One of the more important sets of the gum card era the 1949 Bowman issue represented a considerable improvement over its 1948 predecessor in terms of both quality and quantity. Featuring black and white photos set against colorized player uniforms and backgrounds the set included a number of key rookie cards and stars. This is a strong midgrade near-set missing just the issue's two key cards (rookie cards of Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson) both of which are featured as individual lots elsewhere in the auction. The remaining cards are present and accounted for an exceptional grouping of 238 cards. The set was assembled card-by-card by a knowledgeable collector who paid considerable attention to centering and eye appeal and while there are cards in the issue with off-centered images centering is largely stronger than is typically found in the issue. A condition breakdown of the issue is as follows: 5% EX-MT or better 33% EX 31% VG/EX 23% VG 6% G and 2% F or lesser. A breakdown of the issue's key cards is as follows: #11 Boudreau G #23 Doerr VG #24 Musial VG; #26 Kell EX; #27 Feller G; #29 Kiner VG/EX; #33 Spahn G; #36 Reese VG/EX; #46 Roberts VG; #60 Berra EX; #65 Slaughter G; #84 Campanella PSA VG-EX 4; #85 Mize VG/EX; #98 Rizzuto EX; #100 Hodges VG; #110 Wynn G; #111 Schoendienst EX; #210 Gordon VG; #214 Ashburn VG/EX; #226 Snider PSA VG-EX 4; #233 Doby VG; #238 Lemon VG/EX. An exceptional near-set which includes the rookie cards of Hall of Famers Lou Boudreau Bobby Doerr George Kell Pee Wee Reese Robin Roberts Roy Campanella Luke Appling Richie Ashburn Larry Doby and Bob Lemon as well as the rookie card of fan favorite and potential future Hall of Famer Gil Hodges. 238 cards total.