are Latest in Long Running Summer Ritual
CardBoredom: What Re:Leaf Brings to the Discussion
Nine Pockets: Great Hockey Photos AND Wise Advice? Iāll Take It!
Night Owl Cards: Thinking about doing something dumb again
Sports Collectors Digest: Exhibit Supply Company launched its first baseball set in the 1920s, collectors have been chasing the classic cards ever since & 1989 Topps/LJN audio player brought baseball cards to life for niche collectors & With rare rookies of elite athletes, SI For Kids cards a fun, challenging set for niche collectors
Nachose Grande: From Mail Envelope to Binder: How I Organize Incoming Baseball Cards
Only Good Stickers: Panini Club World Cup 2026
šŗ Vintage Cards on LA Law
Some of you may have missed it the other day when wsomarketing shared the following photo on Bluesky, captured from Season 6, Episode 16 of L.A. Law.
He noted that the 1953 Topps Johnny Mize immediately jumped out at him. He was also fairly certain that the card beside it was a 1953 Topps Satchel Paige and wondered if the image also included a 1934 Goudey Lou Gehrig.
As it turns out, I have the exact poster hanging on the wall of The Hobby Library, courtesy of Chef Boyardee!
If you want a copy, theyāre still really affordable. Here are a few for sale, including shipping: $9.75 on eBay, $9.99 on eBay, and $14.46 on eBay.