1949 Bowman Wild West Card # B-4 Bow-and-Arrow (GD) for Sale

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1949 Bowman Wild West Card # B-4 Bow-and-Arrow (GD) For Sale

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1949 Bowman Wild West Card # B-4 Bow-and-Arrow (GD):
$2.49

1949 Bowman Wild West Card # B-4 Bow-and-Arrow (GD)

The 1949 Bowman Wild West (R701-19) trading card set offers a visual look at the romantic notion of America's frontier days. One of the most popular non-sport sets of all-time.

The 1949 Bowman Wild West (R701-19) set contains 180 cards, each measuring 2 1/16" X 2 1/2". The set is divided into 8 subsets, each with its own numbering.

The 1949 Bowman Wild West (R701-19) subsets are:

Winning the West #A-1 to A-40

Indian Customs #B-1 to B-20

Famous Characters #C-1 to C-20

Indian Warfare #D-1 to D-20

Cowboy Life #E-1 to E-20

Law and Order #F-1 to F-20

River Days #G-1 to G-20

Western Stars #H-1 to H-20

Each piece showcases a colorful, artistically drawn famous scene, activity, or well-known personality from America's great frontier. The front of the cards have a full-color illustration and a thin white border surround. The back of the cards list subset name, title of the card, and a description of the person or scene being depicted on the front.

Similar to a lot of trading card sets from the era, many of the high numbers were printed in smaller numbers as interest in the line waned. It is generally accepted that the final eight Winning the West cards and final four of each of the other subsets are short prints.

The set is anchored by such historic figures as Daniel Boone (C8), Davy Crockett (C9), Geronimo (C15), Jesse James (F17), Annie Oakley (C10), and Sitting Bull (C16).

This wasn't Bowman's first Wild West series. The first series was issued in 1933 by Gum, Inc. (the pre-war name for Bowman). There were two sets of 24 released, with a special bonus card (#25) which offered a prize. The premium card is considered quite rare.

The 1949 set is much more popular with collectors. So popular, in fact, that they reissued most of the artwork in the 1953 "Frontier Days" set. That set was a larger format (2 1/2" x 3 3/4") but filled the larger margins on the side with western graphics. There were 128 cards in this series, all of them originally from the 1949 set.

Following the end of World War II, Gum Inc. was absorbed into the Bowman card company, with former Gum Inc. art director Charles Steinbacher still at the helm. Steinbacher had held his position with the firms for 30 years, before retiring, and he was there for the production of all of the art for Gum, Inc.'s and Bowman's most memorable sets, including this classic Wild West issue. Artist Tom King was the conceptual genius that Charles Steinbacher relied upon as he was given a storyline and then asked to produce the artwork for it. Although Steinbacher did not produce the conceptual artwork himself, he was responsible for the finished product.