(LOT 69)
"Fresh to the Hobby" 1955 Ashland/Aetna Oil College Basketball 4-Card Strip incl. Robert Burrow; Earl Adkins; Richard Culbertson & Jack Adams
This 4-card 1955 Ashland/Aetna Oil College Basketball partial vertical strip includes four un-cut subjects from the Kentucky Wildcats and Kentucky Eastern Maroons. Players include center Robert Burrow (Wildcats); guard Earl Adkins (Wildcats); guard Richard Culbertson (Maroons) and forward Jack Adams (Maroons). The top header includes the standard "hole-punch" utilized for purposes of hanging the original 6-card strips on a gas station rack. In typical fashion, the Adams card reveals a manually torn bottom edge since the gas attendants would tear off the next available card for their customers.

Since a full 6-card panel included 2 players from 3-different Kentucky-based schools, we can assume the two missing players were from the Morehead Eagles Kentucky team, with the header caption reflecting "KY. – EASTERN – MOREHEAD NO. 5" text (the "NO. 5 denotes the KY; EASTERN & MOREHEAD schools). Other than the aforementioned standard hole punch and rough lower edge, the strip reveals super clean front and back surfaces, sharp perimeter edging, no glaring creases/blemishes and crystal-clear clarity for all four portrait images. The final compliment are the elaborate Ashland Oil versos that portray the player's vital statistics, graduation class and hometown. An ultra-rare offering and "fresh to the hobby", it stands as the first partial strip we have ever encountered and to the best of our knowledge, a unique memento in every conceivable manner!

MIN BID $200
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