1959 Bazooka Football Near-Complete Set (17 of 18) Plus Conerly Variation

Sold For:

$6,518

Year:

1959

Auction:

2013 Spring

Lot #:

1504

Category:

Boxing/Golf/Other Cards or Memorabilia

Outstanding and very rarely offered near-complete set of 1959 Bazooka Football consisting of seventeen different of the eighteen cards in the set, including Hall of Famers Jim Brown, Frank Gifford, and Johnny Unitas. Missing only Joe Perry for completion and including both Chuck Conerly team variations. While some cards are cut more perfectly than others, as always is the case with package-design issues, this set presents well across the board with little interruption to the central images. Keys: Jim Brown (Good), Chuck Conerly/Baltimore (Vg), Frank Gifford (Nr/Mt), Bobby Layne (Nr/Mt), Ollie Matson (Vg/Ex), Y. A. Tittle (Nr/Mt), and Johnny Unitas (Good). The eleven remaining cards are mostly Ex-Mt to Nr/Mt with four lesser, including two with borders completely trimmed off. The 1959 Bazooka Football set has always been revered as one of the rarest and most difficult to collect of all Topps-related sets. Issued just one card per box of Topps Bazooka-brand bubble gum, the cards were intended to be hand cut by youngsters from the bottom of Bazooka boxes. You had to buy an entire box of gum to get just one card. While PSA does encapsulate and grade 1959 Bazookas, because they were hand-cut package-design cards, highly graded examples are almost impossible to get because the quality of the cut is a major factor taken into consideration. If the dotted line has been compromised anywhere on the card, which is usually the case, the technical grade is seriously affected or the card is encapsulated as "Authentic." Half of the cards in this collection do not have any portion of the dotted lines still visible, so we do want to make clear that the grades listed above are without reference to cutting issues. This is a gorgeous high-grade near-set of this rare and important football issue. Total: 18 cards. Reserve $1,000. Estimate $2,000+.
SOLD FOR $6,517.50