Some remarkable vintage baseball cards are about to enter the marketplace. Late last month, New Jersey-based Just Collect purchased a valuable collection of cards including scarce Hall of Famers dating back to the 19th century and plans to offer them at auction.
The seller, who lives in Florida and called himself a “high-end, exotic antique baseball card and memorabilia collector,” had accumulated tobacco and candy cards from such sets as the 1888 N162 Goodwin Champions, 1909-1911 American Tobacco Company T206, various American Carmel issues, 1909 E92 Dockman & Sons and 1911 M116 Sporting Life set.
According to Just Collect’s Leighton Sheldon, the collector opted to sell because he had stopped accumulating items later in life and was looking to liquidate. After several weeks of telephone negotiations, an agreement was struck, a visit arranged and the cards were transported back to the company’s New Jersey office.
Among the highlights were an E90-1 American Caramel Cy Young Boston variation, a 1902 W600 Sporting Life Young cabinet card (Boston variation), a very rare 1912 Helmar Silks Christy Mathewson., an 1895 Mayo’s Cut Plug Cap Anson, an E92 Dockman & Sons Honus Wagner (throwing variation) and two Mathewson tobacco cards: a T206 (Dark
Cap – Hand in Glove) and 1911 Sporting Life (Blue Background). Only seven examples of the Young Sporting Life cabinet have been made available to the public since 2007.
There were also several Mickey Mantle cards including a high grade 1952 Bowman as well as rookie cards of Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Yogi Berra and Jackie Robinson.
According to Just Collect, the man who opted to sell the collection had been accumulating rare and high grade cards since the 1980’s.
The cards will be sold via Just Collect’s weekly eBay auctions beginning next month.
A closer look at all of the cards is in the video below.