Frederick Photo Cards

[rhettyeakley]

Originally Posted by SetBuilder

From an aesthetic perspective, these cards are hideous and unsightly. By the time these cards were printed, there were higher quality methods available to make better looking cards. It looks like this Frederick photo company chose the cheapest and lowest quality materials to make this set. Not sure what makes them so coveted other than their rarity.

Everything you just wrote is the exact reason I love the cards. They are weird, quirky, unique, rare, and rudimentary... but at the same time awesome because they are exactly that way.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I have no idea what makes them "hideous and unsightly" to you as they are simply small real photos of baseball players, many of which feature unique images not found anywhere else.

All that being said one of the most popular sets of cards of all time (1912 Boston Garter's) are in my opinion so weird they border on hideous, even though the lithography was well done. Who honestly wants a card of Napoleon Lajoie slowly hiking up his sexy Garters? Then you have both Christy Mathewson and Hal Chase posed where they literally look like they are trying to seduce you.

The 1913 Boston Garter's, however, are amazing cards!