Memory Lane Inc. | The Leader in Vintage Sports Cards & Collectibles
#17 on the Current PSA Set Registry for the 520-Card Sets Excluding Honus Wagner; Doyle N.Y. Nat'l; Plank & Magie Error!
Presented here is a magnificent T206 near-set that includes 498 or 96% of the 520 possible subjects (less the Honus Wagner; Plank; Doyle Variation and Magie Error). Ranked #17 on the prestigious list of PSA Registered Sets, it currently stands at a superb 3.817 G.P.A., with the entire set nearly residing at a highly coveted "VG/EX" level. The iconic T206 "Monster" Set certainly needs no introduction, unquestionably standing as the foremost baseball card compilation in the hobby. Synonymous with a roaring tsunami, its highly celebrated stature continues to steamroll ahead, with a seemingly infinite number of passionate hobbyists diligently pursuing the goal of assembling an entire set.
When the American Tobacco Company (ATC) released their iconic tobacco issue in 1909, little did anyone realize over a century later, the 524 possible subjects would ultimately reside as an "industry leader", with its unparalleled popularity captivating an entire collecting community. Not even prestigious issues such as the 1914 Cracker Jacks, 1933 Goudeys or 1952 Topps can remotely compare to the pinnacle distinction associated with the ATC's "Monster Set" that includes a myriad of player variations and tobacco ad back combinations that relentlessly drive the insatiable tobacco market. Virtually all of our National Pastime's greatest early 20th century stars are represented including Cobb, Mathewson, Speaker, Johnson, Lajoie, Collins, Young, Johnson, and so many more that this star laden gathering reads like a "who's who" to baseball's "turn of the century" Cooperstown inductees.
Also contributing to the T206 craze are the incredible array of sparkling/bright colored hues utilized by the various factories to promote their cigarette products. It is unfathomable to think that many of the surviving subjects have managed to defy "Father Time", miraculously portraying aesthetically brilliant images stubbornly eluding some 110 years of potential wear. One of the hobby's daunting tasks is to accumulate 520 of the aforementioned 524 total subjects, forgoing the Wagner, Plank, Magee error and Doyle variation due to their staggering price tags. Needless to say, most typical household budgets are unable to stretch the boundaries of seizing any of these aforementioned four cardboard icons, so collectors are more than satisfied with assembling a 520-card set. With that in mind, the aforementioned offering including 498 PSA Graded subjects (94.81% complete) that total to a formidable 3.817 GPA would suffice as a sensational gathering for even the sophisticated enthusiast. This colossal 498-card lot clearly resides as a near-perfect beginning towards eventually achieving the ultimate T206 collector's goal of assembling all 520 subjects (less the "Big Four"). Most impressively, every card has been encapsulated by PSA, with the set listed as the 17th finest compilation on the Current PSA Set Registry (the set is listed under "COMPLETE PLAYER IMAGE T206 SET, NO WAGNER, DOYLE "N.Y. NAT'L", PLANK AND MAGIE" and titled: "memorylaneinc"). What this spectacular offering accomplishes is provide the advanced tobacco collector with a "clean" gathering under a single PSA grading service umbrella, eliminating the excruciating task of having to "crossover" a significant number of subjects to either grading company. Equally impressive is that many of the subjects include super eye pleasing central images/hues, and it is clearly obvious that our revered consignor meticulously "cherry picked" many of these T206 cards primarily based on superior eye appeal.
HIGHLIGHTS
All 498 cards include technical assessments between PSA Authentic and PSA 6 with a summary of the grades as follows: EX-MT 6 (28 Cards); EX+ 5.5 (4 Cards); EX 5 (112 cards); VG/EX+ 4.5 (38 Cards); VG/EX 4 (130 cards); VG+ 3.5 (29 Cards); VG 3 (113 cards); Good+ 2.5 (12 Cards); Good 2 (10 Cards); Fair 1.5 (3 Cards); Poor 1 (8 Cards); Authentic (1 Card). Rounding out this offering are 10 cards w/Qualifiers including 4 "VG/EX 4's"; 2 "Good 2's"; 1 "Fair 1.5's" and 3 "POOR 1".
An impressive 345 cards (69%) of the total subjects depict grades between "VG/EX" and "EX/MT" (w/only 44 cards or a meager 8.9% falling below the VG/3 grade), placing this superb compilation as a near VG/EX set. Even more enticing is that this colossal lot offers a significant 74 Cooperstown inductees; 96% of the possible 74 HOFs (less Honus Wagner & Eddie Plank) which accounts for all 74 Of the Hall of Famers and their respective grades are listed as follows:
Baker (4); Beckley (3); Bender/No Trees/Polar Bear (2.5); Bender/Trees in Back/CYCLE (2.5); Bender Portrait (5); Bresnahan Portrait (4.5); Bresnahan Batting (3); M. Brown Chicago Shirt (3.5); M. Brown Cubs Shirt 4); (M. Brown Portrait (4); Chance Batting (4); Chance Yellow Portrait (4); Chesbro (4); Clarke Bat (3); Clarke Portrait (3); Cobb Bat Off/American. Beauty 460 (A); Cobb Bat On (3.5); Cobb Green Port (2; Cobb Red Port (2); E. Collins (4); J. Collins/Tolstoi (3.5); Crawford Throwing (5); Crawford Batting (5); Davis (3); Duffy (3); Evers Portrait (4); Evers w/bat Chicago (3); Evers with Bat Cubs on Shirt Sovereign 150 (4); F. Chance Red Portrait (5); Flick (4); Griffith Batting (3); Griffith Portrait (4); Huggins Hands at Mouth (3); Huggins Portrait/Tolstoi (2.5); Jennings Both Hands (3); Jennings One Hand (6); Jennings Portrait (4); W. Johnson hands at Chest/Sovereign (4); W. Johnson Portrait (4); Joss Pitching (3); Joss Portrait/Old Mill (3.5); Keeler Portrait/EPDG (4.5); Keeler w/Bat/EPDG (4); Kelley (5); Lajoie Portrait (4); Lajoie Throwing (3); Lajoie Batting (4); Marquard Follow-Thru (4.5); Marquard Hands at Thighs (3); Marquard Portrait/Tolstoi (3); Mathewson Dark Cap (3); Mathewson Portrait/Old Mill (2); Mathewson White Cap (3.5); McGinnity (5); McGraw Finger in Air/Tolstoi (4); McGraw Glove at Hip (6); McGraw Port No Cap (4); McGraw Port w/Cap (4.5); Speaker/Polar Bear (5); Tinker Bat Off (5); Tinker Bat On (4); Tinker Hands at Knees (5); Tinker Portrait (4.5); Waddell Portrait (4); Waddell Throwing (4); Wallace (4); Walsh (3); Wheat (3.5); Willis Portrait (2.5); Willis Throwing (5); Willis w/Bat (3); Cy Young Bare Hand Shows (3); Cy Young Glove Shows Piedmont Factory (4.5); Cy Young Portrait (4)
Of the 498 subjects, 377 reflect Piedmont (109) and Sweet Caporal (271) ad backs. While all of the subjects' ad backs can be viewed on the PSA Set Registry, for your convenience, we have listed the remaining 116 obscure backs (American Beauty-4 cards; Cycle-15 cards; EPDG-13 cards; Brown Hindu-18 cards; Old Mill-17 cards; Polar Bear-31 cards; Sovereign-10 cards; Tolstoi-8 cards) and their respective grades as follows:
AMERICAN BEAUTY (4): Butler/2.5; Cobb Bat Off/HOF/1; Lillian Port./3; Moran/4MK;
CYCLE (15): Bush/4; Dunn/4; Ganzel/2; Moriarity/3.5; Pickering/3; Rhoades/Hands at Chest/3; Schlafly/3; Stanage/3; Taylor/2; Bender Trees in Back/HOF/2.5; Myers Batting/3; Mitchell Toronto/4; Sweeney Boston/5; White Buffalo/4MC; Graham St. Louis/4;
EPDG (13): Casey/3.5; Davidson/4; Dinneen/3; Evans/4; Ganley/3; Phillippe/4; Rhodes/4.5; Chase Pink Port./4.5; Doyle N.Y. Hands Above Head/4; Flanagan/4; Keeler Portrait/HOF/4.5; Keeler w/Bat/HOF/4; Lundgren KC/1.5;
BROWN HINDU (18-All Southern Leaguers ): Bay/2; Bernhard/1; Ellam/1.5; Foster/1; Greminger/1.5MK; Helm/2MK; Hickman/1; Hooker/1MK; Kiernan/1MK; Manion/1; Mullaney/2.5; Otey/3; Paige/1; Perdue/1; Shaughnessy/2.5; Thornton/2MK; Jordan Atlanta/1; Sid Smith Atlanta/1MK;
OLD MILL (17): Atz/5; Burke/4; Campbell/5.5; Coles/SL/5; Conroy w/Bat/5; Freeman/5; McCauley/SL/6; Molesworth/SL/6; Nicholls Batting/4; Stark/SL/1; Thebo/SL/6; Dunn Balt./4; Howard Savannah/SL/5; Joss Port./HOF/3.5; Manning Batting/4; Mathewson Port./HOF/2; McGraw Finger in Air/HOF/4;
POLAR BEAR (32): Arellanes/5; Barger/5; Bliss/5; Brain/4; Brashear/5; Clymer/4; Devore/4; Dorner/4; Egan/5; Fiene Port./5; Hallman/5; Hayden/4; Lattimore/4.5; Lord/4.5; Maloney/5; McGlynn/4; McLean/5; Merritt/4; Milan/3; Nattress/4; Overall Hands at Chest/4; Perring/5; Rudolph/5; Sharpe/3; Speaker/HOF/5; Strang/4; Unglaub/4; Bender Pitching No Trees/HOF/2.5; Downey Fielding/4; Knight w/Bat/4; F. Smith Chicago White Cap/3; Smith Buffalo/3;
SOVEREIGN (11): Burch Batting/2; Criger/3.5; Devlin/4; Evers with Bat Cubs on Shirt/4; Pelty Horizontal/4; Scott/3; W. Johnson Hands at Chest/HOF/4; Kruger/3.5; McIntyre Brooklyn/4; Oldring Fielding/3; Reulbach No Glove/3;
TOLSTOI (8): Burchell/3.5; Barry Philadelphia/4MK; J. Collins/HOF/3.5; Hoffman St. Louis/2; Huggins Port./HOF/2.5; Krause Pitching/3.5; Marquard Port./HOF/3; Murray Batting/3
An extraordinary gathering, it would take an extensive period of time to compile such a vast T206 grouping with all of the cards encapsulated within PSA's renowned grading system. Our utmost gratitude to its previous owner for extending the hobby this magnificent opportunity to capture a near-complete 520-subject T206 gathering. To reiterate, all 498 cards total to a formidable 3.817 G.P.A. that places this most impressive compilation as the 17th finest set on the illustrious PSA Registry (the set is listed under "COMPLETE PLAYER IMAGE T206 SET, NO WAGNER, DOYLE "N.Y. NAT'L", PLANK AND MAGIE" and titled: "memorylaneinc").
As you thumb through the myriad of tobacco cards in this magnificent grouping, it conjures up awe-inspiring memories of yesteryear when a formidable group of ballplayers paved the way for a simple game of baseball to ultimately evolve into America's Pastime.
Indeed, the T206 Monster Set" via its extensive number of legendary stars "turns back the clock" to an historic bygone era, effectively enabling the zealous baseball attic to feel young once again. Of even greater significance, only a meager 22 cards (all with affordable/reasonable pricing levels) will separate the winning bidder from achieving one of the hobby's most distinguished accomplishments of accumulating a 520-card T206 compilation that continues to be the primary focal point for a seemingly infinite number of passionate collectors' bucket-lists!
