You people should be ashamed of yourselves...
 

I recently became a member here and one of the first threads I read was about the 1908-09 Rose Company postcards. Now I didn't know Rose Company from Rosey Grier so I was intrigued by the thread.

Then members started rolling out their collections of Rose Postcards with backstories and histories. The member knowledge was incredible.

Here's Honus Wagner.. Here's Cobb... Here's Walter Johnson... Here's Cy Young... Here's a blank one... Here's one of a ballplayer my Gran used to flirt with when the Team was in town..

And here's Moonlight Graham... Unbelievable.

One member said they were the most beautiful baseball cards ever made. Now, there are a lot of beautiful cards so I was thinking hyperbole but wanted to see for myself, so I acquired one. Not too fancy and within my price range I picked up a Mickey Doolan (Doolin) partly because he's Irish like my ancestors and I believe he's the only ballplayer wearing a cap in the Rose Postcard set.

Well, my card came today and I'll be damned if it isn't one of the most beautiful baseball cards I've ever seen.

I probably won't buy another but I did have to have at least one, and I can see how one might become addicted to this set.

And it most likely would not have happened without reading that thread.

So, shame on you guys for enticing me to spend my hard earned money on a Rose Company Postcard.

And thank you for your knowledge that you give so freely.

Also, you have a lot of cool cards...

Fun post. Congrats on a great card.

That's a beautiful Rose. One of the nicest I've seen.

Rose PC
 

Nice piece. Congrats!

Nice Mickey Doolan Rose Co. postcard. You are right, the Doolan is the only postcard of a Major League player shown with his hat on, though there are some Scranton players pictured in theirs. All of the other 191 Major League players are shown in studio portraits in uniform, mostly taken by Carl Horner.

There are two versions of Doolan/Doolin that exist. I believe that the postcard that you have was the first version, probably a prototype. Your version has his name spelled incorrectly (Doolan), uses a different font and abbreviates Philadelphia as "Phila." Though it is hard to see, this is the same version that is pictured in the August 15, 1908 edition of the American Stationer.

The later versions spelled his name correctly (Doolin), use the same font that is found on the other Rose Co. postcards and spelled out Philadelphia fully.

Wow, thank you Kevin, I had no idea.

Rose
 

I never paid much attention to these, but after seeing yours I have to agree that they are beautiful. Thank you for showing it.

Rick

Those are nice! Now shame on you for trying to get me addicted ...

Rose Co. PCs are super special. Enjoy.

Very nice!
By the way, what's the most expensive one in this set? Cobb? Wagner? Anyone here own one?

I've owned a Cobb, Wagner and Plank before but don't any longer.
Cobby is by far the most expensive, all things being equal. It's a great set and they remind me, a little bit, of Ramlys.

.

Love Ramly's.

I owned a Matty for many years and I always thought that Rose post cards are among the top Five best looking Baseball cards. With Duke Cabinets, W600's , S81 Silks, And Creole Cigarettes (pcl) rounding out my top 5. You know what I am going to start a thread and see what other vintage collectors think are the best looking cards..

Congrats...that's a nice one! I own one too.... it's one of my favorite post card series for sure.

Ricky Y

I agree with Leon that the Cobb is the most expensive card in the set. I think that Cobb would be followed by Johnson, which is a very tough postcard and some consider it to be his rookie "card." Young would probably be next since he is one of the most difficult Hall of Famers with only a couple of known examples. I would probably rank Wagner 4th only because he is relatively common with at least least 8 known examples.

Something tells me that won't be the only Rose Co. PC that the OP ever acquires! Surely, at the very least, he will want an example of the version with Doolin's name spelled correctly.

Here are my three Rose Co. PCs (sorry I didn’t crop out the Cobb Sepia- got lazy).

I agree with Kevin that Cobb is the most expensive, followed by Wajo. I would put Matty up there with Young. I would place Wagner 5th, but only bc he is a tad more common (a whopping 10-12), and then probably Plank.

A few side notes: (1) this is a very large and divers set, with errors and variations. (2) Perhaps the coolest of all is that this set contains a Moonlight, Archie Graham - the real guy- from his playing days in Scranton. I believe only two are known, and I believe it is the only standalone Moonlight Graham piece (there are a few team photos, composites and PCs).

Here is a nice little article on the set; although I bet there is a ton more info about it in net54 archives.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.spo...cards-set/amp/

Saying “You people” can get you fired from your TV gig here in Canada

Just sayin’

:)

Casey,

Have you ever seen a T204 up close and personal? Probably one of the mst beautiful cards you'll ever lay eyes on...:p

Ryan - Yes, Moonlight Graham and Plank are great ones also. Definitely need to be added to a Rose Co. Postcard Top 10 list.

The reason why I put Young so high is that I have never seen one offered for sale while I have seen 5 or so Mathewsons.

Just to add a few more scans to this thread, here are the two Mathewson variations - one with his name spelled with one "t" and other with two. Another interesting fact is that this is one of the few portraits in the set that was not taken by Horner. It was a portrait of Matty in his street clothes by Falk that was touched up to portray him in his uniform. (Images stolen from the internet)

The Moonlight Graham is on my very, very short shopping (scratch that) want list...though, it probably will never happen.

That's called a lead-in headline, which compels people to keep reading, literally 45 views in the first minute and 1100 views at hour 24. They are useful if you want someone to read what you wrote. Kinda fun, you have to have a nice genuine story with humor if your gonna use a lead-in like that though.

My only Rose Postcard currently...shown before but still.....

https://luckeycards.com/ppc760rosegenericbaseball.jpg