1955 Robert Gould Billy Pierce card

Back in February I picked up and posted the Billy Pierce 1955 Robert Gould 'Statue' cheap little plastic toy that had been one of the more elusive pieces on my wantlist. At the time I commented that the card with which the toy was issued was even more scarce and expensive. I hadn't seen one for less than $300 (yes, I track stuff like that).

Two weeks ago or so I was looking for a different Pierce item and this card popped up at less than $100. I figured that if was 'now or never' since there was no telling when another example would appear at that price.

The card is in pretty rough shape but it really isn't too much worse than a lot of the much more expensive examples I've looked at. The original packaging seems to have included a rubber band which was used to attach the figure to the card and that pretty much eliminates the possibility of really pristine cards.

Here is a shot of the toy from the original posting back in February.

What little background I have about these is included in that post. Some additional details came up in the comment section.

The card I bought came in this form (sorry for the lousy scan):

I pay no attention to the grading since I have no idea what the numbers mean. The grade of 'Fair' seems mighty generous unless it's given relative to the other examples of this came card. I scanned the thing and then broke it out of the plastic prison.

It's blank-backed for those interested in that sort of thing:

Just for comparison here is one of the $300+ versions that was on eBay and I had saved a picture of:

If mine is 'fair' this one is easily EX+. Would I rather have this one? Hell, yes. Am I ever going to upgrade the one I have now? Sure, I'll do that the day after the Publisher's Clearinghouse folks show up at my door with balloons.