1940 Gum Inc. Superman Trading Cards
Watch
GUEST:
These were my husband's, he passed away in July, and he was 91. And I think they were collected in '40, '41-- I'm not sure.
APPRAISER:
I'm very sorry for your loss, for your husband, but he left you an amazing collection of cards right here. So these are the 1940 Superman trading cards, released by Gum, Inc., which later ended up turning into the Bowman Company, which went on to produce tons of baseball cards. There were 72 cards in the set when it was fully released. You have 56 of the cards here. When it comes to collecting these cards, collectors look for them individually, because they're so rare. These cards were released in 1940, so especially with paper drives during World War II, the odds of them surviving are really, really tough. Out of the 56 cards that you have here, you have the number one card, which is the most important out of all. Now, when it comes to grading a card's condition, there are a lot of factors that
we look at. We look at the color of it. We look at the creasing of it. We look to see if it's even off-center. When we look at the Superman one card here, it is intact, and it presents very, very well. But when you dissect the condition of it, you'd see that it's rather poor. We have this crease coming along the lower third corner right here. And, actually, when you get to the lower half of this crease, you see what we call a color break. So that white coming through, that's the actual paper material. There's no color-- it's gone. There's a lot of yellowing and tanning to the paper. At one time, when this would have been released, it would have been a bright white. And now the other thing that we talk about is off-center. Now, when a card comes out of a print, there's no way, even if this card, when it was printed in 1940, it wouldn't be a ten out of ten, because of the margin right here. So you can see how this margin is definitely and very obviously a lot thinner than the margin up here.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And that's just because of the process when it was cut off the sheet in the factory. When we grade cards, we do a numeral scale. So instead of just saying, "Good," "Very good," it's a little more precise. It's at a scale of one through ten, with half-point intervals. This card, I would say, off the cuff, looking at it in a grade, it would be about a 2.0 to a 2.5 condition, which, it's not the greatest condition, but to have a card from 1940 in that shape, to even survive to this day, is incredible. So to have that card in this condition alone is worth $200 to $300. If it were a perfect-condition card, it could easily reach, you know, $20,000 at auction in perfect condition. Now, let's talk about the remaining 55 of them. You have some great action scenes of Superman here. For a Superman collector today, this is the birth of what has grown to be this monster of an entertainment property. For the entire collection in today's world at auction, including the number one card,
you'd be looking at $2,500 to $3,500...
GUEST:
(laughing) You're kidding.
APPRAISER:
No! It's Superman! Come on, he's awesome.
GUEST:
I didn't even know he had them till we started cleaning out.
APPRAISER:
No way!
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
Wow!
GUEST:
I had no idea.
Appraisal Details
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.
