This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/7/2009
If you think the 1971 Topps baseball and 1962 Topps football issues are tough because of their full-bleed black borders, then just imagine how challenging a 19th century full-bleed black bordered tobacco set would be. That's exactly what we have in the 1885 Mayo's Cut Plug issue, designated N300 by Jefferson Burdick in the American Card Catalog. Produced by Mayo Tobacco Works out of Richmond, VA, the set contains 48 cards featuring 40 different players, 8 of whom appear in both their uniforms and street clothes. Any collector who has attended a few card shows has probably encountered a fair share of examples and can attest that they are almost always in POOR to FAIR condition, with grossly advanced perimeter wear, entirely expected of a century-old tobacco card but ultra obvious because of the full bleed print. Frankly, I've personally never believed they were very appealing. Then again, I've never been fortunate enough to closely examine one of the few dozen examples that have survived the last 104 years in EX/MT or better condition. Until now! Offered in this lot is an incredibly high-grade example of the set's key card, Adrian "Cap" Anson, that has somehow defied the odds and weathered the ravages of time to merit a professional assessment of EX/NM 6 from the 19th century specialists at SGC. The N300 issue is one of several pre-war sets that actually reports a significantly higher number of examples on record at the NJ-based grading company than at PSA. To date, SGC has reviewed 928 total examples, grading just 26 of them in the EX/NM 6 class, with 11 higher, while PSA reports just 262 total copies on record, with just 17 in the EX/MT 6 class, with only 4 higher. The presented Anson reports just 3 competitors in its advanced class at SGC, with 1 higher, and 1 like it and 1 higher at PSA. Very accurately centered with just a minor inclination for the right border, with perfectly formed cuspate corners showing just minor NM/MT wear to the cardstock with what I guess the graders believe is EX/MT wear to the thin black enamel coating around each corner as well as down the right edge. The reverse shows a more advanced trace of similar enamel wear running the entire width and length of the top and right edges, respectively, with no real flecking or color loss throughout its surface. The obverse surface, likewise, is in exceptional condition, with a brilliant and perfectly preserved image boasting uncommon precision in its details and intensely powerful contrast for the era, both of which lend an uncommon and almost 3-dimensional life-likeness to the depiction of the man they called "Cap," for Captain, and sometimes "Pop," because he was 45 years old by the time he ended his 27-year career, a record for longevity he shares only with Nolan Ryan. Anson is also widely credited as the game's first player to reach the 3,000 hit milestone. With only a handful of other contemporary issues to choose from, including the N28 Allen & Ginter, N162 Goodwin Champions, N172 and N173 Old Judge, and N284 Buchner Gold Coin, there aren't very many Anson cards to crave for your 19th century collection, and there certainly aren't very many, inclusive of those issues, that could possibly hold a candle to this black-bordered beauty that ranks as 1 of the 7 finest extant!