Some of the mysteries and myths surrounding the most famous card in the hobby.

[Rhotchkiss]

Originally Posted by G1911

In the context of uncut material, it was destroyed; cut up into individual components of cards. The uncut sheet does not exist. As far as I can tell no photograph of it before it ceased to exist was taken to preserve the layout.

Fair enough. I guess destruction by cut-up is still destruction (no longer whole).

Meanwhile, I saw the Wajo in person at the Philly show -- it is very pretty.

Regarding sheet-cut cards, do you think what SGC did -- grade it but note its sheet cut -- makes sense? Its not authentic ("A") to the extent it was never included with the tobacco it advertised. Also, it really has not been altered, except with respect to its place on the larger sheet, and all cards were at some point cut from sheets.

You have T206 brown old mills, which all come with an A designation, which were never put into packs, and were all sheet cut (often with wavy borders). You have most T215 pirates cut from a sheet and they all get A designations. Meanwhile there are plenty of hand cut strip and other cards that get numerical grades but are designated "hand cut" (sometimes incorrectly). Seems that SGC grading it and designating it sheet cut makes sense.

I know this is a side track of the main topic, and perhaps its been discussed before, but I really don't know the nuances of grading and this is interesting, like the T206 Wagner