19th century
 

If you were going to start collecting a 19th century set or subset, which would it be? Or, what is your favorite 19th century issue?

I think
 

N173s can be astoundingly beautiful. Hard to think of something like a "complete set" -- but even a modest collect of N173s would be extra ordinary!

I've always liked the Mayo set. To me the design is gorgeous.

IMO nothing better than the Old Judge (N172) set. You know you are never going to finish it so if you are a completist it ain't for you but you can approach it in so many ways and there are so many price levels that almost anyone can have an OJ collection of one kind or another. It can be pretty addictive though.
-Rhett

Jeff,
are there even any postcards from the 19th century?:eek:
Don't recall ever seeing any!

N370
 

Lone Jack Cigs, because I am a native and life-long Virginian, and the Lone Jacks relate to Lynchburg, VA, where some of my wife's relatives reside. I hope to some day acquire an example for my type collection.
Val

Without A Doubt..
 

...it's the N172 set.

I have no aspirations to even attempt to complete a set, but I can easily chase items in this set for the rest of my life and amuse myself for the next twenty+ years.

There is just such breadth and depth that it is an enormously entertaining pursuit.

Why Not Go For The Best
 

There is not set rarer than Four Base Hits.

We only know of three collectors who have three more examples.

Go for it. It will be the investment you ever made


Bruce Dorskind
America's Toughest Want List
bdorskind@dorskindgroup.com

N690 Kalamazoo Bats. Their oversized & beautiful!!! I'm normally a portrait guy
but the images on the K Bats are some of the best from the 19th century imo.

19th century
 

The most doable set is the Allen & Ginter N-28, which have 10 baseball players with Anson and Kelly the most expensive but all are available and priced reasonably in mid-grade. I think the Goodwin N-162 are the most beautiful cards ever made and are also available frequently with 8 baseball players also with anson and kelly most expensive pieces.

The Old Judge can be collected as Hall of Famers and that makes it doable to collect a set from that massive series.

For aesthetics, I think it is hard to beat the N28 set, though much of aesthetics is opinion. There are a lot of great sets and great looking 19th century cards. The others mentioned above are all awesome too. I have really enjoyed getting deeper into 19th century stuff in the last few years.
JimB

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/1...keefesgc84.jpghttp://img812.imageshack.us/img812/7...iskeysgc80.jpghttp://img811.imageshack.us/img811/3...8wardsgc80.jpg

why not chase the impossible? I'm partial to the Just So set of Spiders. Five HOFers. All it would cost is pretty much all you have and two lifetimes, minimum. Still, gorgeous cards.


oops--4 Hofers; hardly worth it after all :)

N173s for impact, K-Bats for a clear window upon the ballyards of olden days.
http://photos.imageevent.com/kawika_...3%20Connor.jpg http://photos.imageevent.com/kawika_...ze/DMcD561.jpg

19th Century
 

My suggestion is the Goodwin Champions (N162). This 50-card set represents sportscard Lithography at its best.

These 50 cards are my favorite in my collection......and, sorry guys, but these cards will never be "imprisoned" in
hard plastic.


<img src="http://i529.photobucket.com/albums/dd339/tz1234zaz/abn162ansonkelly.jpg" alt="[linked image]">
<img src="http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt113/zanted86/billkeefeglass.jpg" alt="[linked image]">



Whichever you decide, enjoy the challenge.


TED Z

Choices, choices...

If money's no object, I'd be pretty happy to add any combination of N162, N173 and N690's for my collection.

More realistically, I'd like to put together a run of Canadian-born players/managers or a run of Tip O'Neill cards one day.



Regards,

Richard.

barely a bad choice in the group
 

There is barely a bad choice in the group. As a type collector I was only 1-2 away from completion and any set, minus N28/N29, would be very difficult to complete. I think Jim's choice is really good though. The N28's certainly are aesthetically pleasing. My favorite set is the Four Base Hits but it would be close to impossible to complete it. There are so many awesome images from the 19th century it's hard to pick just one. That being said this was 1 of 2 19th century cards I kept. There really is no explanation necessary as to why, is there? :)

Craig:

In the USA, postcards were all issued post-1900


Regarding Jeff's question, if you want a challenging set to possibly complete in your lifetime, I would go with the Buchner Gold Coin set first and then possibly the Mayo Cut Plug issue.

http://photos.imageevent.com/uffda51...ab%20Ward.JPEG

All great choices. But don't forget N566 Newsboy cabinets.