1909, 1910, and 1911 T212 Obak Uncut Sheets

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This 1910 T212 Obak uncut sheet has 76 of 175 different subjects in the year’s release of Pacific Coast League Northwestern League players.

Mastro auctioned off this example in November 2000 and wrote that it features players from five of the PCL teams (no reps for Vernon) and Spokane only from the NWL. There are 46 different players depicted, with 30 of those appearing twice. Also, the format, with borders on the left and right, demonstrates that a single line from Obak’s production sheet was 19 cards. They went on to say that because the issue has 175 cards, they couldn’t rationalize any configuration with duplicate images, where 19 cards horizontally are compatible with 175 different ones in the set. They concluded this was bad news for Obak collectors since it suggests imbalances in production quantities within the issue. 

Overall, the piece measured 10 1/2” x 28” and was production-ready. All the cards stated “175 subjects” on the back. The front of the sheet has a few creases, and about a dozen cards toward the right have mild spot toning, making the overall condition Gd to Vg. 

Since that sale, a few more Obak uncut sheets have surfaced. In the Spring of 2010, REA sold the following 1909 T212 Obak Complete Set Uncut Sheet for $5875. 

They wrote that the 76-card 1909 set is the first of the three annual T212 baseball cards from Obak Cigarettes and are by far the rarest. They mentioned having seen the 1910 Obak sheet and said it was interesting that the one-year-later sheet also had 76 cards, which, in addition to the 1909 Obak issue having precisely that number of cards in the set, suggests that this is a complete sheet exactly as printed. This was also a final process sheet with backs fully printed, but it also had a few imperfections. They advertised the sheet’s dimensions as 11 1/8” x 27 3/4”.

Next, in September 2021, Huggins & Scott sold this 1911 T212 Obak Full Uncut Sheet of 179 cards for $18,800.

They wrote, “With a challenging slate of games often approaching two hundred per season, the combatants of the early twentieth century Pacific Coast and Northwestern Leagues were some of the most colorful and hardworking personalities in the game. Capturing twelve teams and dozens of future major leaguers, the 1911 T212 Obak series featured western minor leaguers in what is often considered the most attractive baseball series issued during the tobacco card era. In April 2010, our Northern California-based consignor uncovered an incredible keepsake in his personal belongings. Three decades prior, a business associate gave our consignor several items from his father’s collection. A former employee of the Schmidt Lithography Company of San Francisco, these personal effects included advertising images, illustrations and a neatly folded sheet of baseball cards inserted into a manila 15×10 envelope. Measuring 31 x 23-1/2”, the offered 1911 T212 Obak full uncut sheet of (179) cards is likely unique and the largest baseball cigarette uncut sheet known in the hobby. While similar sheets (likely partial) of the 1909 series (76 cards) and 1910 edition (76 cards) have sold through competing auction houses, this (179) card galley overwhelms all others known. The interesting configuration includes (8) 21-card vertical rows and a single 11-card horizontal arrangement at the bottom of the sheet. Among the (88) different players, (85) players have two cards each, while a trio of players are displayed three times.”

Hopefully, sharing these three sheets can help some smarter folks about pre-war cards piece together a bit more of the T212 story.

For more about Obak cards, check out this summary from prewarcards.

1950’s Star-Cal Decal Counter Display

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Here’s an item you don’t see come up for sale very often: a 1950s Star-Cal Decal Counter Display. It was produced by Meyercord Company of Chicago starting in 1952 for paint and hardware stores.

This September 2000 auction lot consisted of the large 13″ x 21″ dealer display, the envelope in which it was originally packaged, and seven smaller envelopes with four single-player decals and three two-player decals still packaged inside.

The players are Jackie Robinson, Monte Irvin, Rich Ashburn, Red Schoendienst, plus Snider/Roe, Jansen/Maglie, and Hodges/Reese pairings.

This display board still had its folding back stand fully attached and unused. Apart from some localized wear on the lower left corner, it was described as being in near-mint condition with the decals in EX-MT to NR-MT condition with some surface wrinkling. The red envelopes showed handling and mild edge and corner wear.

About a decade later, REA sold the following pair of displays in the spring of 2009 for $2,115, with one featuring New York Giants players and the other featuring Boston Red Sox players.

And another decade later Heritage sold one with Yankees players for $4920 in December 2019.

In terms of the back, Heritage wrote, “Comes wrapped in clear plastic (original?) and a cardboard stiffener. Back has tape and double faces tape remnants.”

1068 Assorted T206 White Border Cigarette Cards

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Unfortunately, most of the photos in Sotheby’s Important Baseball Cards and Sports Memorabilia auction catalog from March 1993 are B&W, but this group of 1068 assorted T206 White Border Cigarette Cards still looks pretty awesome.

You don’t see lots like these often these days, especially since this one included 124 Hall of Famers. The lot contained various manufacturers, but mostly Piedmont and Sweet Caporal brands. Sotheby’s said no cards were less than Vg, and as a lot, the overall grade would be at least Ex, with more than 200 cards in at least NrMt or better condition. Their estimate was $25-30k.

1953 Spic and Span Dry Cleaners Milwaukee Braves Shirt Covering

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How many of you still use dry cleaners? And those of you who do, how many of you save the hanger bags? Well, here’s one that survived in someone’s closet for over fifty years!

It’s a circa 1953 Spic and Span Dry Cleaners Pictorial Shirt Covering. The Milwaukee-based dry cleaning company had a licensing agreement with the local Braves team from at least 1953 to 1957. 

The auction lot for the shirt covering described the bag as containing 12 different portrait sketches of popular players of the Milwaukee Braves, including Warren Spahn. They wrote that the portraits on the bag are 12 of the 13 known Warmuth designs that went into the company’s 1954 card set, so they felt comfortable placing the bag’s date of issue.

The 1991 Topps Sweepstakes Winner Of 40 Sets From 40 Years Of Topps Baseball

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For their 1991 release, Topps randomly packed every card from every complete set produced by Topps over the last 40 years in 1991 retail packs, including the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card – though technically, the pricey and oversized cards were a redemption. On top of the instant-win cards, they also offered an anniversary sweepstakes, where they gave out complete sets from all 40 years to 40 winners. But the grand prize was all 40 sets from 40 years of Topps Baseball to a single winner! 

The “incredible consumer prizes” were detailed to dealers on Topps’ sell sheets.

Topps then highlighted the instant-win prizes on their boxes, packs, and posters to collectors.

Jack Glenn won the grand prize but ended up selling all the cards, including the 1952 Mantle, to Mr. Mint Alan Rosen for $34k.

Rosen wrote in his book True Mint that even though Topps advertised the cards as being worth a lot more, their grades were only Vg to Ex.

1933 R333 Delong Gum Uncut Proof Sheet

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The following engravers’ uncut proof sheet of a 1933 R333 Delong Gum complete set was described as “one of the finest and most magnificent uncut sheets of baseball cards in our entire hobby.”

The 12” x 13” sheet has great colors, a blank back (I can’t recall ever seeing a production sheet around the hobby), and includes all 24 images in the set. The consignor was said to have been tasked to create the color template for the issue and kept this one as a memento. 

The April 2003 auction lot’s description described the arrangement of the cards on the sheet, commenting that the positioning of cards appears unrelated to the set’s numbering. So, the sheet dispelled previously held notions of relative scarcities with the production. However, you can see that Gehrig, Gehringer, William (Bill) Terry, and Pepper Martin occupy the sheet’s four corner positions, which would make them more susceptible to production line damage.

An Incredible Collection of 100 Sports Wrappers

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I’ve always loved wrapper collecting. Too bad I wasn’t buying yet in 2005 when this incredible lot of 100 (1949 to 1972) baseball, basketball, football, and hockey wrappers were auctioned off together.

Most were described as being in clean EX to NM condition. There was also a bit of duplication amongst the collection: BASEBALL: Bowman 1949 one cent green/orange, 1950 one cent dated, 1952 one cent. 1953 Color (GD), 1954 dated (VG) and 1955 (VG). Topps 1951 Red Back one cent, 1952 (VG), 1953 one cent (a NM beauty), 1954 one cent, 1955 one cent, 1955 Doubleheader one cent, 1956 one cent, 1957 one cent, 1958 one cent, 1959, 1960 (2), 1961 (2), 1962 (2), 1962 Baseball Bucks one cent, 1963 one cent, 1964, 1964 Giants, 1965, 1966, 1967 (3), 1968 (3), 1968 Posters, 1969, 1969 Posters, 1970 (2), 1971, 1971 Tattoos, 1971 Super, 1972 (5) and 1972 Posters. Leaf 1948-49 and 1960. Fleer 1960, 1961 and 1963. FOOTBALL: Bowman 1951 one cent, 1953, 1954 one cent and 1955. Topps 1951 Magic, 1956, 1957 one cent, 1958 one cent, 1959 one cent, 1960 one cent, 1961-71 and 1972 (5). Fleer 1960-63. Philadelphia 1964-67 Also 1961 Nu-Card, 1963 Topps Canadian and 1972 O-Pee-Chee. BASKETBALL: Fleer 1961-62. Topps 1969-70, 1970-71, 1971-72 and 1972-73. HOCKEY: Topps 1968-69, 1969-70, 1971-72 (2) and 1972-73.

Wrapper collecting isn’t for everyone, but they are way more affordable than unopened wax packs. And, stored in binders, vintage wrappers display very well together. Another cool thing about wrappers is that there’s usually exciting hobby history involved, as Topps often advertised giveaways on them.