Ever since their initial release, tobacco cards had long been considered "king" of early 20th Century baseball issues. And while collectors feverishly acquired these now century old keepsakes, cards produced for other advertisers, whether they were candy, ice cream, or some other product, were looked upon as unpopular cousins, although their appearance to tobacco cards was nearly identical. After all, tobacco was for men and candy was for children. As young baseball fanatics grew older, they shunned the habits of earlier days, casting aside their "childish" collection for one more suitable for a man, and that included cards that touted tobacco. As a result, many of the alternates fell by the wayside, their resulting rarity only becoming evident in today's collecting hobby. Beginning in 1909, the C. A. Briggs Co. Lozenge Makers of Boston, Massachusetts released a 30-card collection, designated E97 by the SCD Standard Catalog, that was nearly identical to most other candy issues save for the Briggs advertisement along the bottom of the reverse. In addition, six variation cards were released, either correcting a mistake on a previous card or updating a player's status who had been traded. The variation cards were released late in the distribution in extremely limited numbers, thus are not considered part of the basic set. However, the two rarest and most valuable of the variation cards, Cy Young (Boston) and Dennis Sullivan (Boston), along with Hartsell (Hartsel) are included in this 32-card near complete set, missing just one card, Bill Carrigan. Of over 800 total E97 cards graded by SGC, only two have graded SGC 86 and four have graded SGC 84. One of those two SGC 86s is included (Moore) as are all four of the SGC 84's (Devore, Hartsell(Hartsel), Hemphill, and Kleinow), ensuring that five of the six highest graded E97's on the SGC pop report are included in this collection. Three other cards (Keeler, Schlei, and Steinfeldt) have the highest existing SGC rating at EX 60, with Schlei being the one and only specimen at that level. McConnell is also graded SGC 60, and the rest of the near set is as follows: SGC 50 (7 cards) - Bransfield, Camnitz, Durham, Heinchman, McIntyre, Murray, and Sullivan (Chicago). SGC 40 (11 cards) - Austin, Birmingham, Bradley, Davis, Doolan, Kelly, Kroh, Meyers, Mullin, Rossman, and Cy Young (Boston). SGC 30 (3 cards) - Nichols (Cleveland, Sullivan (Boston), and Cy Young (Cleveland). SGC 20 (2 cards) - Dygert and Hartsel.
At the end of the auction, this near set will be sold to the highest aggregate bidding, whether that is the sum of the individual lots or the highest bid for the near complete set. Our website will automatically reflect whichever portion has received the highest bidding total. Placing a bid on this lot constitutes placing a bid on the near complete set.