The T231 Fans Cigarettes set is an incredibly scarce type. But recently, the known checklist has nearly doubled with the find of two new cards. Nearly doubled with the addition of two cards? No, that's not a typo. The 1922 Fans Cigarettes cards are so rare that only three were previously known to date. The three known cards were Larry Gardner, Carson Bigbee, and Hall of … [Read more...]
Welcome to the Card Collecting Craze of 1909 (Part I)
Baseball cards had been issued since the 1860s but starting in 1909, things sort of went haywire. While there were a number of sets issued in the early 1900s, 1909 is the year when the card collecting craze of the 20th century really took off. Numerous sets were printed that year and those issues still remain popular today. 1909 kicked off a new era in collecting and helped to … [Read more...]
Hot Rookie Cards, Tobacco Cards, Game Worn Shoes Headline Lelands’ Pop-Up
Zion Williamson and Ja Morant high-grade rookie cards, game-worn shoes from NBA legends and cards from the “Generation T” tobacco card collection headline the Lelands Mid-Summer 2020 Pop-Up Auction, scheduled to launch this Sunday. Over 400 lots will be in the auction, with items starting at lower minimum bids than in the company’s larger catalog sales. The … [Read more...]
Family’s Heirloom Collection of Tobacco Cards Set for Auction
Passed down through three generations, one family’s large collection of tobacco cards is about to enter the market for the first time. Lelands says it has received the consignment, which includes over 1,300 cards including numerous Hall of Famers. Dubbed the “Generation T collection, the group includes over 400 T206 cards with five featuring Ty Cobb, nearly 400 … [Read more...]
Regional Cullivan’s Fireside Set Celebrated 1910 World Series Champion Athletics
In 1910, the Philadelphia Athletics won 102 regular season games, easily winning the American League pennant. They became World Series champions after defeating the Chicago Cubs, four games to one. Even the Cubs' lone win in that series was a struggle as the team needed ten innings to pull out a narrow 4-3 victory. The Athletics won all of the other games by at least three runs … [Read more...]
Sweet Caporal Domino Discs Loaded With Stars
The domino effect never really caught on, but the 1909-1912 Sweet Caporal Domino Discs (PX7) set offers big-name players at relatively affordable prices. The Domino Discs contain many of the same players that appeared in the more popular Sweet Caporal pin set — with some of them even sporting the same pose — but the discs remain obscure. The discs were inserted into packs … [Read more...]
Uncovering an Old Newspaper Story About an Early 1900s Collector and His Baseball Cards
He was about 16 when he started saving them. Nearly 50 years after Glenn Bosworth was hoarding Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, Frank Chance, Mordecai Brown, Christy Mathewson and other stars of the deadball era diamond, the baseball cards he had pasted into an album were still there. By the time he spoke to a curious newspaper reporter in 1960, the guy the locals called … [Read more...]
Like Honus Wagner, Eddie Plank Rarely Seen on Tobacco Cards
It's a general consensus that the T206 Honus Wagner is the most significant card in the history of the hobby. Ongoing publicity surrounding the scarcity and value of the card is such that even many non-collectors have heard of it. The card was shortprinted with several theories abounding as to the reason why. But one of the more common reasons cited is that Wagner was … [Read more...]
Selling Packs with T206 Cards in 1909 Was Sometimes Hazardous
Eventually they would be sold with more kid-oriented products like caramels and bubble gum but 110 years ago, if you wanted a picture of a professional baseball player (and who wouldn't before color magazines, TV or even radio?), you had to have access to tobacco, or at least someone who used it. When the American Tobacco Company's massive promotion began in 1909, word … [Read more...]
High Costs of 19th Century Tobacco Cards Revealed
We mostly refer to the boom of the American tobacco cards as coming in the early 1900s. Numerous sets were produced in the 1909-12 time period. However, the start of the cards actually came much earlier than that. The 1880s is where most cigarette cards got their beginnings. But despite being very popular with collectors, tobacco companies were very interested in cutting … [Read more...]