Memory Lane Inc. | The Leader in Vintage Sports Cards & Collectibles
#14 on the Current PSA Set Registry for the 520-Card Sets Excluding Honus Wagner; Doyle N.Y. Nat'l; Plank & Magie Error!
The exalted T206 "Monster" Set certainly needs no introduction, unquestionably residing as the foremost baseball card compilation in our illustrious hobby. Synonymous with an uncontrollable tsunami, its highly celebrated stature continues to steamroll ahead, with a seemingly infinite number of passionate collectors 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, 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 almost mind boggling to think that many of the surviving subjects have managed to defy "Father Time", with many of their aesthetically brilliant images stubbornly side-stepping 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, presented here is an outstanding "Near T206 Set" including 483 or 92.88% PSA Graded subjects that total to a formidable 3.88 Weighted GPA! This colossal 483-card lot 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 14th finest compilation on the illustrious 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 outstanding offering accomplishes is provide the sophisticated tobacco enthusiast with a "clean" gathering under a single grading service umbrella, eliminating the excruciating task of having to "crossover" a significant number of subjects to either grading service. Equally impressive is that many of the subjects include super eye pleasing central images/hues, and it is clearly obvious that our esteemed consignor meticulously "cherry picked" a vast majority of his T206 cards based on exceptional visual appealing attributes.
HIGHLIGHTS
All 483 cards include technical assessments between PSA 1 and PSA 6 (there are no "Authentic" grades) with a summary of the grades as follows: EX-MT 6 (33 Cards); EX+ 5.5 (4 Cards); EX 5 (104 Cards); VG/EX+ 4.5 (43 Cards); VG/EX 4 (157 Cards); VG+ 3.5 (24 Cards); VG 3 (74 Cards); Good+ 2.5 (15 Cards); Good 2 (6 Cards); Fair 1.5 (2 Cards); Poor 1 (4 Cards). Rounding out this offering are 17 cards w/Qualifiers including 2 "EX 5's"; 6 "VG/EX 4's"; 4 "VG 3's"; 4 "Good 2's"; and 1 "POOR 1".
A formidable 341 cards (71%) of the total subjects depict grades between "VG/EX" and "EX/MT" (w/only 42 cards or a meager 8.7% falling below the VG/3 grade), placing this superb compilation as a virtual mid-grade set. Even more enticing is that this colossal lot offers a significant 69 Cooperstown inductees (91% of the possible 76 HOFs), with all 69 and their respective grades listed as follows:
Baker (2); Beckley (5); Bender/No Trees (5); Bender/Trees in Back (5); Bender Portrait/EPDG (3); Bresnahan Portrait (4); Bresnahan Batting (5); M. Brown Chicago Shirt (3); M. Brown Portrait (4); Chance Batting (4); Chance Red Portrait (3); Chance Yellow Portrait (3); Chesbro (3); Clarke Bat (4); Clarke Portrait (3); Cobb Bat On (2.5); Cobb Red Port (1); E. Collins/Tolstoi (3MK); J. Collins/Polar Bear (4); Crawford Throwing (5); Crawford Batting (2); Davis (2.5); Duffy (3.5); Evers Portrait (5); Evers w/bat Chicago (3); Evers w/Bat Cubs (4); Flick (3); Griffith Batting (4); Griffith Portrait/Sovereign (5); Huggins Hands at Mouth (6); Jennings Both Hands (3); Jennings One Hand (5); Jennings Portrait/Sovereign (3.5); W. Johnson hands at Chest (3); W. Johnson Portrait (2.5); Joss Pitching/Tolstoi (3); Joss Portrait (4); Keeler Portrait (4); Keeler w/Bat (3); Kelley (2MK); Lajoie Portrait (4.5); Lajoie Throwing (2MK); Lajoie Batting (3.5); Marquard Follow-Thru (5); Marquard Hands at Thighs/Sovereign (3); Marquard Portrait (4.5); Mathewson Dark Cap (4); Mathewson Portrait (5); Mathewson White Cap (3); McGinnity/Polar Bear (4); McGraw Finger in Air (6); McGraw Glove at Hip/Cycle (4MK); McGraw Port No Cap (2.5); McGraw Port w/Cap (3); Speaker (4); Tinker Bat Off (5); Tinker Bat On/Polar Bear (3); Tinker Hands at Knees (3); Tinker Portrait (3); Waddell Portrait (3); Waddell Throwing (4); Wallace (5); Wheat (6); Willis Portrait (5); Willis Throwing (4); Willis w/Bat/EPDG (3); Cy Young Bare Hand Shows (2.5); Cy Young Glove Shows (4); Cy Young Portrait (4)
Of the 483 subjects, 356 reflect Piedmont (98) and Sweet Caporal (258) 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 127 obscure backs (American Beauty-12 cards; Cycle-7 cards; EPDG-18 cards; Brown Hindu-5 cards; Old Mill-28 cards; Polar Bear-31 cards; Sovereighn-22 cards; Tolstoi-4 cards) and their respective grades as follows:
AMERICAN BEAUTY (12): Brasher/3.5; Delehanty/5MK; Dygert/4; Easterly/5; Hallman/4; Lake/3MC; Mitchell-Cincinnati/2.5; Nicholls-Batting/3; Ritter/3; Schreck/3; Street/2MC; Sweeney-NY/4;
CYCLE (7): Abstein/2; Butler/1.5; Carrigan/2.5; Kleinow-Boston/2.5; McBride/3; McGraw-Glove at Hip/HOF/4MK; Quinn/3; (Ford/3 & Lundgren KC/3);
EPDG (18): Bender-Portrait/HOF/3; Bridwell-w/Cp/3; Burns/4MC; Frill/4MC; Hoffman-Prov/3.5; Jordan-Brooklyn Port/3MC/ Krause-Portrait/3; McLean/3; McQuillan-w/Bat/4; Miller-Pitts/4.5; Mullin-w/Bat/3.5; Oakes/3; Oldring-Batting/3; Pelty-Vertical/3; Seymour-Throwing/3; Shipke/2.5; Wilhelm-w/Bat/4; Willis-w/Bat/HOF/3;
BROWN HINDU (5): Breitenstein/3; Coles/1MK; Konetchy-Glove Above Head/2.5; Manion/1; Reagan/1;
OLD MILL (28): Bastian/SL/3; Batch/4; Bay/SL/3; Blackburne/5; Burke/3; Bush/5; Dougherty-Arm in Air/4; Dubuc/3.5; Fritz/SL/3; Hannifan/4; Hickman/SL/3; Hinchman-Toledo/5; Jordan-Atlanta/SL/3; Kiernan/SL/3; Kissinger/2; Latham/6; Lentz/SL/5; McGraw-Portrait-Cap/HOF/3; Murray-Portrait/3.5; Oberlin/4.5; Orth/SL/4; Payne/4; Ritchey/4; Seitz/SL/2.5; Schaefer-Washington/4MC; Schulte-Back View/4; Sid Smith-Atlanta/SL/3; Thornton/SL/4MK;
POLAR BEAR (31): Abbot/4; Ames-Hands Over Head/4; Bescher-Portrait/3; Brain/2; Clarke-Columbus/3; J.Collins/HOF/4; Congalton/4; Dessau/4; Downey-Batting/3; Evans/3; Flanagan/3; Freeman/3; Graham-St. Louis/4; Gray/3; Jennings-One Hand/HOF/5; Kruger/4.5; Livingstome/3; McGinnity/HOF/4; Moran-Chicago/4; Nattress/3; P. O'Brien/3; W. O'Neil/5; Randall/2.5; Rudolph/3.5; Schlafly/4; Slagle/3; Snodgrass-Batting/3; Tinker-Bat on Shoulder/HOF/4; Titus/3; Warhop/2.5; Wright/4;
SOVEREIGN (22): Abbaticchio-Blue Sleeves/2.5; Armbruster/3; Carr/3; Casey/4; Clancy/5; Dahlen-Boston/2; Devore/5; Donlin-Seated/2.5; Fiene-Throwing/4; Griffith-Portrait/HOF/5; Hall/3; Jennings-Portrait/HOF/3.5; Lake-St. Louis w/Ball/4.5; Marquard-Hands at Thighs/HOF/3; McCormick/3.5; Moeller/3.5; Quillen/4; Rossman/3; Schlei-Portrait/4; Schlei-Batting/4.5; Schmidt-Portrait/4.5; Sheckard-No Glove Showing/4;
TOLSTOI (4): Eddie Collins/HOF/3MK; Joss-Pitching/HOF/3; Rhoades-Right Arm Extended/1; H. Smith-Brooklyn/4
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 compliments to its previous owner for extending the hobby this magnificent opportunity to capture a near-complete 520-subject T206 gathering.
To reiterate, all 483 cards total to a formidable 3.88 Weighted G.P.A. that places this most impressive compilation as the 14th 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" (a direct link to the PSA Registry is provided on our website).
As you thumb through the colossal number 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 seemingly infinite list of legendary diamond stars simply "turns back the clock" to an historic bygone era, effectively enabling the passionate baseball attict to feel young once again. Of even greater significance, only a paltry 37 cards (all with affordable/reasonable pricing levels) will separate the extremely fortunate winning bidder from achieving one of the hobby's most distinguished accomplishments of accumulating the hallowed 520-card T206 compilation!