Quote:
Originally Posted by ocjack
Great boxes! Is there any danger of someone selling them as "real?" (Talking about the ones that aren't fantasy boxes.)
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Unfortunately, we can never underestimate the gullibility, stupidity, greed, and probably some other apropos adjectives among some of our fellow collectors. As the succinct saying goes, "YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID."
I was never disuaded from purchasing and enjoying a few of Bob Lemke's fantasy masterpieces. The above 1963 JELL-O Black Raspberry with a variant photo of Mickey Mantle was a stroke of genius. The picture of Mickey was employed on JELL-O's large advertising poster adorning supermarket aisles to capture a kid's attention. I like the photo the General Foods' baseball card design team chose for Mickey in 1963. However, the gorgeous advertising poster photo was much more attractive, and so it was a great surprise to me when I saw Mr. Lemke thinking the same way. Thus, I bought Bob's 1963 JELL-O Mantle box creation, and chose to keep it flat as an unfolded box. I really cherish it.
Three of my other Bob Lemke creations were from his 1955 Topps All-American Football set update series. Bob loved that set, and he slowly built his update series into well over 100 additions. There's a few I wish I had taken the time to buy, natch. Be that as it may, I really love and admire the Jackie Robinson, Bronko Nagurski, and Kenny Washington cards I got. Beautiful, just beautiful. Of course, I have been a fan and an admirer of a good quality fantasy / custom card creation. They're just as a Graig Kreindler limited edition print of one of his paintings, merely shrunken down to the size of an actual trading card, and perhaps more limited than the number of prints he makes.
I never bought Bob's stuff thinking they would appreciate, but I simply loved them. Of course, over the course of my collecting life, whenever I bought something because I loved how it looked, THOSE have been the items that did appreciate. They are harder to part with.....
Thanks for initiating this thread. Bob Lemke's work should not be forgotten. ---Brian Powell