1919 White Sox team issue cards

[Fred]

Is anyone trying to complete a 1919 White Sox team issued set? It was issued as a 25 card set and it is listed in the Standard Catalog. The cards are 1-11/16 x 2-3/4. Is it a very difficult set to complete?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Fred

Is anyone trying to complete a 1919 White Sox team issued set? It was issued as a 25 card set and it is listed in the Standard Catalog. The cards are 1-11/16 x 2-3/4. Is it a very difficult set to complete?

It's going to be tough since there is only one known set and as far as I know it has not been broken up.

[Fred]

Are these cards "scarce"? The reason I ask is because I have a chance to pick up a few. No, nothing close to a set and none of the "big" names are there. However, there is a Comiskey.

[felada]

As leon said there is only one known set. That would make them about as scarce as the alpha photo engraving cards. I would be cautious about buying singles since i do not believe the set was ever broken up.

[nolemmings]

This set was reprinted. As for originals, as far as I am aware, there is only one known set, with no known singles. Even if there are some singles extant, they would be extremely scarce. The chance to "pick up a few" is incredibly remote, unless of course they are the reprints, which appear in set form on ebay from time to time and therefore could of course be broken up into singles.

IMO, the chances of you acquiring authentic singles from this set are negligible, but I would love to be wrong.

[timn1]

Whenever I pass by this set in the SCD I've wondered why I have never once seen a single card from it anywhere. I guess this explains it-- and yet not really. Todd and/or Leon, can you give us any more info? How can it be known for sure that only set exists, and no singles? Is there hobby lore you can share?

[barrysloate]

Tim- the set was sold to Copeland intact and was offered by Sotheby's the same way. That's the early history of it- don't recall if it has sold publicly since.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by timn1

Whenever I pass by this set in the SCD I've wondered why I have never once seen a single card from it anywhere. I guess this explains it-- and yet not really. Todd and/or Leon, can you give us any more info? How can it be known for sure that only set exists, and no singles? Is there hobby lore you can share?

It is always better to say "known" when guessing the population of pre-war cards, and I almost always do . Unless we know positively how many were produced, and those are all accounted for, then we really don't know for sure how many there are. There is a bit of lore though in that at least one very, very experienced collecting pioneer doesn't think the set is from 1919. I forget exactly what he told me but he was fairly adamant it wasn't from 1919. I bet I get an email a month where the person describes these reprints and fakes, and asks if they are real. I usually tell them they have a better chance of winning the lottery than what they have is real. One can only dream........