When it comes to identifying the most unique pre-war tobacco cards, the 1909 T204 Ramly set has to be close to the top. This issue is not only fascinating but ridiculously difficult to complete. Issued by Mentor Tobacco Company in packs of cigarettes, they don’t receive nearly the attention of their more famous cousins like T206.
Here’s a closer look at these square-like cards.
T204 Ramly Basics
The T204 Ramly set is different from its other pre-war tobacco card brethren. Aside from cabinet cards, many of those issues from the early 1900s were smaller, rectangular in shape, featuring either vertical or horizontal layouts. The Ramly cards are distinctive in that they are almost a perfect square. The cards do measure slightly taller (approximately 2 1/2″) than they do wide (2″), but look very close to a square at first glance.
Also unique is the gold border and design that surrounds the picture in the middle. Unlike other tobacco card issues such as the popular T205s or T206s, T204 Ramly cards aren’t colorful with black and white photos. But the antique look of the intricate gold design on the front makes up for that and still allows for an attractive front. The backs have the Ramly name, a Turkish cigarette brand, as well as a mention of the factory they were printed.
In all, there are 121 cards in the set. One unique feature is that the set is composed entirely of portraits with no action shots. A complete checklist is listed at the bottom of this story.
T204 Ramly Variances
While Ramly is the predominant brand associated with the T204 set, one interesting fact is that a second Turkish brand, T.T.T. Cigarettes, is associated with the cards as well. The T.T.T. name is on the backs of applicable cards and is only on a portion of the set.
Another variance for collectors is that of some of the fronts. While the set includes player portraits within an oval-shaped border, six players can be found with a thicker gold square border (John Anderson, Frank Bancroft, William Bransfield, Bill Dinneen, Pat Moran, and Hall of Famer Jesse Burkett.
T204 Ramly Stars
With over 100 cards in the set, there were bound to be a good number of common cards here. Still, the set includes plenty of big names.
Numerous Hall of Famers are included, such as the aforementioned Burkett, Chief Bender, Roger Bresnahan, Mordecai Brown, Frank Chance, Eddie Collins, Jimmy Collins, Johnny Evers, Clark Griffith, Miller Huggins, Walter Johnson, Willie Keeler, Eddie Plank, Joe Tinker, and Bobby Wallace, as well as other notable players. One of the most popular players in the set not elected to the Hall of Fame is Eddie Cicotte of the 191 Chicago ‘Black Sox’ team.
While there are plenty of key players here from the era, the set did leave a few guys out. Most notably, of course, are Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Cy Young, and Christy Mathewson, who were among the biggest stars of their generation. Wagner, as covered before, did not appear in many tobacco card releases. However, the other three were often included and their omission here is interesting.
T204 Ramly Errors
While the cards are beautiful to see, one thing that would have been nice is a little more editing. More than a dozen spelling errors of last names exist, including that of the famous Eddie Cicotte. Cicotte’s name is misspelled as ‘Cicolte.’ In addition, the set also includes some photography errors with Roy Hartzell, Harry Howell, and Jake Powell all being misidentified.
And while not an error, one oddity is that despite most players having their full name displayed on the front, others have only a last name.
T204 Ramly Prices
The T204 set is an incredibly difficult issue to complete because of the rarity and price tag. Complete sets for sale are nearly impossible to find. One (with a low-grade Johnson) brought more than $70,000 a few years ago.
VG commons generally start around $150-$200 and it is difficult to find even presentable low-grade commons for much under $100. Plus, even if a collector has sufficient funds, finding the actual cards is not an easy task. At any given time, eBay usually has only around 50-60 cards up for auction or sale (see them here).
The bigger names, of course, come at an even bigger premium. Some of the lesser Hall of Famers in that condition can occasionally be found for under $1,000 but the bigger names easily surpass that. Upper mid-grade cards are worth exponentially more. Walter Johnson is the key card in the set and an SGC 70, for example, sold for nearly $50,000 earlier this year.
T204 Ramly Checklist
- Whitey Alperman
- John Anderson
- Jimmy Archer
- Frank Arrelanes
- Jim Ball
- Neal Ball
- Frank Bancroft
- Johnny Bates
- Fred Beebe
- George Bell
- Chief Bender
- Walter Blair
- Cliff Blankenship
- Frank Bowerman
- William Bransfield
- Roger Bresnahan
- Al Bridwell
- Mordecai Brown
- Fred Burchell
- Jesse Burkett
- Bobby Byrnes
- Bill Carrigan
- Frank Chance
- Charlie Chech
- Eddie Cicotte
- Otis Clymer
- Andy Coakley
- Eddie Collins
- Jimmy Collins
- Wid Conroy
- Jack Coombs
- Doc Crandall
- Lou Criger
- Harry Davis
- Art Devlin
- Bill Dinneen
- Jiggs Donahue
- Mike Donlin
- Bill Donovan
- Gus Dorner
- Joe Dunn
- Kid Elberfeld
- Johnny Evers
- Bob Ewing
- Cecil Ferguson
- Hobe Ferris
- Jerry Freeman
- Art Fromme
- Bob Ganley
- Doc Gessler
- Peaches Graham
- Clark Griffith
- Roy Hartzell
- Charlie Hemphill
- Dick Hoblitzell
- George Howard
- Harry Howell
- Miller Huggins
- John Hummel
- Walter Johnson
- Tom Jones
- Mike Kahoe
- Ed Karger
- Willie Keeler
- Red Kleinow
- Jack Knight
- Ed Konetchy
- Vive Lindaman
- Hans Lobert
- Harry Lord
- Harry Lumley
- Johnny Lush
- Rube Manning
- James McAleer
- Amby McConnell
- Moose McCormick
- Harry McIntyre
- Larry McLean
- Fred Merkle
- Clyde Milan
- Mike Mitchell
- Pat Moran
- Cy Morgan
- T.H. Murnane
- Danny Murphy
- Red Murray
- Doc Newton
- Simon Nichols
- Harry Niles
- Bill O’Hara
- Charley O’Leary
- Dode Paskert
- Barney Pelty
- Jack Pfiester
- Eddie Plank
- Jack Powell
- Bugs Raymond
- Tom Reilly
- Claude Ritchey
- Nap Rucker
- Ed Reulbach
- Slim Sallee
- Germany Schaefer
- James Sheckard
- Admiral Schlei
- Wildfire Schulte
- Jimmy Sebring
- Bill Shipke
- Charlie Smith
- Tubby Spencer
- Jake Stahl
- Jim Stephens
- Harry Steinfeldt
- Gabby Street
- Bill Sweeney
- Fred Tenney
- Ira Thomas
- Joe Tinker
- Bob Unglaub
- Heinie Wagner
- Bobby Wallace
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