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Lot 1.  Graded Set of all 13 N172 Old Judge Browns Champions. What must be the finest set known. In the early 1980’s collector Cliff Lambert found one of the largest and best condition collections of Old Judges ever known- both small N172 and N173 Cabinets. Much of the collection, was what was then (and still are) considered to be mint condition. The collection was sold in its entirety to Dr. Bob Goode of Indiana. Dr. Goode parted with the collection a few years later including the Browns Champions which until recently have never been touched or offered to the public.

The Browns were the American Association’s best team in the 1880’s winning the pennant four consecutive years (1885-1888) and along with Cap Anson’s Chicago team was one of the best two teams in the majors. They were good and they were colorful primarily because of their owner Chris Von Der Ahe.

The Browns Champions were among the earliest cards issued in the lengthy Old Judge Series. The term "Browns Champions" refers to their victory over the assumed to be unbeatable Chicago National League team in the 1886 World Series, widely assumed to be the greatest moment for the American Association. There were issued in early 1887 with the numbers "14" to "26" in the upper right hand corner. They are the most popular of all the Old Judge cards because of their simple design, they’re all portraits and those magnificent striped hats.

The only card which is (probably) not mint as issued is the Comiskey, which has a light wrinkle in the rear only. It possibly came off the press that way and the fact is the crease is not visible in the holder. The set has been graded by GAI and the grades reflect centering and cuts in addition to the condition of the cards. The cards grade as follows and in each case, except Comiskey, the card is the first Browns Champion that GAI has ever graded as noted on the holders. Tip O’Neill NM-MT GAI 8, Nat Hudson NM-MT GAI 8, Hugh Nicol GAI NM+ 7.5, Bill Gleason GAI NM+ 7.5, Curt Welsh GAI NM+ 7.5, Rudy Kemler GAI EX-MT+ 6.5, Owner Von Der Ahe GAI EX-MT 6, Yank Robinson GAI EX-MT 6, Dave Foutz GAI EX 5, Arlie Latham GAI VG-EX+ 4.5, Bob Caruthers GAI VG-EX+ 4.5, Doc Bushong GAI VG+ 3.5 and Charles Comiskey is the nicest GAI VG 3 you’ll ever see.
Minimum Bid $10,000.


Lot 2.  1879 Providence Greys Cabinet. Fantastic Jones Studio Cabinet in excellent plus condition. One of the great teams of the Nineteenth Century and Champions for 1879. The composite features ten players with George Wright in the center. Other Hall of Famers are John Ward and James O’Rourke. Prominent players include Joe Start, one of baseball’s earliest heroes, Paul Hines and Bobby Mathews. The back is clean except for pencil notation "Orig 1879".
Minimum Bid $4,000.


Lot 3.  M116 Cy Seymour Trilogy. One of the rarest cards in the hobby and virtually unknown. Cy Seymour is a common card in M116. He had a long successful major league career with a lifetime .304 average and over 1,700 hits. When the Sporting Life set was issued Seymour was in the last of 4 plus seasons with McGraw’s Giants. He was 38 years old. He was released and wound up with Baltimore in the Eastern League. It was normal for Sporting Life not to trace player movements in their M116 series. The lone exceptions are the very rare McConnell and McQuillen cards. Offered here are three Seymour cards. The normal M116 showing Seymour with the Giants (nr mt), a black and white version (fair-good) showing a "Baltimore Eastern" legend at the bottom with a blank back and a third fascinating normal looking color M116 also showing Seymour with Baltimore (fair-good) with a normal back. The card is not one of a kind as I know deceased collector Bill Haber had one. Wagner will come around, this you may never see again.
Minimum Bid $3,000.


Lot 4.  R338 Sport King Set of 48. Extremely nice set with virtually all cards excellent and better. Highlights: 1-Cobb (gd-vg), 2-Ruth (good), 3-Holman (vg), 4-Grange (vg-ex), 6-Thorpe (ex), 8-Hagan(ex), 17-Dempsey (ex), 18-Tunney (ex), 19-Shore (ex+), 20-Kahamanoku (ex, tiny wrinkle on rear, not visible from front), 21-Weismuller (ex), 22-Sarazen (ex), 24-Morenz (ex), 29-Bailey (ex+-mt), 30-Johnson (ex-mt), 32-Lapchick (vg), 33-Burke (ex), 35-Rockne (ex+-mt), 38-Jones (ex+), 42-Hubbell (ex-mt), 45-Didrickson (ex); Balance: 10 cards ex-mt, 15 cards excellent, 1 card vg-ex, 1 card gd-vg (George), 1 card fr-gd (Vines).
Minimum Bid $4,000.


Lot 5.  T-200 Fatima Premium Cleveland Indians. One of tougher T200 Premiums and featuring Joe Jackson. Full sized at 13" x 21", the extremely nice image featured Napoleon Lajoie (lower right) as well as Jackson and 22 Indian teammates as well as Manager Joe Birmingham. The only real flaw is a triangular piece out of the lower left border (see photo). There is also a very light vertical bend which is barely noticeable.
Minimum Bid $2,000.


Lot 6.  1897 Boston Baseball Club Trade Card. Team Cabinets from the 1890’s are much more difficult to find than the 1880’s. Even more so for Trade cards, although this is much more than a Trade Card. The front of the card indicates "Compliments of O’Hearn and Dowd", a men’s store in Lowell, Mass. More interestingly, the back of the card has a concert Program for the evening of October 11, 1897. The team picture features 16 members of the Champion 1897 Boston Club and manager Frank Selee. The Boston Club, one of the 19th Centuries best, contained 4 HOF’ers Jimmy Collins (.346), Hugh Duffy (.341), Billy Hamilton (.344) and Kid Nichols (32-11). Other notables were Herman Long (.327), Bobby Lowe (.314), Chick Stahl (.359) and Fred Tenney (.325). Its amazing they ever lost. The trade card measures 5 1/2" x 6 1/4", has a very slight notch in the upper right corner, and is otherwise excellent. Probably one of a kind.
Minimum Bid $2,000.


Lot 7.  1954 Bowman #66 Ted Williams. Beautiful near mint card. Nicely centered, four sharp corners.
Minimum Bid $2,000.


Lot 8.  Honus Wagner Pocket Watch with fob from the Hampdon Watch Company. Two inch watch has "BAT CHAMP JOHN P. WAGNER 1911" inside cover, which also contains a serial number, a jewelers number and notation of 20 year gold platted. Wagner won the batting title in 1911, batting .334 and nipping Roy Miller of Boston by a single point. A fob hangs down with a leather strap which has an embossed left handed hitter which is clearly Wagner. The reverse has advertising for floor finishing. The watch is currently not working but is in excellent + condition.
Minimum Bid $2,500.


Lot 9.  Fascinating Collection of 16 Pittsburgh Pirate Cabinets or partial cabinets from the historic 1903 Championship team that played in the first World Series. The collection is highlighted by the inclusion of Honus Wagner, whose photo is the same as the one used on the T206 card of Wagner. Eleven of the cabinets feature oval photos (5" high) mounted on partial cabinets approximating 4" x 6". Four of the remaining five are rectangular photos measuring 3 3/4" x 5 1/2" including the Wagner. The fifth is Manager Fred Clarke whose photo measured 7 3/4" x 5 3/4". The photos include the entire starting lineup of the 1903 Pirates, the only starting pitcher missing from the group is Sam Leever. The 11 photos in ovals include Kitty Bransfield, Ed Doheny, Brickyard Kennedy, Paul Kreuger, Deacon Phillippe* (who started 5 games in 1903 World Series and pitched 44 innings), Claude Ritchey, Jimmy Sebring, Harry Smith, Art Weaver, Bucky Veil* and Irving Wilhelm (Rookie). The remaining photos, in addition to Wagner and Clarke* are Ginger Beaumont, Tommy Leach* and Ed Phelps. The photo portion on the majority of the cabinets are excellent, some have stains and have been indicated with an "*". We could imagine an artistic framer making a collage on the above photos in one spectacular display.
Minimum Bid $1,500.


Lot 10.  Very rare German 1932 Abdullah near set in the original album. Contains 198 (of 200) cards including extremely desirable 196-Babe Ruth and 200-Bobby Jones. Not to be confused with Sanella Margarine set which is fairly abundant, the Abdullahs are genuinely rare. A Bobby Jones in near mint condition went in our October 2001 auction for $3,063. The 198 cards are all pasted in their original album (also quite rare), which measures 9 1/2" x 13". There are 25 pages with photos attached. Each page has 8 sepia 1 3/4" x 2 1/2" photos in specially notated spots. There are 5 American Track and Field stars, 4 American swimmers including Johnny Weismuller and Helene Madison and also Charles Lindbergh and Bill Tilden. The balance are world wide athleletes, the most recognizable of which is Sonja Henie. The Jones, Ruth, Tilden and Henie are on the same page. Aside from being glued in, the cards appear to be in mint condition. Knowing the 1932 date, it is assumed the cards could be soaked from the album if it were desired. The two missing subjects are 139-H. Fritsch and 199-Max Schmeling.
Minimum Bid $1,500.


Lot 11.  1948 Bowman Basketball high number 37-72 Grey Variation on uncut sheet (backs fully printed). A nearly flawless near mint sheet portraying the very desirable high series variations, both the gray backs and the missing red trim color. The only imperfection is a tiny chip in the lower right corner in the border of the Carl Braun card. The sheet includes the key George Mikan card (nr mt-mt) Bud Palmer (nr mt-mt), Max Zaslofsky (nr mt-mt) and Jim Pollard (nr mt-mt).
Minimum Bid $2,500.


Lot 12.  1934 Canadian Goudey uncut sheet with Lou Gehrig. The sheet has been beautifully matted to show the back as well as the front of the sheet. Vibrant colors and a near mint appearance on the sheet which includes HOF’ers Waite Hoyt , Mickey Cochrane, Red Faber, Jim Bottomley, Eddie Collins, Joe Cronin and Burleigh Grimes in addition to Gehrig. The sheet is fixed to the matte with transparent photo mounts at the corners which have very slight wear. The only fault on the sheet is on the rear where there is some abrasion running between the cards.
Minimum Bid $2,500.


Lot 13.  1961 Bazooka set of 36 on a 25" x 15" uncut sheet. The sheet includes all 12 panels in mint condition. Key players include Mantle, Maris, Mays, Mathews, Colavito, Kluszewski, Banks, Kaline, Mazeroski, Drysdale, Spahn, F. Robinson, Aparicio, etc.
Minimum Bid $1,000.


Lot 14.  1974 Topps Deckle edge set of 72 on one uncut sheet. Sheet measures 43" x 29" with 9 cards across and 8 down. The Nolan Ryan card at the top is near mint. Jackson, Seaver, Rose and Aaron are all near mint. The backs of the cards are the more difficult white variation. There is some creases and some minor wrinkling, but overall a very nice sheet.
Minimum Bid $2,000.


Lot 15.  1949 Menko card uncut sheet of early Japanese stars. The sheet which measures 30" x 21 1/2" features 44 circular cards of 12 different players in alternating rows, 6 in a large design (5" in diameter) and 6 in a small design (2" in diameter) and is in a 40" x 30" matte . The sheet includes 5 HOF’ers, Betto, Nishizawa, Bessho, Kawakami and Fujimura. Half of the cards are HOF’ers. Included is a history sheet with a brief history of the Menko cards and a key showing the players. Unusual, Striking and Beautiful. Ex-mt.
Minimum Bid $400.
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