This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/21/2011
Graded VG 40(3) by SGC. Yum Yum indeed! Few issues in the extensive universe of old cardboard conjure the notion of scarcity as succinctly and sweetly as the elusive 1888 Yum Yum Tobacco set. Issued by August Beck & Company out of Chicago and later identified by Jefferson Burdick as the N403 set in the American Card Catalog, generations of collectors have marveled at the mystique of this curious issue, long hailed within the hobby as the scarcest of all 19th century baseball cards. So utterly scarce are Yum Yum cards, in fact, that nearly 125 years after their regional distribution the exact checklist remains unclear, with additional players and variations continuing to surface every few years. Mile High Card Company is exceptionally pleased and excited to offer for bidding the key card from this celebrated issue, 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. Often referenced and copied in books about old baseball cards, but virtually never encountered in person, the generations-old allure of this mythical 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, one of the game's first noted home run hitters, who actually batted lead-off for five of Anson's NL Pennant winning clubs in the 1880s. So feared was Dalyrmple at the plate, in fact, that in 1881 he became the first player in the history of the game to ever receive an intentional pass with the bases loaded. Graded SGC 40 VG 3, the presented specimen is one of only a small handful known to exist, and it is by far the most presentable of the scant 3 copies that have ever surfaced for professional grading, with the only other 2 copies on record rating in the SGC 20 category, a full two steps down the grading ladder. To be clear, PSA has never graded a single Yum Yum example, and so scarce is the issue that only a mere 87 total copies have ever surfaced at SGC, with just 21 of those rating marginally higher than this magnificently presentable Anson. Highlighted by unusually accurate centering for the issue, the only condition concerns appear to be some expected toning, or aging, on both the front and back surfaces, as well as some mild but uniform edge wear and rounding at the corners. 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, that is, the relative difference between the light and dark areas of the printed image and text, the latter of which appears almost as bold and precise as the day it was printed, powerfully proclaiming "Chicago's" at the top, along with "Anson - Captain" at the bottom just above the seldom seen but often imagined advertisement for "Yum Yum" Tobacco. A tremendous opportunity to acquire a tenured hobby masterpiece that hasn't publicly traded hands since the advent of third-party grading. So phenomenally scarce that it borders on the mythical, to compare the Yum Yum Anson to other hobby legends noted for their scarcity, such as the T206 Wagner, which boasts 60-80 copies known, would be like comparing oranges to baseballs. Absolutely, literally, incomparable, and offered with our sincerest of recommendations.