Lot # 1035: 1949 Bowman Near-Complete Set (232/240)

Presented is a very attractive mid-grade near-complete set of 1949 Bowman baseball consisting of 232 different cards (out of 240 in the set). Missing the following eight cards for completion: #50 Robinson, 84 Campanella, 85 Mize, 110 Wynn, 224 Paige, 230, 233 Doby and 235. Many rookie cards of Hall of Famers are featured in this near-set of this classic postwar issue, highlighted by Richie Ashburn, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Robin Roberts, and Bob Lemon. Includes two signed cards (#201 Sisti and 203 McCosky). Approximately 20% of the cards in this set display light adhesive residue on the backs (likely due to storage in a self-adhesive photo album) and have been downgraded accordingly. Condition is 34% Ex to Ex-Mt (including a couple Nr/Mt), 46% Vg to Vg-Ex, and 20% lesser (including a couple trimmed and a couple that measure a bit small). We have selected nine cards to be professionally graded and encapsulated by SGC. Keys: #1 Bickford (Ex-Mt), 11 Boudreau (Ex+), 23 Doerr (Ex due mostly to centering), 24 Musial (VG/EX+ 4.5), 26 Kell (Ex-Mt), 27 Feller (Vg), 29 Kiner (NM 7), 33 Spahn (VG/EX+ 4.5), 36 Reese (SGC Authentic/evidence of trimming), 46 Roberts RC (Vg-Ex+), 60 Berra (Vg-Ex), 65 Slaughter (EX 5), 70 Furillo RC (Ex+), 98 Rizzuto NNOF (Vg-Ex+), 100 Hodges RC (EX 5), 111 Schoendienst (Gd-Vg due to light adhesive residue on reverse), 162 Roe RC (out of focus, otherwise Ex), 175 Appling (Gd), 194 Branca RC (Vg-Ex+), 201 Sisti (signed, otherwise Vg-Ex), 203 McCosky (signed, otherwise Ex), 209 Keller (Vg-Ex), 210 Gordon (Vg), 214 Ashburn RC (VG/EX 4), 219 Trucks (Vg+), 225 Coleman RC (Vg-Ex), 226 Snider RC (VG 3), 229 Lopat RC (altered corners, otherwise Vg-Ex), and 238 Lemon RC (VG/EX 4). 1949 Bowman is the most underrated set in terms of rarity among Topps and Bowman sets issued between 1948 and 1955. Cards from this set are extremely hard to find in high grade in part because they often have soft corners due to the quality of the paper stock on which they are printed. With a few upgrades and filling in the missing cards, this collection could easily provide the foundation for a strong mid-grade set. Total: 232 cards.