The Original Artwork for Gordie Howe’s 1957/58 Topps Hockey Card

The Official 13th Annual National Sports Collectors Convention Auction, held July 8-10, 1992, included a ton of incredible items, including the original Flexi-Chrome for Gordie Howe’s 1957/58 Topps hockey card! Superior Galleries only provided color scans for about 1/5 of its items on color plates at the beginning of the catalog; luckily, they included this one!

They described the item as follows:

This is the original artwork for the Gordie Howe card of that year A very rare and desirable item. Framed and matted with the Flexi-Chrome, and beneath it the actual card which has been autographed by Gordie Howe. This originally came out of the Gurnsey-Topps auction in 1989. A very rare hockey piece.


Overall Excellent condition. $6000-8000

Here’s a scan from Guernsey’s Topps Auction catalog showing the Gordie Howe Hockey Flexichrome. It sold for $1,600 plus the 10% buyer’s premium.

The PSA/DNA Certified Pop Report contains nine 1957 Topps Gordie Howe cards; this PSA 5/Auto 9 sold for $1,112 on eBay in February 2023.

Check out The Original Artwork Archive for more!

The Original Artwork Archive

Welcome to the Original Artwork Archive! This is the hub for all the articles I’ve written about original artwork used to produce cards, sorted by sport and set. A lot of these pieces originate from the Topps Archives and Guernsey’s Topps auction, while others remain “lost,” buried in private collections. But thanks to the hobby library, I can scan and share photos from these and other past auctions and magazines, preserving these treasures for collectors to enjoy.

If you have any examples to share, shoot me an e-mail.

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