N370 Lone Jack of Doc Bushong, high graded SGC 50 VG/EX 4 plus associated tin.
Lot 4. N370 Lone Jack of Doc Bushong, high graded SGC 50 VG/EX 4 plus associated tin. A “rare opportunity” to purchase an exceedingly rare type card of Doc Bushong of the N370 Lone Jack Cigarettes baseball series. Bushong was the Browns catcher with their championship teams of the late 1880's. The Lone Jack set, issued by the obscure Long Jack Tobacco Company features the same images used in the 1886 N172 Browns Champion subset of the N172 Old Judge series. Differences with the Old Judges are obviously the advertising, the photo size and the rarity. It is not believed a complete set exists although all 13 poses are known. One collector, well known to me, had six at one time. This is a very high grade example graded an SGC 50 VG/EX 4, which easily could have been higher. The mage is as nice as can be found and the card is well centered. The back shows a paper disturbance on the lower left side (see scan) taking the grade down from what was most likely a “7” to a “4”. A previous sale was a poor condition card, graded 1 by SGC, which went for $4,700+ in an early 2007 auction. An interesting associative piece is an extremely rare Lone Jack Tin from the 19th Century measuring 5" by 3" by 1-1/4". Minimum Bid $7,500.
