Bronko Nagurski Exhibit Card

[Exhibitman]

From a mid-1930s wrestling set. I forgot I had this scan. Now, does anyone have one of these lying around?

[drc]

A few years ago I was told there was one example known.

[drc]

I should add that I got the information from a guy who maintains extensive checklists for the wrestling Exhibit cards, so his information would be reliable. Also, he told me at the time time that it was a recent discovery. It was known the card may exist, as the original art existed (I owned the original art, which I got from the Exhibit Supply President), but until the discovery of the single example the actual finished card had not been seen. I'm no exhibit or wrestling expert, but I had a bunch of the original exhibit wrestling art, so I provided for the checklist the 'ghost cards'-- cards where there was original art but no known card. Initially, the Nagurski was listed as one of the ghost cards.

[andybecker]

my memory stinks.....but i think i remember the photo/art on ebay about 8/9 years ago. am i correct??.....or was it lew??? and wasn't there only one bidder?? i think the ebay auction even called it a phantom proof as no card was known to exist.

i didn't collect exhibits at the time, but saw it while collecting chicles....so forgive the memory.....

[drc]

I sold the original art on eBay. If I recall correctly, it sold for around $600.

I don't know how or where the card sold, as I heard about it second hand afterward. I know Exhibit Supply made proofs, as some of the art had instruction sheets on back listing how many proofs were to be made.


Below is the original art. The background and name is all painted in.

[andybecker]

that's it! thanks for posting the scan david. i think there was a blurb in gridiron greats about the piece, i'll see if i can find it this weekend.

[drc]

Thinking about it, I may have over estimated the sell price. Probably closer to $300. I had the art for 1930s-60s wrestling and boxing sets and this Nagurski sold for the second most. The first was the c. 1960 Cassius Clay Exhibit, which I think sold for around $1000 But it Now.

Exhibit Supply stored all the art neatly in folders that were dated and labeled, so it was easy to tell which art was for which set. This included the 'ghost card' art. It also included notes on that were short printed, pulled early to be replaced by other cards-- and even included the day and date for the switch. And the collection came with a letter from the President of Exhibit Supply giving a history of the company and art.

As I said earlier, I know little about wrestling and wrestling cards, but was able to provide new information to the wrestling card checklists simply because I had the original art and notes. The guy who maintains the checklist would email me a current set checklist and have me go through the art and report back on differences. I was more an office secretary than a historian.

[Exhibitman]

My recollection is that the Nagurski card sold for over $1,000; I was one of the underbidders.

David, do you still have the data and letter? It would be really interesting to see.

[drc]

I can check and see what/if I have.

I can tell you that when I sold the Nagurski art, an example of the card was not known to exist. The card was discovered later, perhaps a year later. The Nagurski card might be rightly called the proverbial Holy Grail of wrestling cards.

[andybecker]

everything said is what i remember....almost exactly.

the card was unknown at the time the proof was sold.

oh, i wish i knew then what i know now.....or even better would be if david still had the proof and would kindly sell it to me

great topic......i will still look for the blurb in GG

[wrestlingcardking]

I have been looking for this for quite some time and have not found one. I know there are a few examples out there. I think there have been a couple on ebay although I am not sure if one was the same and someone flipped it and then a friend has a copy but I cannot get him to sell it to me. Anyone else find this card at all?