Before we address today's Blog subject, I would just like to give my annual report of the National Sports Collectors Convention. This years' show was held in Baltimore and it was an incredible venue. The convention center is located just a few short blocks from Camden Yards and Baltimore's Inner Harbor. The show was fantastic with large enthusiastic crowds every day. By far it was our best selling show. The venue also provided plenty to do after show hours. We went to an Orioles game and of all the stadiums that we've visited, in our opinion- it's the nicest. The Inner Harbor provided great meals at reasonable prices. Needless to say, we'd would go back to Baltimore in a "heartbeat".
ITPC's 2010 NATIONAL BOOTH IN BALTIMORE
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1964 NFL BUST STATUES:
While at the National Show in Baltimore, our good friend and fellow dealer Bill Kozlowski gave me a copy of an ad from a 1964 NFL merchandising catalog. This ad was for a proposed series of NFL All-Star bust statues similar to the Baseball Hall of Fame busts issued in 1963. These statues were to made of plastic and stand 6.5" tall. All the players were present day stars. They were to be sold in boxes much like the baseball series. There were to be 12 statues in the series and some of them were of some of the greatest players in NFL history. The 12 players were Y.A. Tittle, Jimmy Brown, Del Shofner, Rosey Brown, Mike Ditka, Joe Schmidt, Paul Hornung, Jerry Kramer, Johnny Unitas, Jim Parker, Jim Taylor and Jim Ringo. As far as we know, this project never came to fruition & the statues were never sold to the general public. Several years ago, a Jim Brown bust was auctioned off and it is assumed that it was a "salesman sample". Can you imagine how interesting this series would have been?
Mr. Kozlowski also consigned to us the original mold for the Jim Taylor statue from this series. It is a heavy metal mold. We will be offering it off in an upcoming auction along with an original Joe Cronin mold from the Baseball Hall of Fame busts series.
