1898-99 National Copper Plates and 1899-1900 M101-1 The Sporting News

[Baseball Rarities]

I have always been interested in these sets, but it does not seem like there is a lot of information out there regarding them. It would be great if anyone with any info about these sets would share it here.

Here is the little information that I know about these sets. I will sometimes refer to these as "cards" just for the sake of simplicity. I know that many collectors disagree on exactly what a "rookie" card is and specifically what qualifies as a "card."

I know that the National Copper Plates were issued both in small portfolios that included 6 players. These portfolios were stapled together as a bound volume. These began April 22, 1898 and were supposed to run weekly for 26 weeks. I have only seen the first two issues and have no idea how many they actually issued.

M101-1s were issued by The Sporting News one at a time as supplements to their weekly newspaper. They issued a total of 62 cards starting on April 22, 1899 and ending on October 20, 1900. Each supplement has The Sporting News advertising and its date of issue listed at the top.

There was also a 50 subject portfolio issued by The Sporting News. These do not contain The Sporting News advertising at the top. They were bound together by a string and could easily be separated into individual pieces. I am aware of two known portfolios - one was sold by REA in 2014 and is still intact. The other was sold by Christie's in 2016 and was broken up. The one sold by Christie's has a heavy burlap cover which had advertising for The Sporting News on it. Even though this portfolio was issued by The Sporting News, I think that people refer to them as National Copper Plates since there is no advertising on them, but many do have a National Copper Plate copyright.

Here are the Wagners for the two different sets for illustrative purposes. The M101-1 Sporting News is from the recent REA sale and the Wagner with no advertising is from the Sporting News portfolio of 50 subjects that was sold by Christie's.

These were both issued in 1899 and are dated below the image with the M101-1 having the specific August 19, 1899 date at the top as well.

All of the images are stolen from the internet.

[Baseball Rarities]

Here is an example of the 6 subject stapled portfolio that National Copper Plate began issuing in 1898. I have included an example of one of the subjects, Anson, which is copyrighted 1898 to the left of his image. I am not sure if these measure the typical 8.75" x 11.00" or not.

[Baseball Rarities]

There is quite a bit of overlap between the two sets. In total, 87 different players are known.

The M101-1 Sporting News Supplement set (the set with advertising date at the top) contains a total of 62 subjects.

There are 50 subjects in the Sporting News "Portfolio" set (the set with no advertising at the top).

25 of the subjects (such as Wagner) are known in both sets.

25 of the subjects are only known without the advertising at the top.

37 of the subjects were only issued as a weekly supplement to The Sporting News.

[Baseball Rarities]

Here is an image of the cover and a few of the subjects from The Sporting News portfolio of 50 subjects that sold in Christie's. It was later broken up and sold off individually. These measure 8.75" x 11.00". As mentioned, none of the subjects had advertising at the top, but are sometimes referred to as National Copper Plates even though they were issued by The Sporting News. All of the subjects has either an 1898 or 1899 date at the bottom, so it clearly was not issued until 1899.

[mrreality68]

Wow. These are amazing

[jingram058]

I understand the HOF desire for uniformity in the display of those enshrined, and the decision for the bronze plaques goes all the way back to the origin. But it seems to me these fantastic images depict what these fellows really looked like. Some of the bas relief images on the plaques are bloody awful, to put it bluntly, bearing no resemblance whatsoever to the individual depicted.

[puckpaul]

Thanks, Kevin, and I will do my best to contribute based on my collection. For one, here is an Anson that was removed from the binding (i purchased it separately from the REA bound volume.) sorry i am away from my collection and do not have a photo of the binder handy, will follow up when i can.

Also, here are two versions of the Kid Nichols, one of which is oversized. I assumed that the one without the sporting news date across the top was a copper Plate, but never sure. And teh versions can differ with that border frame on the picture. Only on some of them.