One of the hobby’s best known examples of the rare T206 Eddie Plank card has hit the auction block. Hunt Auctions is leading off its year-ending Premier Internet Auction with an SGC 5 (EX) example of one of the hobby’s most sought after pre-War cards with a pre-sale estimate of $250,000-$400,000. SGC has graded only one Plank at a higher level (a 5.5) while … [Read more...]
Scoresheet from Wilt’s 100-Point Game, Big O’s Olympic Memorabilia Pace SCP Sale
A signed score sheet from Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game in 1962 sold for $214,579 early Sunday morning as SCP Auctions wrapped up its Spring Auction. Consigned by a friend of the late Toby DeLuca, who kept score for Philadelphia Warriors radio announcer Bill Campbell, the sheet chronicled Chamberlain's still unsurpassed scoring night from a game against the New York … [Read more...]
SCP Auctions Opens Spring Catalog with Oscar, Wilt, Ozzie, Vintage Cards
The newly-crowned finest set of 1922 American Caramel E121 baseball cards joins items from the collection of Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson and Baseball Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith among the headliners in SCP Auctions’ Spring Catalog Auction. The event kicks off the company's 40th anniversary. Launched Wednesday, the auction also includes a score sheet from … [Read more...]
Freshly Graded 1921 American Caramel Set Takes Over Top Ranking, Heads to SCP Auctions
The finest 1922 American Caramel E121 set of all-time is coming to auction April 10 courtesy of SCP Auctions. But don’t let its seemingly pedestrian 4.66 set rating fool you: the classic black-and-white E121 series is one of the most elusive pre-war sets in the hobby, boasting multiple variations of Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and other hardball legends that romanticized America’s … [Read more...]
The Wayback Collector: Skepticism Should Usually Follow Big Finds
This week, a man was reported to have possibly found a rare Babe Ruth E121 Shotwell baseball card. If real, the card would be quite a find. The story has been appearing on newscasts in Fresno and elsewhere. Part of the reason for that is because Dale Ball of Visalia, Calif. says he purchased the card at Action Sports Cards and Coin in Sparks, NV for the staggering … [Read more...]
PSA 8 1952 Topps Mantle, Other Gems in Largest Heritage Card Sale to Date
A few weeks after closing the books on the $8 million combined sale of the all-time finest PSA-graded T206 set, Heritage Auctions has launched the largest trading card auction in company history. More than 2,200 lots are on the block with rare and high-end single cards, complete sets and lots from the 19th century to the present. “The massive prices in the T206 … [Read more...]
Witmor Candy Cards One of Many E121-Like Sets
The 1921-22 E121 American Caramel set is one of the most confusing pre-war candy issues. Advertised on the backs as both a Set of 80 and Set of 120, the card fronts were also used as part of a blank-back issue. Even more confusing is that some companies printed their own advertisements on the blank-backed cards, creating many spin-off sets. One of those was the Witmor Candy … [Read more...]
PSA 7 1921 E121 Ruth Card Hits Auction Block
The highest graded example of Babe Ruth’s 1921 E121 American Caramel baseball card – one of only 68 cards known across all three E121 Ruth variations – is on the auction block where it could fetch a six-figure price tag. Graded PSA 7, the card is the headliner in Small Traditions’ Summer Classic Auction set to run through September 1. Opening at … [Read more...]
W501 Strip Cards Similar to E121, W575-1 Issues
At first glance, the 1922 W501 strip cards look an awful lot like your run of the mill E121 American Caramel cards or the W575-1 strip cards. But while similar, this is an entirely different type of card. 1922 W501 Strip Card Basics The W501 Strip Cards are another black and white issue found in the 1920s. Those were sort of sandwiched between the smaller, colored … [Read more...]
5 Popular American Caramel Issues
The American Caramel Company helped lead the transition from baseball cards being used as mostly tobacco inserts to candy and caramel issues that could be geared more towards children. The company produced numerous sets from the 1900s through the 1920s. Here's a look at the five most popular ones. E90 American Caramel The E90 set actually consists of three separate issues … [Read more...]