The Post War Cards Newsletter #35
1956 Bowman Baseball Cards Part 2, Vintage Tobacco Banners, A Funny Monsters Box, Topps Team Checklists, And A 1980 Sports Card Show
Good day, collectors!
⚾️ 1956 Bowman Baseball Cards! By Bill Hongach
I mentioned in Newsletter 29 that the story of 1956 Bowman baseball cards would take 15 pages to cover; well, Bill Hongach managed to do it justice in just three pages (plus a title page) in the Spring 1984 issue of the Baseball Hobby Card Report.
Here are links to the full-sized scans: title page, page 9, page 10, and page 11.
And for more great hobby writing, check out the Hobby Resources page I just published.
🚬 Heritage’s Spring Catalog Auction And A Few Tobacco Banners
Items at auctions can easily be overlooked, especially at Heritage, where their latest catalog auction had a ton of items sell for >$100k including a pop 24 PSA 10 graded 1980 Topps Larry Bird, Julius Erving, Magic Johnson - Scoring Leader card ($427k), a PSA 10 1998 SkyBox E-X 2001 Ken Griffey Jr. (Essential Credentials Now) card that sold for $280,600 (the highest Griffey sale ever), and a PSA 8 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth #181 ($207,400).
But tucked among the headline sales was a trio of tobacco banners that deserve a closer look. Together they sold for just ~$8k—a fraction of the price of those six-figure items, despite being just as scarce and arguably even more visually striking. Those pieces were a 1888 G9 Allen & Ginter "Flags of the States And Territories" Tobacco Banner ($2,562), 1888 G93 Kinney Bros. "Naval Vessels of the World" Advertising Tobacco Banner ($4,148), and a 1888 G8-3 Allen & Ginter "Flags of All Nations" Tobacco Banner ($1,403).
I’ll be adding tobacco banners to my long-form writing to-do list, because while you can find decent information on a piece-by-piece basis, I don’t know of any consolidated and comprehensive research about them!
✍️ Great Hobby Writing
Sports Collectors Digest: Head & (No) Shoulders: Collector scores rare find with 1920s Babe Ruth ‘Shoulderless’ card, set
Sports Collectors Daily: First O-Pee-Chee WHA Set Celebrates 50th Anniversary
The Chronicles of Fuji: Catching Up
Collectibles on SI: The Five Essential Baseball Cards of Roberto Clemente
Collecting This 'n' That: Next stop - Vintage cards from Spain & Belgium
The Diamond King: Oversized 1 - Mostly postcards
The Topps Archives: Alive in '55
Baseball Cards Come to Life: 1988 Topps Big Cartoon Deep Dive: Donnie Hill
Greatest 21 Days Baseball Profiles: Raul Chavez saw bigs over 11 seasons with Astros, others
Sports Collectors Daily: “We’ll Never Know How Good He Would Have Been” The Baseball Cards of Ken Hubbs
🧟♂️ Unopened Item Of The Week - 1959 Topps Funny Monsters Box
You might not expect an empty display box from a quirky non-sports set to command much attention, but some collectors knew better; boxes are virtually non-existent. On April 20th, this 1959 Topps Funny Monsters display box sold for $482 on eBay.
The only other public sale of one I spotted was from REA in 2006, which I wrote about when I covered the unopened products from this set in the 16th Post War Cards Newsletter.
PS, if you like unopened, Monday’s Unopened Market Report featured a 1958 Topps Baseball Wax Pack (one of the decade’s toughest), the six 1985 Topps Baseball Wax Pack Variations, 1966 Topps Batman Orange Back Cellos, and Unopened Sales in Heritage’s Spring Sports Catalog Auction. Consider upgrading your subscription.
📝 On The Blog
May 15, 2025: Hobby Resources
May 16, 2025: Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca, and the Bowman Giveaway I Overlooked
May 17, 2025: Sal Maglie, His Rookie Card, and a 1980 Jersey Card Show Throwback
May 18, 2025: Tracking a Treasure: The 1955 Bowman Salesman Sample Featuring Willie Mays
May 19, 2025: MSA And Its Vintage Oddball Food Regionals
May 20, 2025: A 1939 Hillerich & Bradsby Advertising Display
May 21, 2025: From Bowman to Play Ball: Schmierer and Taylor’s 1976 1942 Play Ball Set
📰 In The News
cllct: Dick's Sporting Goods launches Paul Skenes debut patch display in new collectors shop
Collectibles on SI: PSA Reverses Course on Minimum Grades
Sports Collectors Daily: 1980s Cards, Nolan Ryan Rookie Top Most Graded “Iconic 100” Cards Graded in April
Sports Collectors Daily: Canada Post Workers Could Go Back On Strike May 22
🤔 REA’s Topps Team Checklist Sets
The big-ticket item in REA’s May 2025 Auction was a PSA 6 1915 E145 Cracker Jack #30 Ty Cobb that sold for $55,200. But what really caught my eye was a run of eight near-complete PSA-graded Topps Team Checklist sets from 1975 to 1982. Every single one was missing just the Tigers card.
It’s such a fun little subset to chase, and clearly the collector put in the work. But the fact that all eight were missing the same team is kinda wild. Were high-grade Tigers checklists just that tough to find? Did the consignor keep those for themselves as a fan? Or is it just one of those weird hobby quirks?
Either way, not having those Tigers cards might’ve cost them a good chunk of change.
Here are the final prices:
1975: $450
1976: $660
1977: $390
1978: $1,260
1979: $510
1980: $990
1981: $930
1982: $390
🤝 Card Show History - New Jersey Sports Memorabilia Show No. 10
Last week, I shared a few Larry Doby cards. Well, wouldn’t you know it, while flipping through the November 1980 issue of The Trader Speaks, I spotted an ad for the 10th New Jersey Sports Memorabilia Show featuring none other than Larry Doby himself! Orioles legend Brooks Robinson was also on the guest list. This is just another fun connection that popped up while digging through the archives.
Happy collecting!