1949 and 1950 bowman baseball five cent wrappers: how do you tell the difference??

[bostonmarathonman]

I was wondering how one can tell the difference between a 1949 and 1950 bowman baseball five cent wrapper (I'm specifically talking about the blue and red versions of each). Mark murphy's guide shows a green and red 49 which is the same design as the 50 (only the colors are different) so is there a way to discern a blue and red 49 from a blue and red 50?? Thanks in advance!

[Volod]

Have fun with this one:
http://net54baseball.com/showthread.php?p=969432

[bostonmarathonman]

Steve, thanks for your reply and the link (I think lol); after reading that old thread just now, no wonder nobody wanted to reply lol!!

I never saw that thread three years ago but now that I have seen it, read it and attempted to make sense of it i'm sorry I asked!!

[Steve_NY]

I am resurrecting this because I am not convinced that it is possible to be 100% convinced that you have a 5 cent 1949 bowman or 1950 bowman baseball wax pack or wrapper.

I've read all of the comments and threads and became more confused. Is there any "simple" way to make that comparison?

When I compared what I thought were 1949 and 1950 bowman baseball 5 cent wrappers, the only difference I noted, was that the bottom 2 sections of the catcher's hat on the 1949 were dark blue, and on the 1950, they were light blue. Remember I am talking strictly about the 5 cent versions and not the 1 cent versions. Could this be a simple way to determine the difference or is it just fading? It really didn't look like fading because the other colors were vibrant and very dark.

Any wrapper or pack collectors care to chime in, and put this comparison to rest? It is frustrating that in all of these years of collecting, that it is so difficult to pin these differences down. I guess that it is simply very hard to find packs that have been opened to make that conclusion.

Thanks,

Steve

[ALR-bishop]

I have more interest in this issue this time around since I have now done all the Bowman sets. The 49 and 50 wrappers I have ( bought labeled that way by different sellers, not a grading company, which I know does not make it so) are red, white and blue with no difference I can spot.

I have a lot of respect for both Larry and Ted's expertise on these kinds of questions. I do wonder as someone in other thread pointed out) if the green/red wrapper was the common wrapper in 1949 and red/ blue were all 1950, why the red/green seem so rare. On the other hand the 48s are far and few between as well.

But if my go to guys on this kind of stuff, Ted, Larry and Dave can not clear this up not sure who can. Hopefully someone,

[Steve_NY]

Al, I agree that there are far more knowledgeable experts than the both of us. I shared my opinion as I also think that there were 5 cent packs in 1949 and 1950, and that there could be a minor difference (see above) that I have theorized. Lets see if we turn up anyone who really knows for certain. Steve

[autograf]

I just picked up a 49-55 lot of Bowman wrappers off ebay. The 49 was the undated RWB version on the linked thread. The 50 version was the dated version shown on that thread. I've seen the orange/teal versions on ebay for sale by Dan McKee that say they are the 49PCL's. I think with the scarcity of both the wrapper and the 49PCL's, that's the most plausible explanation. Just my opinion......

[Steve_NY]

Tom, Thanks for your input. I tend to agree but I am really not convinced that past or present collectors really knew the difference if any between a 49 and a 50 bowman baseball 5 cent wrapper. I will keep looking for the truth anyway. I am on one of my quests. See you at this year's National in Cleveland. Anyone else can chime in? Steve

[Steve_NY]

Check out any of the 1950 Bowman packs auctioned in the past ten years (I found one)and look at Mr. Mint's unopened wax pack auction from many years ago, and I see the same thing I saw before. Magnify the catcher's helmet and hat, and NOTE that the lower 2 sections of the hat are light blue whereas the rest of the helmet and hat are dark blue. I still think that the 1949 5 cent wrappers have the catcher's hat in all dark blue whereas the 1950 does not, as shown in Mr. Mint's catalog. Not to say that Al was always right, but it looks like he came to the same conclusion that I did. Any thoughts? Or am I just shooting in the dark? That's it for now, I Think.

[tedzan]

I collected these BOWMAN cards as a young kid. Shown here are my wrappers.


1948 BOWMAN BB 1-cent wrapper





1949 BOWMAN BB 5-cent wrapper......NOTE the baseball stitches are colored Red, as opposed to the Blue stitches on the 1950 wrapper.





1950 BOWMAN 1-cent wrapper....5-cent wrapper is the same





TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[tedzan]

Here is the Green-Orange-White 1949 wrapper shown on page 36 in Mark Murphy's book. This wrapper is seldom seen, which leads me to believe
it may have contained the the rare 1949 Bowman PCL cards.







TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by Steve_NY

Check out any of the 1950 Bowman packs auctioned in the past ten years (I found one)and look at Mr. Mint's unopened wax pack auction from many years ago, and I see the same thing I saw before. Magnify the catcher's helmet and hat, and NOTE that the lower 2 sections of the hat are light blue whereas the rest of the helmet and hat are dark blue. I still think that the 1949 5 cent wrappers have the catcher's hat in all dark blue whereas the 1950 does not, as shown in Mr. Mint's catalog. Not to say that Al was always right, but it looks like he came to the same conclusion that I did. Any thoughts? Or am I just shooting in the dark? That's it for now, I Think.

Hey Steve NY

The blue color differences that you are alluding to are not always consistent from wrappers to wrappers.

Check out the scans of my BOWMAN wrappers in Posts #10 and #11. Especially, the colors of the baseball's stitches (Red for 1949 and
Blue for 1950). These are consistent indicators.

Furthermore, I have never seen a 1950 BOWMAN pack without the 1950 marking on its wrapper. Trust me, I collected 100's of these
packs when I was 10 years old in 1950.



TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[Steve_NY]

Ted, Thanks for chiming in. Are you saying that all 1950 packs came in one cent wrappers dated 1950? Have you ever opened a RWB wrapper that contained 1950 cards? Have you ever seen a 1950 RWB 5 cent wrapper dated 1950? It doesn't sound like anyone has and that is why I offered my theory about the difference in the colors of the catcher's hat as being a possible solution. Otherwise, it makes no sense that Topps did not produce 5 cent packs in 1950. I was trying to look for differences in the RWB wrapper that would help determine which one was from 1949 and which one was from 1950. I am only interested in the 5 cent versions as the 1 cent version in 1950 we know is only dated.
Thanks again. Steve_NY

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by Steve_NY

Ted, Thanks for chiming in. Are you saying that all 1950 packs came in one cent wrappers dated 1950? Have you ever opened a RWB wrapper that contained 1950 cards? Have you ever seen a 1950 RWB 5 cent wrapper dated 1950? Thanks again. Steve_NY

Steve

Twice I have said that I collected 1950 BOWMAN BB cards in the year 1950 when I was a young dude. So, I'm providing you first-hand knowledge.

I remember that early in the Spring of 1950, Bowman first issued 1-cent packs. About the time the School season had ended (circa June), the 1950 BOWMAN packs
were all 5-cent packs until the BOWMAN FB cards were in our candy stores (circa Fall of 1950).

The 1-cent and 5-cent wrappers on all these cards that year were dated 1950.

I was very fortunate to save all my original sportscards from 1947 - 1952. And, I still have them. My original 1950 BOWMAN set was near complete when I got back
into this hobby in 1977. Only needed Ted Williams and about half a dozen commons.

Just to give you an idea where I'm coming from....my BOWMAN collection consists of 1948 to 1955 complete sets (three 1949 sets, which includes the rare PCL set).
Furthermore, I have a number of BOWMAN uncut sheets......here is my 1950 mid-series sheet:






TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[Steve_NY]

Ted, This is exactly the kind of confirmation that I was looking for. That all 1950 1 cent and 5 cent packs were dated. If so, does anyone have such a 5 cent wrapper to confirm that? My guess is no because I have gone through hoops to find one. Ted, Do you have a dated 1950 5 cent wrapper or pack in your collection? Can anyone prove this theory.
Ted, Thanks again for all of pix and details. I didn't start collecting until the late 1950's so I guess you are a few years older than me. But I wasn't as lucky as you; I traded my cards for comic books. But I still have all of those comic books, and I guess I probably did pretty damn well in the long run since I collected all of the DCs and Marvels and have long runs of the majority of them.