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.

The Things We Do For Love...

...or at least for our PCs.

Behold the 1955 Robert Gould 'Statue' of Billy Pierce that probably was made in Asia at the cost of two cents. I am not going to say what I paid but it was somewhat more than two cents.

For comparison sake here he is next to a Pacific Trading Pierce that came the same day.

Yes, it vaguely replicates his pitching form but without the name across the base it could really be almost any lefty pitcher of the era. I mean it's cool to have a relatively rare little do-dad issued during his career but I could have picked up an ungraded '51 Topps Blue Back of him with that $$ and some patience.

On the other hand I did get this for about half of what I've seen on eBay for it before. So there's that.

The statue was issued in conjunction with a trading card back in '55. The cards, which I believe were held to the statue with a rubber band, is crazy expensive. The few I see up for bid or sale go for $300 and up.... way up. Needless to say that's a white whale that I will not be harpooning anytime soon.

For that money you'd think it would at least be attractive.

EDIT: I have found a 2012 auction for contracts that were signed by several Hall of Famers re: the issuance of statues in their likeness in a second series of these, a series that was never produced. The contracts paid the players $100. I still don't have much background on these.

SECOND EDIT:

1955 Robert Gould Statues Checklist:

1 Willie Mays
2 Gus Zernial
3 Red Schoendienst
4 Chico Carrasquel
5 Jim Hegan
6 Curt Simmons
7 Bob Porterfield
8 Jim Busby
9 Don Mueller
10 Ted Kluszewski
11 Ray Boone
12 Smoky Burgess
13 Bob Rush
14 Early Wynn
15 Bill Bruton
16 Gus Bell
17 Jim Finigan
18 Granny Hamner
19 Hank Thompson
20 Joe Coleman
21 Don Newcombe
22 Richie Ashburn
23 Bobby Thomson
24 Sid Gordon
25 Gerry Coleman
26 Ernie Banks
27 Billy Pierce
28 Mel Parnell

You can find them checklisted by team at this site (unofficial).