[QUOTE=ValKehl;1303716]I'm not posting a list of my 10 favorites because for the last 20-25 years my collecting focus has been mostly on prewar cards. But, I am a bit surprised that no one yet (unless I missed it) has included a 1959 Bazooka card on their list. IMHO, the 1959 Bazooka set is by far the best looking postwar set produced - yeah, even better than the 1953 Bowman & 1952 Topps sets - and, yes, the 1959 Bazooka Mantle is much nicer looking than the 1953 Bowman & 1952 Topps Mantles! I have some of these Bazookas (not a Mantle, regretfully), but I don't have any scans available to post
Val, I share your being perplexed that nary a member besides yourself has mentioned a 1959 Bazooka---baseball or football. You know they're fantastic; I know they're fantastic. I might not put the Mantle quite as high as you, but it is certainly grossly underrated. When I attended my first major convention in 1972, I had the privilege of seeing the 1959 Bazooka Mickey Mantle for the first time. I was so amazed at how beautiful it was! Couldn't take my eyes off of it. Stuck around the gentleman's shared table for a while just to gaze at it and burn it into my memory, basking in the enjoyment of seeing this card.
What happened next is recounted in chapter 18 of my hopefully forthcoming book, NEVER CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN. Forty-two years ago, and I still remember the occasion well. So did the gentleman who owned it, Lionel Carter, who wrote of our experience with his card.
Val, the absence of the Bazookas from a list of favorites may be attributed to other reasons, common and shared by some of us. If you're actively pursuing some cards that are notoriously tough to locate and are "a beauty extraordinaire", you find yourself speaking little to your fellow collectors for fear of unwittingly enticing further competition. Doing so potentially scotches your chances all the more of hunting down your prized game/trophy card.
Without trying to come off as a smart alec, it also takes a certain combination of intelligence and good taste to recognize where to place such cards on the echelon of hobby importance, and of course value. Many of our fellow collectors peacefully enjoy the merits of the mainstream. That's great for them and I love those cards as well. But you and I both have come to know some of the more harder to get, attractive, and condition rarities reside at the bottom of the Loch Ness, so to speak. So many of them are a monsters to find!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have a swell day. --Brian Powell
P.S. Your Hires Test Willie Mays is a beaut! What a wonderful smile on Say Hey. Sometimes he was not wearing it when his card photo was snapped (61 Topps, 59 Bazooka, 54 Stahl-Meyer, 52 Topps)