This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/24/2020
Babe Ruth makes a quartet of appearances in the 1933 Goudey series but is absent from the 1934 issue ... sort of. "The Bambino" was in the twilight of his career at 39-years old, and with the 1934 Goudey series cut from 240 cards to just 96, they left him off of their roster, a fatal mistake in hindsight. But the company still offered the opportunity to acquire a Ruth card through its premium redemption process of mailing in wrappers to acquire an oversized, thick cardboard card with a fold-out stand on the reverse to make it easy to display. Four different cards were available: American and National League All-Star team photos, a team photo of the World Champion 1933 New York Giants, and the piece you see here, a stand-alone portrayal of George Herman "Babe" Ruth. Measuring approximately 5 1/2" x 8 13/16" and featuring a black & white image of the Babe within a gold frame, it's understandable that the few surviving pieces are generally in poor condition. Chipping around the perimeter, wear at the corners and creases on the surface are the usual problems but then there's the stand on the reverse, which often got its share of wear by card collectors that were more than happy to display their prize. Enter the finest example known to exist, an SGC 84 NM 7 specimen of Babe Ruth's iconic 1934 Goudey Premium that is two grades higher than any other evaluated by SGC or PSA combined and displays characteristics never seen before on any other specimen. First off, the gold border is perfectly squared and free of any chipping along the perimeter except for microscopic flecks at the extreme tips. The central image offers a crystal-clear glimpse of the aging slugger, a larger-than-life black and white rendition of the famous "full-body" shot used on his 1933 Goudey #144 card. And most notable of all is the reverse, which not only has the fold-out easel still intact but is completely unused as if the card just arrived in the mail from Goudey headquarters. There are pricier cards of Babe Ruth out there, but there is no more aesthetically pleasing example featuring the Bambino than this, brought to you in perfectly preserved and completely unprecedented NM condition!