11. 1935 National Chicle #34 Bronko Nagurski (HOF RC) – PSA EX 5
The 1935 National Chicle football set is, quite possibly, the most important football set ever manufactured. Weighing in at just 36 players, the checklist features some of the game’s biggest names, with first-year cards of virtually every key subject in the set. It also contains the hobby’s most valuable and treasured card – the legendary card #34 of Bronko Nagurski. Featuring colorful art deco artwork that was typical of the “modern” style of the day, the overall design of the 1935 football cards was, in many ways, iden- tical to the National Chicle “Diamond Stars” baseball set of 1934-36 and the Sky Birds cards of 1933. Despite being printed on heavy stock, high-grade examples are difficult to come by, particularly in the scarce high-number se- ries. Evidence suggests that the scarcity of the high number series is due to those cards being available only in the cities where that series’ players played. The 1935 National Chicle Nagurski has been widely established as the most valuable and important football card in the hobby. The card, of course, achieved this notoriety because it is the first card of a well-known Hall of Famer and famous professional wrestler, and partially because it comes from the scarce high number series of what is arguably football collecting’s most important prewar card set. There is no doubt that this is the most important and highly sought-after football card in existence. While the Nagurski had always been an extremely valuable card, its profile increased dramatically in 2006 when an example graded MINT 9 by SGC sold for $240,000 in a highly publicized private transaction. Sale prices of other Naturski cards followed suit. The card remains difficult in high grade, with just eight examples graded above the NM level by PSA. This card is quite beautiful for the grade, and part of the reason for that might be because it once resided in a PSA NM 7 holder. Our consignor prefers to store his cards in binders, so upon purchasing it years ago, he removed the
card from its holder and placed it in its proper space in its nine-pocket page, the PSA grading label safely stored behind it. The heavy-handed grading standards of today reduced the card to the EX 5 level, but a close examination reveals the NM card it once was. Brilliant color, strong centering, and a clean, unblemished surface yield to lightly softened corners, once considered NM but not even EX-MT today. Despite the conservative grade, the card is as spectacular an EX 5 as you will find, certainly one of the finer examples of this card in existence despite the technical assessment. In comparison with many EX-MT and even NM cards graded long ago, this example truly shines, a sharp and bright example of the hobby’s most desirable football card. MINIMUM BID: $20,000
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