The end would come soon enough but in 1955, Bowman Gum was making one last-ditch effort to try to collect as many nickels and pennies as they could from baseball card collecting kids. They came up with a design that incorporated America's new favorite evening pastime. They created a whopper of a set at 320 cards and they gave kids more cards in their packs. It wasn't … [Read more...]
1955 Bowman Mantle from Famous 2018 NSCC Break Now at Auction
Freed from the cellophane that had had been its home for 63 years, the Mickey Mantle card that became a piece of hobby lore in the summer of 2018 is now up for auction. Goldin Auctions is offering the 1955 Bowman card that was famously pulled from a pack during the National Sports Collectors Convention. Graded 9 by PSA, bidding has already reached $33,000 with the auction … [Read more...]
Editor’s Blog: Trickle Down Effect of Major Hobby News Stories
Several years ago, there were so many stories, columns, blog posts and TV reports about the “dying sports card industry” that it kind of become a running joke. The theme was pretty much always the same. Most of the people writing those words fell into three camps: 1) they collected as kids in the late 1980s or early 90s, were now discovering their cards weren’t worth … [Read more...]
More Than Just Mickey: 1955 Bowman Cello Break Cards Now Graded
Several of the collectors who weren't lucky enough to nab the Mickey Mantle card that came out of that 1955 Bowman cello pack break at the National Sports Collectors Convention came away with some pretty good consolation prizes. All 20 cards from the break were submitted to PSA for grading and the results of the 19 grades known so far were revealed Tuesday night by Vintage … [Read more...]
Winner of 1955 Bowman Mantle Didn’t See it Live
It’s only August but Chris Rothe is probably a hands down favorite for “Luckiest Collector of the Year.” The Maryland resident dropped $500 on the 20-spot 1955 Bowman cello pack break conducted by Vintage Breaks and landed the now famous Mickey Mantle card with a value that might be more than 100 times that amount. While a few dozen in the audience at the National Sports … [Read more...]
MHCC’s Amped Up Extra Innings Auction Includes Nearly 600 Lots
Mile High Card Company launched its latest ‘Extra Innings’ auction on Wednesday afternoon, but this one is a little different. “Our Extra Innings auctions are usually targeted to the more modest collector,” said MHCC President and CEO Brian Drent, “But we’ve acquired such a large amount of advanced material recently that some consignors have requested we promote their … [Read more...]
Sterling Sports Opens October Auction
A Mickey Mantle rookie card, some pre-War rarities and hundreds of low cost lots are among the pages of Sterling Sports Auctions’ latest online catalog. There are 460 lots in the sale including sports and non-sports cards, autographs and other items. The auction is highlighted by a 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle rookie card graded SGC 35. There’s also a 1973 Mike Schmidt … [Read more...]
1955 Bowman Baseball Set Marked Company’s Farewell
Imagine for a moment that it's late 1954 and your boss calls you into his office with exciting, yet terrifying, news: he's putting YOU in charge of saving a crumbling bubble gum card empire that not too long ago virtually created the entire hobby. How would you go about designing the 1955 Bowman baseball set to pique collector interest and stave off extinction for another … [Read more...]