This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/7/2018
Offered is a stunning rendition of the all important 1948 Bowman Basketball set. In 1948 there were several different professional leagues with the BAA (Basketball Association Of America) being the frontrunner. The 1948 Bowman set features only players from the BAA, The BAA shrunk by three teams and subsequent redistribution of the players greatly strengthened the competitiveness of the league. The Western Division saw all four teams finish in a pack. St.Louis took first place with Baltimore, Chicago and Washington all finishing a single game back.In the East, Philadelphia repeated as champions behind the continued scoring prowess of Joe Fulks. The New York Knicks, under the direction of former Celtic star Joe Lapchick, finished one game back with the help of a talented trio of rookies, Dick Holub, Sid Tanenbaum and 20-year-old Carl Braun. Two former ABL teams, Baltimore and Philadelphia, emerged from the playoffs to face each other in the finals. Philadelphia took game one of the best of seven series, but Baltimore, with player-coach Buddy Jeannette in charge, won four of the next five games to take the title. The featured set is an interesting group to say the least as it displays wonderfully. Those in the know understand that 1948 Bowman cards come several different ways with varying levels of completeness both in terms of color production as well as factory cuts. Offered is a set that presents with final company color production but also offers a portion of the set that appears as though it may have been "sheet cut" after leaving the Bowman factory. This was done not in an attempt to be misleading but rather early on in our hobby just to be able to offer nice looking cards to enthusiasts. About half of the set is high grade (mostly sheet cut negating PSA and SGC from numerical grades) while the other half is about average. We will break down the set as follows. #1 Calverley EX miscut, 9 Phillip VG, 10 Davies VG, 32 Holtzman EX+, 34 Fulks G/VG, 38 Jeanette EX/MT sheet cut, 44 Johnson NM sheet cut, 46 McKinnet NM/MT sheet cut, 48 Sadowski NM sheet cut, 52 Simmons NM sheet cut, 54 Palmer NM/MT sheet cut, 55 Zaslofsky NM+ sheet cut, 66 Pllard EX/MT sheet cut, 69 Mikan NM+ sheet cut, 72 Braun VG/EX. The set is missing #58 Risen. The commons grade the following 20% NM/MT sheet cut, 30% NM sheet cut, 15% EX/MT sheet cut, 25% VG/EX 10% lesser.