N28 – Post War Cards

In July 2000, Robert Edward Auctions & eBay presented The Wagner Card as the featured item in their internet/telephone auction. But the auction was LOADED and included this amazing 1887 Allen & Ginter Store Display Advertising Poster.

Here’s the lot’s full description:

This poster advertises the very first full color baseball card set ever issued, the classic N28 Allen & Ginter Tobacco set of “Worlds Champions” Allen & Ginter, and competitor Goodwin & Company were the first to introduce the novelty of baseball cards as advertising inserts in the late 1880’s when they included one card in each pack of tobacco to encourage the sale of their products and to promote brand loyalty. This poster advertises the very first Allen & Ginter set to feature baseball players. It features illustrations of all ten baseball cards in the set, plus the cards of all forty additional sporting champions of the day which comprise this historic set. The ten baseball players include Hall of Famers Cap Anson, John Clarkson, Charles Comiskey, Tim Keefe, Mike “King” Kelly, and John M. Ward, as well as noted stars Charles Bennett, Robert Caruthers, Jack Glasscock and Joseph Mulvey. Other famous athletes in the set include Nineteenth Century boxing champions Jack Dempsey and Jake Kilrain. Printed in full color, this advertising poster was produced utilizing the highest caliber chromolithographic printing techniques of the era. One of the most attractive and significant of all baseball display pieces, this poster was supplied by Allen & Ginter only to tobacco stores, and was designed to hang in these shops for the purpose of announcing the landmark “World Champions” card set of 1887. To the best of our knowledge, there are only five N28 Allen & Ginter posters known to exist. Of these, it is our opinion that this example is in the finest condition. Extremely bright, crisp, and clean; close examination reveals a few small creases; with minor professional restoration; still overall Excellent condition. 28″ x 16″ Museum backed and framed. Value references: To date, according to our research, there has never been an N28 Allen & Ginter poster sold at auction. In the 1930’s Jefferson Burdick made note of this poster in The American Card Catalog (which was the first price guide and the publication that originally introduced the catalog reference numbers such as T206, R319, etc, which are still in use to this day). Assigning the N28 Allen & Ginter poster the catalog reference code “G20”, Burdick valued the poster in the 1930’s at what was then the shocking sum of $15, making this the second most valuable baseball item listed in the entire American Card Catalog, trailing only the T206 Wagner (which was valued at $50).

I’ve found a few other sales, including a pair from Heritage Auctions; this first one sold for $15,535 in April 2010.