My first trip to the National Sports Card Convention was in 2021. I was fortunate enough to buy the last T207 baseball card needed to complete my set at that show.
I collect, almost entirely, pre-World War II sports and non-sports cards. While that’s a wide range of stuff, it also means I can fly by a majority of the tables that focus on modern cards. Even many vintage dealers at the show focus more on 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s Topps and less on early tobacco and candy cards.
Despite my somewhat oddball collecting focus, it’s safe to say that the show delivered by helping me to complete another big set.
Heading to the National
The logistics issues being discussed at this year’s National Sports Card Convention were real.
There were major traffic issues when I attended on Thursday — in part due to an accident prior to the show and partly due to some chaos in the parking lots. And, after speaking to collectors that attended Wednesday’s opener, I was told that Thursday was actually a big improvement.
Poor Wi-Fi connections, along with long lines for concessions and bathrooms, contributed to the headaches. All of that said, it was still a trip well worth the time. I’ve often planned to go to the National only for various issues to come up shortly before the show and ending any chance of a trip. But this year was my second trip to the event and I’m glad I was able to swing it.
In addition to the usual sights of some cool cards along with catching up with some collectors and dealers, I managed to officially close the book on a set I’ve been building for roughly seven years now — the E91 American Caramel set.
About the E91 American Caramel Set(s)
For those unfamiliar with the series’, E91 is made up of three separate 33-card sets issued in 1908, 1909, and 1910.
The sets are often confused for a few reasons. First, the design/layout of the cards did not change through the three years. Second, several players are found in more than one subset. Finally, the player pictures were not changed. There are 33 different pictures with those images being used across the three years for different players. It’s a confusing set and, often, collectors need to look at the checklists on the back to determine if a card is from E91A (1908), E91B (1909), or E91C (1910). The set is not wildly popular with collectors in part because of the generic images and because of a checklist built around only a few select teams.
But if you’re a fan of more challenging sets, E91 might be for you. All of the cards in the sets are somewhat difficult to find. Population reports seem to indicate that the 1908 E91A set is the rarest with cards getting progressively easier to find in the two subsequent years. But make no mistake — you are not often to find large piles of these even at shows like the National. While I certainly did not scour every corner of the show, I encountered only about 15-20 in total with no single dealer having more than a handful.
The Journey
I’ve found a few collectors that are piecing together individual E91 sets, but few willing to tackle the entire three-year series. I remember one collector telling me he’d had a complete 99-card series. And, certainly, more complete sets exist. But during the course of building this set, I found few folks trying to collect them at all.
With a little more than a dozen cards, I began to pursue this set back in September 2017. I got off to a somewhat fast start and by February 2018, had collected my 33rd card, the 1/3 mark on the entire series. Progress was steady through the year. In August 2018, I landed by 45th card and by April 2019, I passed the halfway point with my 50th card — a low-grade Chief Bender from E91B. But that fast progress really began to slow down.
Card No. 60 came in December of 2019 but I really put a pause on the project as I worked on some other sets. It would take me two more years to pick the ball up again and gather another ten cards. After that, it took nearly two more years to find another 15. Cards were available, no doubt. I just didn’t have much interest in the set for a while and just dragged things out. However, when I hit 85 last fall, I really could sense the finish line and made a push to complete this one, even though I was still missing some of the most valuable cards.
By the end of the year, I began resorting to drastic measures. I overpaid for some singles and even bought this large lot simply to upgrade some of my existing cards and add a key one in Hall of Famer Home Run Baker. I previously did the same, acquiring a nearly-complete E91A set earlier in the year, simply to land a few cards I needed.
In January of this year, I grabbed the Christy Mathewson E91B and a rough Walter Johnson E91C. And in April, I landed the most valuable card in all for the three sets — Honus Wagner’s card, found in the E91C set, making it the 95th different card. A few more Hall of Famers were needed but the heavy lifting was out of the way with the Wagner acquisition.
Joe McGinnity and Rube Marquard ultimately pushed me to 97 in May, leaving only two going into the summer.
The Conclusion
Tris Speaker’s was a card I passed on a few times, including some pricey ones on eBay. Often credited as a rookie, it’s one of the more expensive cards in the set. This one finally made itself available, however, just before the National. And with Speaker out of the way, I was left with a simple task at the show — find Mordecai Brown’s E91B card.
Three Finger Brown is one of those players found in two of the sets — E91A and E91B. And while I’d had his E91A card for quite a while, finding an E91B proved to be elusive for me.
While I initially had high hopes at the National, those faded in a hurry. Hardly any dealers had any E91s and when they did, Brown was nowhere to be found. Even those with a pre-war focus simply did not have many. I was expecting to find a dealer or two with a few dozen to sift through, but I think the most I saw at any one table was about 5-6.
On Day 2, however, I had a handful of dealers I wanted to stop and see because I’d either bought from them previously or knew they would have pre-war. One of those was Just Collect. And as I was about to leave, I spotted a single, solitary E91 in a pile of cards in a display case.
Three Finger himself.
I was savvy enough to know that Brown had two cards in the series, of course. So you’ll excuse my pessimism when I fully expected this version to be the E91A card I didn’t need. But when I flipped it over to reveal the correct checklist, I realized the search was over. After knocking off about 10%, I was done bartering and ready to finish this one.
Back in 2021, I bought a Louis Lowdermilk T207 to complete my run of T205, T206 (520 cards), and T207 sets. While taking down E91 was not quite as thrilling, I’d argue that the moment I finally found Mordecai was. Lowdermilk was spotted for me by a collector friend that led me to him. Brown, though, was akin to finding a needle in a haystack for me — and locating it in an unexpected spot made the moment arguably bigger.
On to the next one.
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