BMW Sportscards

05/14/2024

Card #10 in the 1960 Topps baseball series - Ernie Banks - features two different varieties. The more common of the two has crop marks near the lower left corner and the bottom border is blank. The tougher of the two varieties has a light blue line along the bottom border with the words "Section I" written in by hand. The ratio of the more challenging variety to the more common one is roughly 1:20.

10/26/2023

We will be attending this Fall's Sport Card Expo at the International Center in Toronto from November 9 - 12. We should have some unique, rare, and one-of-a-kind items on display! You can find us directly inside the main entrance.

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IT'S BACKKK

The Toronto is happening NOVEMBER 9-12th!!

📍 The International Center - Hall 4 & 5
Mississauga, ON

+ DON'T FORGET THE BEST TRADE NIGHT AFTERPARTY IN THE HOBBY:

Saturday, November 11th, 2023
Doors open at 6 PM
Get your tickets today! Link in bio!

09/29/2023

Join BMW Sportscards this weekend at the "Northern National" (September 29 to October 1) at Augustus Tower at Caesars Windsor in Ontario, Canada (directly across the Detroit River from Detroit, Michigan). We'll have some vintage baseball on display (1954-56 Topps), Pokémon wax, and lots of recently encapsulated KSA graded sports cards.

You'll be able to see our booths directly in from the entrance to the convention hall, right next to KSA Grading -- https://www.facebook.com/KSACertification

For more information on the show -- https://www.thenorthernnational.com/

https://www.facebook.com/TheNorthernNational

09/19/2023

The Northern National Collectors' Convention is pleased to welcome BMW Sportscards!

Hailing from Madison, Wisconsin, BMW will be on-site all weekend long. They will come with variety of cards including rare TCG items!



Windsor, Ontario Canada Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A F & C House of Cards - Windsor Elitecardstoronto Rogues Gallery Comics Paper Heroes - Comic Book Lounge & Collectibles Imagine Cinemas AM800 CKLW CTV CTV Windsor Biz X Magazine EAParties Lindy Cosplay Supplies L.A. Mood Comics & Games Brimstone Games Cartoon Kingdom Cedar Creek Hobbies Scarehouse Windsor Duke Marketing Agency Biz X Magazine In Play! Magazine Caesars Windsor DoubleTree by Hilton Windsor Hotel & Suites Holiday Inn Express Windsor Waterfront Mnt Grading PSA Canada Craft Heads Brewing Company St. Clair College Digital Oasis The Game MD Japan's Legends Hidden Trail Escape Rooms Downtown Windsor BIA

06/02/2023

TRIVIA CONTEST!

Here's an interesting and rare vintage baseball card of Lou Gehrig. It measures 3 3/8 inches x 4 5/8 inches and has monochromatic color similar to that of W517s.

Based on the uniform style and glove, we would place the photograph in the 1931-1932 time period, which would mean the card was likely issued late in 1931 (Nov-Dec), 1932, or 1933.

The card is thicker than a typical 1930s premium card but thinner than a card cut from a box. It is most similar to an R315 in terms of its cardstock.

$100 to the first person who can locate the original photographic source it came from and another $100 to the first person who can accurately identify it.

02/11/2023

An interesting curiosity.

In 1959, Armour & Company, with one of its main branches located in Kansas City, Missouri, ran a promotion for its meat products where several players from the team (Kansas City Athletics) appeared at company events in local supermarkets to autograph Armour bacon and franks baseball cards. The players who were featured on their own Armour cards included Roger Maris (2 different poses), Harry Chiti, and Wh**ey Herzog. During their appearances, each of the players were given what resembled a small notepad and would pull off one of the cards before signing it. The cards were very lightly bound so tearing rarely occurred.

After 50 years, a small number of non-autographed cards appeared in the holdings of a company executive. They were previously unknown to the industry since none had ever before surfaced or made their way into the hobby.

This card, graded Mint 9 by Beckett, is the highest graded example known.

12/29/2022

Some of our most recent Tweets: https://twitter.com/BMWSportscards1

11/15/2022

Harold “Harry” Hyland was one of the biggest stars in the early years of professional hockey but his legacy has been largely forgotten. Though relatively small in stature, he more than compensated with his quick skates and hard, accurate shots. He first stepped on the ice in 1908 for the Montreal Shamrocks. The following season, he won his first Stanley Cup with the Montreal Wanderers of the upstart National Hockey Association, while scoring 3 goals in his team's Stanley Cup defense against the Berlin Dutchmen. Two years later, he led Montreal in scoring, alternating between center and right wing. In 1912 during the offseason, Hyland won a national lacrosse championship with the New Westminster Salmonbellies.

Hyland once netted eight goals in a game against the Quebec Bulldogs and also scored the first hat trick in NHL history in 1917. During his tenure in the NHA, he finished in the top five in scoring four different seasons. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1962 after averaging 1.4 points per game during a relatively brief 10 seasons, split between the NHA and NHL. However, his legacy did not end there. He was also the great, great, great grandfather of Sidney Crosby.

The best condition cigarette card known of Harry Hyland -- https://www.ebay.com/itm/155068431381

10/01/2022

In 1952, Topps Chewing Gum embarked on an ambitious project to assemble a 407 cards series of baseball cards that comprised individual paintings of each and every player, all neatly transferred onto pieces of cardboard that were significantly larger than any Gum-producing company has ever before distributed. They wanted to outdo their competitors, the Bowman Gum Company, but they also desired to provide collectors with something that wouldn't soon be forgotten.

The first 307 subjects in this landmark series are known today as the "lower" numbered cards and are highlighted by such stars as Yogi Berra, Willie Mays, Minnie Minoso, Duke Snider, Warren Spahn, Robin Roberts, Billy Martin, and Bob Feller.

The last 97 cards--those that comprise the "high" numbers--would eventually become the most desired, not just because of their much more limited production, but due to the inclusion of the first Topps cardboard appearances of Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, and Eddie Mathews.

The card of Jackie Robinson, in particular, is often blighted by poor centering due to the rudimentary production quality. This example, offered by us (bmw_cards2) on eBay, is perhaps the best framed example we have ever encountered. Though it has a number of defects, it is positively priced to sell!

Graded VG-EX 4 by KSA. Other qualities/defects include a superficial crease across the front, several small creases near the bottom, and a few creases on the reverse side. Outstanding visual appeal.

09/13/2022

Images from our display at the last convention we attended in Toronto.

https://www.facebook.com/sportcardexpo/

Next show: November 10-13, 2022 at the International Centre in Toronto.

If you have any premier scarcities, tough-to-find vintage sports cards or complete, original collections, please contact us at 608-833-5515 to meet us before, during, or after the show.

07/10/2021

"The Rarest Babe Ruth baseball card"

In 1920, an upstart, regional Canadian producer of popcorn, decided to include a series of 20 different baseball cards in bags of its products. Thus, F.A. Sigesmund, the proprietor of "Peggy Popcorn," became only the second company owner to manufacture and distribute baseball cards in Canada (the first belonged to the C46 Imperial To***co series). Furthermore, Sigesmund was the first to offer a contest where collectors could redeem a complete set of cards for one of a list of prizes. Little else is known about the company--Peggy Popcorn and Food Products, Ltd--other than its brief tenancy at an address of 181 Market Street East in Winnipeg.

The date of the set is still a subject of discussion. Some collectors think 1919 is correct while others argue that 1922 is more accurate. There is a third group that believe that it may have been a multi-year set. The 1920 Peggy Popcorn baseball cards are extremely rare, with six cards being discovered in 2006 and a seventh surfacing in 2018. Each player discovered thus far is unique. The cards were printed on a paper stock that was somewhat thicker than many of the cards from the same era and closely approximates the card stocks that began to be used more widely, beginning in the 1940s. The photos appear as if they may have been "borrowed" from newspaper articles or perhaps baseball guides of the time, although the Babe Ruth image and most of the others show no common origin, adding to the mystery of the set.

The largest group of cards originated from the same city where they were originally printed and sold--Winnipeg, Manitoba. The wife of the original owner had brought them to a coin store to sell but only had part of the set with her that day. She had intended to bring the rest but was never heard from again. Perhaps the remainder of the cards will one day find their way back into the hands of a collector.

The known player/team checklist is as follows:

1 Joe Dugan (Athletics)
2 Harry Heilmann (Tigers)
3 Chick Gandil (White Sox)
5 Kid Gleason (White Sox)
7 Babe Ruth (Yankees)
9 Eddie Collins (White Sox)
16 Dazzy Vance (Yankees)

While some of the cards, when discovered, had obvious signs of wear (e.g. Dugan & Vance), the majority were in superlative condition, due to their careful long-term storage inside of a small glass frame. The Babe Ruth was graded NM-MT (8/10) by SGC and remains today as one, if not the, rarest of all period Ruth cards. Some might argue it is also one of the most valuable.

What other players might eventually be found? Will it be Ty Cobb or maybe the very last card of Shoeless Joe Jackson? Only time will tell!

07/07/2021

From 1952 until 1966*, Topps produced a variety of 3-card strips, featuring many of the star players from those two decades (Keith Olbermann claims to know of some from 1967 as he has an impressive collection of these "test" 3-card panels). The strips were often referred to as salesman samples, as they were mean to entice retailers to carry a particular Topps product--usually wax boxes of baseball, football and basketball cards (yes, Topps made some for its 1957-58 basketball series).

What is interesting about these 3-card strips is they sometimes employed different reverse colors, card numbers, or text. Today, they are all considered quite rare. But what is even scarcer is other combinations of cards that were used for advertising. In 1962, Topps made a super-sized, 6-card sample "sheet," which included four pretty big stars: Sandy Koufax, Roger Maris, Eddie Mathews and Nellie Fox. Only two of these are known to exist and both examples were obtained from the family of a former Topps executive. It may very well be that a small batch of these were printed but never actually used, since we have seen no others.

Unlike the more familiar 3-card strips, this 8-card strip has a blank back and the words "Topps 1962 Pro Baseball" wedged between each group of four players on front. The fact that the back was never endowed with Topps advertising lends further support to the theory that this was merely a "file copy" that never saw the light of day until it was discovered about a decade ago. Was this yet another of Topps' test products that never quite made it to final production or national distribution? Yes, it's quite likely.