This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/10/2010
The granddaddy of all hoops cards, the 1948 Bowman George Mikan rookie issue is to the hardwood hobby-place what the '52 Topps Mantle is to baseball collectibles and the '58 Topps Jim Brown is to football. Recently graded Authentic by Global Authority, the offered example doesn't appear to have been altered in order to receive a higher grade; rather, its uneven top and left edges show plenty enough soil to suggest that it was cut from a sheet a long, long time ago, either at some point during production, or within the next couple of decades thereafter. For whatever reasons, Philadelphia's Bowman Gum, Inc. produced and released several full sheets in its formative card-producing years of 1948 and 1949, as evidenced by the number of hand-cut cards and full sheets still circulating in the hobby today. The noticeable absence of red trim on the front of the offered example, however, suggests that this was indeed a printer's proof, which is rather distinct from a fully printed example that just happened to have been hand-cut. Excepting the aforementioned uneven edges, the card otherwise appears to be in about VG to VG/EX condition, with no creases or other major imperfections.