(LOT 137)
1910 T206 Sam Crawford with Bat Drum 350/25 PSA 2 GOOD – One of Only Two PSA Copies & the Highest Graded Specimen!
DRUM CRAWFORD!!!... Assembling T206 rare ad-backs is one of the most fascinating collecting angles in the hobby, with 39 possible combinations listed on the esteemed T206 Resource website. Generally considered to be "the Bible" of T206 cards, T206Resource.com lists the following six T206 cigarette ad-backs as the scarcest to find: Ty Cobb, Brown Old Mill, Brown Lenox, Broadleaf 460, Drum 350 and Uzit, with this PSA 2 GOOD 1910 T206 Sam Crawford Batting marvel boasting the ultra-rare Drum ad-back. One of only two examples listed on the prestigious PSA Pop Chart, it proudly stands tall as the finest of its kind, with SGC only listing a single SGC Authentic example! Finding any T206 Drum Cigarette card is tough enough, let alone one that carries the iconic image of one of baseball's premier Deadball Era outfielders.

Sam "Wahoo" Crawford ended his sensational career with 2,961 safeties to the tune of a .309 lifetime batting average, and his incredible 309 lifetime triples still stands as an all-time record. He batted over .300 eleven times in his outstanding 19-year career in the Queen and Motor cities, with his 16 homers pacing the Junior Circuit in 1901. Playing in the immortal Ty Cobb's shadow most of his career, atypically for Crawford, this T206 Drum offering reflects a momentous T206 paucity level as significant as or superior to most of its tobacco peers. The classic Crawford batting stance has eluded any notable flaws, depicting bright yellow and gray hues and a super clear illustration. Preventing a higher assessment are severely rounded corners, notching along the edges, border soiling, and a few faint stray wrinkles, none of which detract from the classic central image.

Of course, the final exclamation point is the critical Drum 350 Subjects/Factory 25 flipside that still retains a majority of its original bold plum purple color. Any T206 Drum subject is worthy of a final resting place in a world-class tobacco compilation, let alone one that represents one of our National Pastime's premier pre-WWI HOF outfielders. Interestingly enough, PSA's census report lists over 700 Crawford Batting specimens, with the meager two Drum examples twice as scarce as the four Uzit PSA copies. Indeed, with the exception of the likewise near-impossible-to-find Brown Lenox Crawford, this miraculous Drum keepsake merits the highest hobby accolades!

MIN BID $5,000
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