The elusive one-loss error card of Christy Mathewson is considered a necessity for master set completion — but should it be? There are many twists and turns in the popular T205 baseball card set. Among them are the many errors and variations, which make the pursuit of a master set terribly challenging. The most valuable of those is the rare ‘No Stats’ version of Dick Hoblitzell’s card. But it’s no surprise that a card of the legendary Christy Mathewson is a big target, too. T205 Christy Mathewson The Mathewson is a rare error card. Let’s be clear — Mathewson’s ‘regular’ card in the set is hi ..read more

Reviewing the little-known 1930 Milton Bradley Aviation set The 1930 Milton Bradley Aviation set of game cards is one that has largely gone under the radar. I had never personally heard of it until only recently but a quick study shows that it’s one that is worthy of recognition. The set was copyrighted by Milton Bradley in 1930 when it was seemingly first distributed. But the cards in the set were actually conceived in 1928, as evidenced by a 1928 trademark by the game’s maker, E.K. Barker. Both copyright dates are printed in an accompanying instruction booklet and the biographies of the pilo ..read more

The Obscure Card of the Month is a rare bakery card of the legendary Babe Ruth You’ll find Babe Ruth on all sorts of baseball cards from his playing days. But one of his rarest pre-war cards was issued soon after he retired. One of the more unique pre-war sports card sets is the 1937 Donut Corporation Thrilling Moments series. These cards were issued on boxes of donuts and, as you might imagine, many were discarded. A small amount of these cards were preserved, however, and while the set includes several valuable cards, the real prize in the set is a card of the iconic Ruth. Ruth isn’t named o ..read more

A find of rare Baines Shield print error sheets have been found in the UK Cards from pre-war sets with print errors are often very rare finds. Complete sheets of these sorts of cards are nearly impossible. But complete sheets of print errors from already very rare sets? That’s unheard of, right? Not in the case of some incredible sheets of Baines Shield trade cards from the UK. LDC Cards, a popular eBay dealer from the UK, made the find. While I have not seen these cards in person, LDC is a long-time, well-known seller on eBay, moving more than 100,000 items. According to the dealer Gary, he o ..read more

In 1955, Bowman alluded to a pre-war set of baseball cards that collectors aren’t even familiar with This weekend, the Society for American Baseball Research’s (SABR) Twitter account retweeted an interesting post, picturing a unique item for the 1955 Bowman set. While that’s a post-war series, obviously, the intriguing part is that the item in question referenced a pre-war baseball card set. Only problem is, no one has ever heard of it. The 1955 Bowman baseball card set is one that most vintage baseball collectors are likely familiar with. At the time, color television was beginning to make it ..read more

The Obscure Card of the Month The Obscure Card of the Month is a rare coffee card from the 19th century — and it features baseball. The McLaughlin Coffee name can be found on hundreds of early trade cards. Most of these are not related to sports, but a few are. One of those is a baseball card buried in a somewhat unknown set known as Children of Nations. The set is one of many early issues that used pictures of children from different countries around the world. As is the case with most of these series’, the cards representing America are quite popular with domestic collectors. And in this set ..read more

Recapping a year of pre-war collecting highlights Here’s the conclusion of the recap of my favorite pickup so 2022. If you missed it, here were the honorary mentions of six cards that didn’t quite make my top 12 as well as No. 6 through No. 12. Now, moving onto my five favorite pickups of the year. 5. Babe Ruth 1928 George Ruth Candy Card I’d made a reference in the last article to seeking some cards of Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb in less popular sets. One of my favorite pickups from last year was exactly that. Here is a Babe Ruth card from the slugger’s own candy card set issued in 1928. A rel ..read more

Recapping a year of pre-war collecting highlights Continuing the recap of my favorite pickup so 2022. If you missed it, here were the honorary mentions of six cards that didn’t quite make my top 12. Now, moving onto cards from No. 12 through No. 6. The top five will be in a third and final post soon. 12. 3,000+ 1901-02 Ogden’s Cards A few years ago when I started collecting the 1901-02 Ogden’s Tabs General Interest cards, I didn’t even have any idea how many were actually in the set. When I realized there were more than 1,500 and actually started developing an actual checklist, I thought colle ..read more

Recapping a year of pre-war collecting highlights With a new year upon us (hard to believe, right?), I wanted to again try to recap some of the collecting highlights I’ve had this past year. I’m always amazed when I do these recaps that sort of force me to look back. Like many of you, I’m sure, there’s always more than I seem to remember buying throughout the year. And even beyond that, trying to decide between my favorite pickups is always difficult. I’m giving myself a bit of leeway this year and helping to make the decisions a little easier, anyway. Instead of two posts, I’ll be breaking th ..read more

The Statue of Liberty is the key in the American Tobacco Company’s Lighthouses series The 1911 T77 Lighthouses set features 50 different cards of lighthouses around the United States. Issued by the American Tobacco Company, these cards were similar to the firm’s other larger tobacco issues. The cards measure roughly 2 1/2″ wide by 3 1/4″ tall, though the exact measurements can vary slightly. Unlike some other ATC series’ these cards were distributed for only one of their product brands — Hassan’s Cork Tip Cigarettes. Fronts of the cards picture color depictions of famous lighthouses. Backs o ..read more