1951 Bowman Baseball Cards  

Zabel Brothers Co., Inc.
5th and Columbia Avenues, Philadelphia, PA

Empty lot now prevails where Zabel Brothers Co. Inc once stood.

One of the largest, if not the largest printing companies in Philadelphia during the 1950's was
Zabel Brothers Co., Inc. The company was operated by William E. Zabel as President of the company
and William E. Zabel Jr. as Vice President. In a 1981 interview, Bowman's George Moll said that he contracted
with the Zabel Brothers printing company in late 1949 to start printing the more colorful cards
that Bowman had plans to produce, starting with their 1949 series of Wild West Picture Cards.
 It is believed that Zabel Brothers Co., Inc. was the lone printer of the Bowman
sports cards through 1955. They then continued to print Topps cards up into the 1960's
and possibly even later.

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