What's the rarest card you own?

[yanksfan09]

Thank you! You have some great cards in your videos!

[molenick]

Pretty much all T5s are rare. Based on the various population reports, this is the rarer Eddie Collins pose (although I assume there are some ungraded examples out there).

[Brian Van Horn]

The one in the middle is the one of a kind.

[paul]

Brian, what are those Meusels? They look like W590s, but I have never seen a card numbered as high as 140 in that set.

[glchen]

Originally Posted by paul

Brian, what are those Meusels? They look like W590s, but I have never seen a card numbered as high as 140 in that set.

1925 W504 Universal Toy

[puckpaul]

Thought i would share this. Wish i had more of the set, picked this up many years ago. Mathewson Brunners bread.

[Exhibitman]

That Astra Ruth is a terribly underrated rarity. Very few people know now hard any Astra branded card is to find. Took me years to get a Schmeling for my boxing type card collection. Meanwhile...



Coney Island Arcade Lou Gehrig.

[BuzzD]

A few pop 1's to add. Paschal Universal Toy, Cole Pinkerton NYAL. Not sure how rare Bodie E122 is even tho a pop 1. Anyone else have one?

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by glchen

1925 W504 Universal Toy

Very nice Ruth Card

[Exhibitman]

1964 Penafiel (Mexico) Gehrig:

[phlflyer1]

1/1 Cobb and Wagner cards

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by phlflyer1

1/1 Cobb and Wagner cards

Wow! Really enjoying seeing all these mind-blowing rarities. What a great thread, keep it going!

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

Wow! Really enjoying seeing all these mind-blowing rarities. What a great thread, keep it going!

+1 never seen these before.

this thread is 1 of a kind.

[big-six]

Love this set

[Seven]

Originally Posted by phlflyer1

1/1 Cobb and Wagner cards

These are absurd! Where did you get them from? What's there story?

[big-six]

Scott those are beautiful

[phlflyer1]

Thanks to all who posted the kind words on my 1/1 Cobb & Wagner cards.

James, almost all of the cards that I have from this set came from a large collection of cards that my father and I obtained from the original collector back in the mid 1970s.

For the longest time, I had no idea what these cards even were until I started getting back into the hobby in the late 1990s and found a checklist for them. It turns out that, at the time, only 16 different players were known and I had 8 that were not part of the checklist (including Cobb and Wagner).

I reached out to Bob Lemke of SCD about the cards that weren't on the checklist and brought him proof one year at a show in Philadelphia. Below is the write up that Mr. Lemke put in SCD regarding the new additions to the set.

[big-six]

Epic find

[Rhotchkiss]

Scott, those are awesome. I have never seen them before. Can you post back pics? What exactly are they - notebook covers? Also, how can they be from 1910 if there is a Hornsby?

[Baseball Rarities]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

Scott, those are awesome. I have never seen them before. Can you post back pics? What exactly are they - notebook covers? Also, how can they be from 1910 if there is a Hornsby?

I believe that Scott’s cards were issued as a part of a candy box. I think that I remember seeing a full box at some point that featured players on both the front and back of it.

The Hornsby is a notebook - part of a totally different issue.

[Aaron Seefeldt]

Scott wrote about the set for Old Cardboard Magazine in 2005:

https://oldcardboard.com/misc/issue03/issue03.asp

[phlflyer1]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

Scott, those are awesome. I have never seen them before. Can you post back pics? What exactly are they - notebook covers? Also, how can they be from 1910 if there is a Hornsby?

Hi Ryan,

The SCD article has a couple of different checklist additions in it. The Hornsby mentioned was from a different set.

The part of the article about the additions to the 1910 All Star Baseball set starts in the middle column of the bottom part of the page and continues on the right column on the top of the page.

The cards, like a handful of other "E" cards of the period, were cut from the sides of a candy box produced by Dockman & Sons (who was also one of the brands found on the backs of E92 cards).

Since these were cut from the sides of a candy box, they are blank backed, but they are known to have been produced by Dockman & Sons as there are at least two complete boxes known to exist.

I don't own either of the complete boxes but I'm adding images of one of the complete boxes that used to be owned by Lew Lipset.

Here is the current known checklist of 24 cards in the set.

https://oldcardboard.com/e/e2/all-st...ar-bb-list.asp

[Rhotchkiss]

Wow. Very cool. And Aaron, thanks for the link

[Exhibitman]

After closing out his HOF MLB career, Arky Vaughan went to San Francisco for a final season in the sun with the PCL Seals. He was supposed to go on the team's 1949 postseason tour of Japan but retired instead. It was the first American goodwill tour of Japan since the war and did immeasurable good in restoring relations between the country. The Japanese card makers issued a number of menko (cartoon) and bromide (photographic) cards of the Seals, including these Vaughan cards:



And this one is so rare that no one can seem to figure out what it is:

[George]

Not sure how rare this is, but I have not seen another one.

[gabrinus]

Those are great Scott...George I would say any Orange Border is rare and a Wagner especially...Jerry

[oldeboo]

Those Dockman boxes are awesome. They just about tell the whole story. The manufacturer of the boxes, J.M. Raffel Company, also had a company baseball team for a period of time.

[sforaker]

Ruth 1920.

[yanksfan09]

Originally Posted by sforaker

Ruth 1920.

Great Ruth!

[z28jd]

I don't know if this qualifies because of how many are here, but if you count it as a group, I've never heard of three 1890 Old Judge Player's League cards of the same pose together. Most Player's League poses don't have three examples.

Unfortunately these scans are old, 1890 OJ cards have poor picture quality, and the PL is hard to see in all of them, which is how I ended up with all three for about $400 total, when even the low grade one should have went for more. The "(PL)" on every card is to the right of his left foot. It's easier to see in person on all three cards.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by phlflyer1

Hi Ryan,
The SCD article has a couple of different checklist additions in it. The Hornsby mentioned was from a different set. The part of the article about the additions to the 1910 All Star Baseball set starts in the middle column of the bottom part of the page and continues on the right column on the top of the page. The cards, like a handful of other "E" cards of the period, were cut from the sides of a candy box produced by Dockman & Sons (who was also one of the brands found on the backs of E92 cards). Since these were cut from the sides of a candy box, they are blank backed, but they are known to have been produced by Dockman & Sons as there are at least two complete boxes known to exist. I don't own either of the complete boxes but I'm adding images of one of the complete boxes that used to be owned by Lew Lipset. Here is the current known checklist of 24 cards in the set.

What an interesting set! So there were ballplayers on both sides of the box, right, two to the box? If one discovery of new ones expands the checklist by half, I guess there could have been many more players in the original issue. I've always wondered how things like this can be so rare. Anybody else have any of these? Perhaps these were test issues, or proofs, otherwise why aren't there more of them around? You'd think more than one kid would have kept the boxes to put other cards or stuff in. Wonder what the candy or gifts consisted of? And what's with the "privilege of opening and examining" on the flap? What's that supposed to mean? Last mystery: how in the world did Scott's two examples get graded so differently by SGC? A clearly hand-cut card gets a "5?" Wow! Overall, these are the coolest things I've seen in a long time.

[Leon]

Great thread and stuff shown. The rarest ones are great.

Some fun postcards.

[Rhotchkiss]

Originally Posted by George

Not sure how rare this is, but I have not seen another one.

Super rare. Others exist, but very very few. I sold a portrait Wagner Orange border in memory lane earlier this year, and I kind of regret it. I think the batting pose is tougher than portrait and portrait is near impossible. Those are tough tough cards.

[mordecaibrown1]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

Few more rare ones -- this is a GREAT thread

And the Felix Mendelson Ruth’s are amazing.

I used to own that Wagner with the Menagerie wrong back 20 years ago! Or one just like it! Here are a few of mine now!

[RCMcKenzie]

Nice ones, gang.

This Buchner-looking card was unknown-unknown until discovered in an old scrapbook by a board member. Welch was not known to be included in the n284 Buchner series until this card surfaced. Without an advertising back, one can't call this an "n284", maybe a poster cut for a card that never was, maybe a "chase" card, ha-ha. Anyway, I keep it with the other n284's.

[phlflyer1]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

What an interesting set! So there were ballplayers on both sides of the box, right, two to the box? If one discovery of new ones expands the checklist by half, I guess there could have been many more players in the original issue. I've always wondered how things like this can be so rare. Anybody else have any of these? Perhaps these were test issues, or proofs, otherwise why aren't there more of them around? You'd think more than one kid would have kept the boxes to put other cards or stuff in. Wonder what the candy or gifts consisted of? And what's with the "privilege of opening and examining" on the flap? What's that supposed to mean? Last mystery: how in the world did Scott's two examples get graded so differently by SGC? A clearly hand-cut card gets a "5?" Wow! Overall, these are the coolest things I've seen in a long time.

Hi Hank,

I'll try to keep my reply brief as I don't want to take up much more of the thread discussing this one particular set with all of the other great rarities being posted.

As Aaron mentioned, I wrote about the 1910 All Star Baseball set in Old Cardboard magazine issue #3 (thanks Aaron for posting the link!). There is a lot more detail to be found in that article than what I'm about to post in response. Feel free to PM me if you still have questions after this response or would like to discuss the set further.

Yes, there are two subjects per box (one on each side). Not only that, each of the known boxes consists of one subject from the American League and one from the National League at the same position. Of the known set checklist, there exists a pair of players for each position (1 AL, 1 NL) with two notable exceptions, four subjects listed as "Baserunners" (again split between the leagues), a manager for each league and Cobb and Wagner listed as "Batters".

The notable exceptions missing from the known checklist are a catcher for the AL and a second baseman for the NL. Other than that, I think that the known set of 24 subjects is fairly complete as the composition of one player from each league at a given position seems pretty intentional based upon the box design and the checklist of known subjects.

Why don't more examples exist from this or other candy box issues of the period such as Baseball Bats, J=K or Orange Borders? (BTW, nice Orange Border Wagner George!)

I would say that, for kids of the time, the candy was the main thing that they were interested in. I would imagine that in most cases the boxes were ripped open, the candy was consumed and the boxes discarded. Also, these candy issues were likely distributed in a much smaller region than most of the tobacco products of the era.

As far as why SGC choose to give the Cobb a numerical grade I have no idea. They were all cut from a candy box so really I would have expected it to be graded "Authentic" like almost all of the others were that I submitted from my set.

[ValKehl]

Hank, here's another example of a Dockman & Sons All Star Base-Ball card:

[DeanH3]

[Casey2296]

Beautiful cards Dean

[Exhibitman]

1949 Sommer & Kaufmann card signed by Lefty. A tough set to find at all, PSA has graded no Lefty cards from either S&K issue. I suspect this signed specimen is the only one in the world.



And just for s**ts and giggles, here'e the 1948:

[h2oya311]

I love early postcards of HOFers. I think these two early postcards of HOF umpire Bill McGowan would qualify as "rare". The first is likely one of a kind. I know of another example of the second, but still "rare" nonetheless.

Both were sent to presumed girlfriend Irene Seveier. The first is postmarked in 1915. The second is addressed to the same Irene, although McGowan got married to another woman in 1918, so I assume the second was sent before 1918, but who knows? The text on the back might suggest that he still had some feelings for Irene if issued after 1918.

I love that both of these were personally sent by Bill McGowan. He had very nice penmanship. Do these qualify as autographed items since both were signed "Bill" at the end???

[Hankphenom]

.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by phlflyer1

Hi Hank, I'll try to keep my reply brief as I don't want to take up much more of the thread discussing this one particular set with all of the other great rarities being posted. As Aaron mentioned, I wrote about the 1910 All Star Baseball set in Old Cardboard magazine issue #3 (thanks Aaron for posting the link!).

Thanks, Scott, I would have liked to read the article, but the print is minuscule as presented by the link. My question about the rarity of these is rhetorical, I've always been amazed at how many vintage cards and memorabilia seem to have survived as one of a kind or one of very few--one of the things making the hobby so interesting. And you didn't say whether you have any idea what the "privilege of opening and examining" on the flap is supposed to mean?

[Kenny Cole]

A few more

[Kenny Cole]

Whoops! Got the wrong side of Delahanty.

[phlflyer1]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

Thanks, Scott, I would have liked to read the article, but the print is minuscule as presented by the link. My question about the rarity of these is rhetorical, I've always been amazed at how many vintage cards and memorabilia seem to have survived as one of a kind or one of very few--one of the things making the hobby so interesting. And you didn't say whether you have any idea what the "privilege of opening and examining" on the flap is supposed to mean?

Hi Hank,

As far as the "privilege of opening and examining" statement on the label, I have seen that terminology on other late 1800's early 1900's advertisements and products.

I've always taken it as a "legalese" term for once you've paid the cost of the item, its yours to open and examine/consume the contents.... but don't open
it unless you've paid for it. That may be oversimplifying it as I'm not a lawyer but I think that is what the term is generally for.

[DeanH3]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

Beautiful cards Dean

Thank you Phil!

[benchod]

Great stuff Kenny and all,
Speaking of cards cut from candy boxes here's a pretty scarce Wagner with a famous portrait

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

I've always been amazed at how many vintage cards and memorabilia seem to have survived as one of a kind or one of very few--one of the things making the hobby so interesting.

That's the fun of it, having something unique or nearly so. I've been collecting oddball cards and premiums for decades for just that reason: so much more of a back story than a mainstream card. With that in mind, onto one of my favorite items:



I bought a collection of cards and ephemera at an antique fair. The dealer filled a showcase with stuff and wanted a set price for it, which I paid. But I had nothing to carry it in. He gave me the box that he got the collection in. It was really dirty and had all kinds of padding and crap in it, like old newspaper scraps, but beggars cannot be choosers.

One of my maxims when I buy a collection is to always take apart the packaging just in case something is hiding in there. So I started through the packing and junk at the box bottom and out tumbled three snap shots of Indians from 1948 or 1949, including this Satchel Paige. Finding something like that totally unexpected is just heaven for a collector-picker like me.

[GasHouseGang]

That's a great find. But if that's really a snapshot, it must have been someone with greater access than an average fan to have taken the photo on the field during warm-ups.