Lost cards/non existent cards
 

Sorry if this has already been widely covered, but are there cards or even sets that we know/think existed but no longer exist or are unknown to the hobby? Would love to know more. I enjoy reading about lost media and it’s similar

Hey Edward --- great to see you post and add this topic to the list of threads. I too am deeply and primarily (solely, really) interested in history, culture, and depth of meaning as it applies to cards and the sport as a whole.

As a media historian and cultural archivist, questions like this intrigue me too. I'm sure your post will bring our fellow archivists and seekers out of the fold to engage you as well.

My best regards; excited to see where this leads,
David

Not so much lost, I'd say more so cards are known but just have never been discovered.

One set that might interest you is Fleer's Whiz Bang "cards". One box of Whiz Bang's was discovered in the depths of an old store. The find was auctioned in 2009 and later auctioned off in separate lots by Lew Lipset. It is known that there are at least 3 baseball players (Grove, Hartnett and Goslin) along with 13 Hollywood figures. The Whiz Bang flyers came in 3 colors...

Curious mix of only 3 ball players. Were there others? We may never know...

A set I've learned about semi recently is the 1950 Dominican Republic Album cards. They were a set released to paste in an album. There are a ton of Major leaguers in the set, but as I know only one or 2 finds have ever been known of them, and most of the cards are unique. So while the checklists have names like Rizzuto, Schoendienst, Berra, Jackie, Hodges etc. The checklist is equally as non complete, missing players like Williams, DiMaggio, Doby etc.

There are even retired players in the set known. Hack Wilson, Carl Hubbell. This can open another can of worms for pretty much any hof name.


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6959fbb68d.jpg

e104 type 3 Mullen
 

anybody ever seen one or have a scan of one? set list has it listed

I'm not aware of a complete checklist for the early 1930's Double Aguila sets. I've come across a couple examples not listed on any active checklist or with any graded examples. There are probably a handful of cards from each of the sets (I don't even think there is a consensus of the number of sets released) that are completely lost to time.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...c62e3d08_c.jpg

wow.. this is a beautiful card. stunning back too!

Not a set, but there is always questions why Joe Jackson is not in the T206 set (when he is in E90-1) and why there is no Cracker Jack of Babe Ruth.

Also, I always wonder why T204 does not includes so major HOFers, such as Cobb, Wagner, Young, Mathewson, Lajoie, etc... I doubt its the "tobacco thing" because T204 is one of the few tobacco issues to contain a Plank.

It will always be a shame that Gehrig didn't get a 1939 Play Ball card. What a beautiful card it was sure to be.

-
Although they don't exist I would love to see an E92 Bender white cap Crofts Candy in Red & Blue.
-

'33 goudey josh gibson for me... whew would that be a beauty

Old Judge
 

As ginormous (technical term) as N172 is, it wouldn’t shock me at all if there were additional subjects, especially in the California League as well as guys like Pop Snyder, and additional poses that no longer are extant.
And, I think there are some W600’s and T5 Pinkertons that are on the ‘official’ checklist that have no known copies.

Speaking of Gibson, his Harrison Studio PC was pretty much unknown to the world until 2005 and I’d assume the the currently known checklist isn’t the extent of what was produced.

My brother once told me that all the 'ultra rarities' from the early Zeenut sets were framed in the home of an early collector who helped catalog the sets. When his family sold the collection this was lost in the transfer of ownership and believed to have been accidently tossed into the trash. This is supposedly why there are 10-12 Zeenut cards that are cataloged but can not be confirmed to exist. Maybe he will chime in and tell a better version of the story.

Adam Hats premiums from the 1930s are really tough and new subjects pop up. There were four baseball subjects known and then a fifth from a later series popped up.

T49s were pretty close. Until 2009-2011 the complete checklist wasn't known.
I had a small find that eventually filled out the checklist. It's a general set with just a handful or cards and only one baseball card.

I figured Burdick had most, and was very surprised to be told that he only had one example. As far as I know there's only one complete set.

https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=16701

Cool card, Steve. is there a boxer in the set?

I had to look this up. This thing has to be a top 10 grail in the auto hobby -- signed on both sides ... incredible.

No boxers unfortunately. Only 20 cards total Some are not sports, some are but are a bit unclear about what sport.

http://www.moviecard.com/gallery/tcards/t49.html

In my opinion it is the second most important single card in the hobby behind the Gretzky-McNall Wagner. The Harrison PCs are the only accepted American released "set" to featured an American Negro League team in uniform, it's the only playing days card featuring the most mythical figure of the Negro Leagues alone, there is only one known copy, it's autographed on both sides, and it was originally discovered in the estate of a another Hall of Fame Negro League star.

I remember authenticating that Gibson and was even more blown away by the Jud Wilson.

I don't know if this Fosforos Los Peloteros qualifies, but I never came across another one intact with matches and Cuban tax stamp somewhat still attached from the early 1950's

Whoa ... the only one to surface?? Has there been a known sale?

It originally appeared in during the Spring 2006 auction: https://collectrea.com/archives/2006...udios-postcard

And then later sold in a 2008 Mastro Auction. I don't believe it's changed hands since, and if it's in the collection I assume it's in then it probably won't hit the market again.

Jaw-dropping -- probably the coolest thing I've seen in the hobby.

When I was starting to collect Dots Miller cards, he was in the Baseball Bats set. Then he was taken off of the checklists for some reason, so I figured it didn't exist. Then I bought one and saw one other, so he's back on the checklists