This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/7/2013
Of all the different 19th Century tobacco companies that issued baseball cards, few can compare to Yum Yum in terms of scarcity. Issued by August Beck & Company (Chicago) and later identified by Jefferson Burdick as the N403 set in the American Card Catalog, generations of collectors have marveled over this issue and debated as to whether we will ever know just exactly how many different cards were issued ... and where they all went. So far, the answer is "no"; 125 years after their regional distribution the exact checklist remains unclear, with additional players and variations continuing to surface every few years. So any offering of a Yum Yum card is cause for celebration, and one that features Adrian "Cap" Anson, the feared Captain of the Chicago White Stockings (later the Cubs) who is widely regarded as the game's first major superstar, is an absolute miracle! Often more of a myth that reality to advanced collectors that have never seen one, the allure of this pre-1900 masterpiece has not been dampened by the substitution of a look-alike in place of Anson, another well-known White Stocking player named Abner Dalyrmple. Though not nearly the superstar that Anson was, Dalrymple wasn't without great ability himself, leading the National League in home runs in 1885. Graded SGC 40 VG 3, the presented specimen is one of only a few known to exist and is the highest-graded of the 4 copies that have surfaced at SGC, while PSA has never graded a single Yum Yum example of any player. In fact, only 90 cards from the entire Yum Yum series have ever been submitted, all to SGC. The featured prize is highlighted by extremely accurate centering, though expected toning on both surfaces and some mild but uniform edge wear and rounding at the corners contribute to the grade. There are no creases or other imperfections to the 125-year old card stock, and the photographic front image has retained a surprising degree of its original contrast, with the text appearing bold and precise, powerfully proclaiming "Chicago's" at the top, along with "Anson - Captain" at the bottom just above the seldom seen advertisement for "Yum Yum" Tobacco. So phenomenally scarce that, until recently, advanced collectors could only theorize of its very existence, the Yum Yum Anson survives in numbers far smaller than even the immortal T206 Wagner!