The National Sports Collectors Convention will have a bit of a museum feel to it when the doors open in Baltimore on Wednesday, August 1. We’ve already learned that collectors will be able to take a gander at the $4.4 million Babe Ruth jersey, the Don Spence collection of vintage Ruth cards, and the recently uncovered collection of 700+ cards from the Black Swamp Find.
Now, PSA has announced it will also display a comprehensive collection of 1909 – 1911 T206 tobacco advertising backs, including some of the scarcest backs known. Courtesy of David Hall, this unprecedented exhibit also includes authentic examples of tobacco products from the period that are directly associated with the advertising on the cards, such as Piedmont and Sweet Caporal. At the center of the display will be the extremely scarce Ty Cobb portrait with Ty Cobb tobacco back card, accompanied by the finest Ty Cobb tobacco tin known.
Heritage Auctions also has created a limited edition four-player set of E98 souvenir reprints that are encapsulated by PSA with a special insert label. The cards will be available free, one-player-per-day while quantities last at the Heritage booth, #A1.
The players in the reprint set and the day they’ll be distributed are:
Connie Mack, Thursday, August 2
Honus Wagner, Friday, August 3
Ty Cobb, Saturday, August 4
Cy Young, Sunday, August 5
“The reaction from the collecting community has been outstanding for this Black Swamp Find commemorative promotion. We expect that many collectors will be clamoring to get their hands on one of each example,” said Chris Ivy Heritage’s Director of Sports Auctions.
There has been extensive nationwide news coverage about the discovery of the cards that are estimated by Heritage to be worth a combined total of up to $3 million or more.
The cards apparently were originally acquired in 1910 for promotional purposes by Carl Hench, a German immigrant who owned a meat market in Defiance, Ohio. His heirs were cleaning their late grandfather’s house when they found the cards in a box under an old doll house in the attic.
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