Looking for Images of T226 Red Suns (Driscoll, Gans, Jeannette and Langford

[G1911]

Hey all,

I've kept scans or photos of difficult T and E cards from the Boxing sets, as I find them (and admittedly without too much diligence over the years). Reviewing the T226 set, I still don't have the images for 4 of the cards, though I'm pretty confident the photo used is the one the T218's are based off of for Driscoll, Jeanette and Langford.

Does anyone have a photo or scan they would be willing to share of these 4 cards, for my purely academic interest?

Jem Driscoll
Joe Gans
Joe Jeanette
Sam Langford

[Exhibitman]

PM sent

[david_l]

https://sports.ha.com/itm/boxing-car.../a/714-81447.s

[G1911]

Thank you Gentlemen - have them all now! If anyone has a nicer Langford image than the small part of a group photo from Heritage, I would be grateful. 50 .jpg's will have to suffice as a set for me.

Sure seems like Gans/Jeanette/Johnson/Langford are notably scarcer than the other cards.

[Exhibitman]

They definitely are, which is weird since cards of these guys are no more scarce than any other card in the other T sets. Were these a Southern-distributed issue? If so, maybe its smokers didn't care for cards of black guys and didn't save them?

[G1911]

I think it safe to assume it is a southern issue. The content of the baseball Red Suns heavily implies as such; and the cards are so tough that they certainly were not issued broadly. They must be a regional, presumably southern though I'm not sure factory location is much evidence of where the packs were actually shipped, sold and smoked.

Perhaps distribution was better than we think it was; it's possible cards were somewhat regional in another way, in that certain sets (some brands had multiple at the same time, like Hassan) or individual cards within a brand were targeted to specific buyer demographics. Perhaps the black fighters were targeted to black retail locations that simply happened to constitute less of the brand's purchaser base and vice versa.

I don't think it was a 'direct' racism of customers throwing out cards of black (if this was so, we would see it in other sets, which we do not seem to. Jack Johnson is even the solitary super print in T218 and I suspect T9 as well), or the companies not wanting to issue them (none of the ATC sets are denigrating in the vernacular in use in that actual time, from T118 to T218 to T220 and so on).

I suppose we will never know. I thought it might just be that they are more popular today; and so do not come to market as much, but it really seems to me that these cards are indeed SP's of some kind. Perhaps, also, it is coincidence and there are other SP's of unpopular fighters that we just haven't noticed because there are so few set collectors of T226.

I've found so little about this set over the years that there is little to be said about it beyond a physical description and images of the cards. My type card is a Mike Sullivan.

[DDurb]

Hi there,
Having an issue attaching my 2 pictures (front and back) to a reply or email. If you want, send me your email and I'll attach the 2 pictures. PM me.

Danny

[G1911]

Originally Posted by DDurb

Hi there,
Having an issue attaching my 2 pictures (front and back) to a reply or email. If you want, send me your email and I'll attach the 2 pictures. PM me.

Danny

PM'd! Thank you

[Exhibitman]

My experience has been that T226 is not a particularly nice condition issue. It has a lot of nice looking low technical grade specimens because of the color borders, though. There have just been a relatively large # of nice ones lately because someone is liquidating.

As for Jack Johnson, he is the Mickey Mantle of the era for collectors. Scarcity doesn't really play a role in his cards, there is just a ton of demand.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

My experience has been that T226 is not a particularly nice condition issue. It has a lot of nice looking low technical grade specimens because of the color borders, though. There have just been a relatively large # of nice ones lately because someone is liquidating.

As for Jack Johnson, he is the Mickey Mantle of the era for collectors. Scarcity doesn't really play a role in his cards, there is just a ton of demand.

Compare the pop reports between T226 and other Louisiana issues of the period, including T211. Mid grade cards are more common for T226 than similar sets. It is not a perfect data set, but there sure seem to be a higher percentage of nice copies out there than is normal.

[Exhibitman]

Population reports only reflect submissions to the services. I am talking about overall cards I've seen, not cards in holders. The slabs may well skew to higher grade in holders for some reason or reasons that are not readily discernible because we don't know the minds of the people deciding whether to submit cards.