This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/20/2013
Few sets in the century and a half old history of baseball cards can rival the groundbreaking 1933 Goudey Big League Chewing Gum issue. There is the T206 tobacco set, cherished by generations of Americans and now made famous across the globe because of its mysteriously scarce masterpiece, the hallowed T206 Honus Wagner. Then of course there is the classic 1952 Topps release, the number one set of the post-war period, treasured by millions of baby boomers throughout the country and now likewise famous beyond American borders because of one particular card, the iconic 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle high-number. Ask any collector to list the top three most significant sets in the history of the hobby, and he would add to these two (actually, he would insert between these two) the landmark 1933 Goudey Gum set, a remarkably colorful set that emerged at a time in American history when people were perhaps most in need of a little color, a momentary escape, from the dust and dirt of the Depression, to the bubble bursting colors of the Big Leagues. With four distinct and similarly world famous Ruth issues, most people around the world don't as readily identify any one of the four as the singularly most significant 1933 Goudey card, like the T206 Wagner or '52 Topps Mantle. Indeed, images of all four Ruth cards have been reprinted so extensively and used so interchangeably that one simply conjures associations with the next, all iconic, but none really more so than the other. Collectors, on the other hand, know far better than this. Anyone who has even just glanced at a price guide in the last two decades knows that the infamous "Yellow" Ruth, card #53, is without question or hesitation the scarcest and most condition sensitive of the four, by far the most coveted of the four, and easily the 1933 Goudey equivalent to the T206 Wagner and '52 Mantle. Not surprisingly, one of the single most important pieces in the entire sports collectibles market would have to be a full T206 Tobacco or 1952 Topps sheet featuring either of these respective key cards. Following this logic, we can therefore consider the presented 1933 Goudey Final Production Sheet with #53 Babe Ruth in this same elite category. Offered with our strongest and sincerest of recommendations, the presented sheet is believed to be one of approximately five known in existence. In addition to #53 Ruth, it also features Tris Speaker, Ruth's counterpart in both skill and fame in parts north of New York, as well as Red Ruffing, another Hall of Famer who won six World Series with the Yankees and is enshrined in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium as well as fellow Hall Of Famers Eppa Rixey and Jessie Haines. The piece presents in overall NM to even NM/MT condition with allowance for a few tolerable and completely unobtrusive imperfections, a one-inch crease in the Malone card at the top right, very minor and virtually undetectable in our scan, as well as a self-evident ridge of tape along the left edge, a relatively common encounter on these profoundly uncommon Goudey Final Production Sheets. With 24 cards per sheet, there are 10 different sheets that comprise the full 239-card set, with one card appearing twice, and examples of the other 9 sheets comprising the full set occasionally still make it to market, but not usually this well-preserved, and virtually never with the coveted card #53! The only other condition quality worth noting here is some uniform toning throughout the piece, a relatively common characteristic we often find on individual 1933 cards themselves and so should not be surprised to encounter on this original and unaltered Final Production Sheet. One important final note about this type of sheet, interested bidders should be careful not to confuse the coveted Final Production Sheets with the similarly-designed Goudey Advertising Sheets from 1933, immensely collectible in their own right but valued at only a fraction of the price as full sheets because they do not contain card backs; in other words, they're not real cards. This here, however, is the real deal, an authentic Final Production Sheet featuring the key card from the hobby's second most significant set ever produced that has been beautifully framed to museum quality standards and is ready for prominent display. The powerful trifecta of historical significance, undisputed scarcity, and intense visual appeal combine to elevate this piece into a category that supersedes the traditional sports collectibles market. More than most top-end baseball ephemera from the pre-WWII period, this sheet represents the emergence of a distinctly Modern American form of popular art and should absolutely be considered a masterpiece of that form.