This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/10/2010
Graded NM/MT 88(8) by SGC. MHCC is exceptionally pleased to be able to offer the hobby the second of two examples of this tremendously rare and high grade card of the immortal Babe Ruth. After reading our previous description of this historic pasteboard we've decided to just amend the numbers as I see no need to deviate from perfection. The presented 1929 Star Player Candy example of Babe Ruth has been recently evaluated SGC 88 NM/MT 8 and is, far and away, the single finest "Star Player Candy" card in existence, inclusive of all issues from both the 1928 and 1929 sets, which have long been heralded as something of a legend among advanced hobbyists. Little was known about the origin of the set until an entire box recently surfaced at Robert Edwards Auctions as part of "The Most Incredible Unopened Find in the History of the Universe," or something like that, in early 2009. That box yielded a total of 4 examples featuring "The Sultan of Swat," still preserved within their glassine envelopes along with the purple gumballs with which they were sold for 1-cent. Importantly, the display box sheds light where there previously had been none, proving the manufacturer of the obscure issue to be none other than Baltimore's own Dockman & Sons, which caramel collectors should immediately recognize as one of the famed sponsors, along with Croft's and Nadja, of the coveted 1910 E92 issue. REA's small find, still making headlines on Jupiter, also proved that the name "Star Player Candy" is a fallacy, since the box clearly identifies the set as "Headliners & Gum," and features other newsmakers as well, primarily out of the field of aviation. The fact that what had previously been classified as a candy issue is, in fact, a bubble gum issue is a revelation, giving credence to the set as one of the earliest known bubble gum issues of the period, predating the famous DeLong and Goudey sets by almost half a decade. So now we know what it is and where it came from, but none of this changes the fact that the offered gem, one of two of the finest examples from REA's small find, still ranks as 1 of just 8 known, with 4 examples on record at SGC and another 4 known to PSA. SGC also reports 2 examples of Lou Gehrig and 1 of Walter Johnson, while PSA reports just 1 Gehrig, and that's it; just 11 total baseball cards from the entire issue on record at both grading firms, combined. As previously mentioned, the offered Ruth is the very finest of those 11, with the next 2 highest graded copies rating in the EX/MT and EX/MT+ classes at PSA, and the remainder residing in the lower columns of both company's pop reports. Needless to say, the presented example is pack-fresh and features near perfect qualities in every scrutable category save for its subtle self-evident centering bias for the left edge as well as some faint and perfectly tolerable scattered traces of pink on the reverse from where the gumballs had long rested against the card. Some collectors may object to this minor inadequacy, but keep in mind that both SGC and PSA routinely grade T206s and other tobacco issues in the NM/MT 8 class with a tolerance for similarly-sized spots of tobacco, and both companies are also inclined to grade early Bowman issues with comparable traces of wax, several of which have even made it into the MINT 9 class. Moreover, the offered "Headliners & Gum" example of Babe Ruth is so profoundly sharp in every other facet that it would be shoe-in for MINT 9 consideration were it centered a tick to the right, and would even approach GEM MINT condition if not for the subtly imperfect but perfectly characteristic back surface. With some of the lowest graded examples on record from both the '28 and '29 sets routinely approaching $10,000 in the handful of sales that have occurred in the last 3 years, who knows what this pack-fresh blazer will bring? What we do know, however, is that the winning bidder will fancy himself the proud owner of one of the scarcest and most obscure Babe Ruth bubble gum cards ever produced!