19th century " Holy Grail "

[GoldenAge50s]

Aaron beat me to it, but I also suggest the N172 of Harry Wright---a highly desirable card that is very tough to come by, esp in a grade above a 1 or a 2, but CAN be had if one waits a long while!

[E93]

I am with Jeff on this one. I think the N172 Anson in uniform is it. I would personally probably rather have the Just So Cy Young, but the fact that only one exists makes it so tough that it is almost not collectable. I think the two would roughly be of equal value at auction.
JimB

[Rich Klein]

But my holy grail is this item

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Dauvray_Cup

Rich

[Joe_G.]

N172 Anson in uniform

It has been an extremely special card for generations.

The cards identified (N172 Anson in uniform, T206 Wagner, '52 Mantle) are all rare in ~ equal proportions w.r.t. their contemporaries (in case of Mantle, comparing '52 Topps High #s with all post-war issues). It would be unfair to pick a 19th century card that is as common as a Wagner.

[paul]

For me, the choices are easy: Just So Young and G&B Spalding. I think the Boston Cigar Radbourn wouldn't be too far behind.

If you throw in the criteria that the card is "obtainable" (at least a few exist), I'd probably go with the Kalamazoo Bat Harry Wright, plus N173s of Ewing and Mascot (I have one!) and Delahanty with bat on shoulder. I believe I once saw a photo of a Gypsy Queen portrait of Radbourn -- I'd toss that in too, although I'm not sure if it qualifies as "obtainable".

[19cbb]

Based on that criteria, I would say the Anson in uniform OJ.

The Holy Grail for me would be the Jim Creighton P&S memorial 'CDV'

[Doug]

I'd go with the N172 Anson in uniform.

[Fred]

Hmmm.... I'm trying to figure something out. Are we looking for a card that is rare or something that helps define "common" collected cards? The T206 Wagner is from a "commonly" collected set as is the 1952 Topps Mantle. This would almost have to make the card an OJ (N172) or something else like that. What else do we know about the other "holy grail" cards? The T206 Wagner is a scarce card from the T206 set. The 1952 Topps Mantle comes from the high series. How does that impact the idea of subjectively selecting a 19th century holy grail card? Personally, the N172 Anson in uniform makes the most sense because it is a rarity from a widely collected set. This is just my opinion and everybody knows about opininons - they're like a$$holes, everbody's got one....