Premier Auction for Pre-war Cards

Our auctions attract pre-war collectors in droves. Whether you have cards dating back to the 19th century, tobacco cards from the early 1900s, or candy or gum cards from the 1930s, consignment to auction is a prime opportunity to maximize your items’ value.

Operating on pillars of trust and integrity for 30+ years, we treat each consignment with a personalized approach to be sure the owners and bidders alike are 100% satisfied with the result.

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Pre-war Card Overview (1880s through 1939)

In their origin, baseball cards were not sold as standalone collectibles. The cards were sold as promotional pieces for magazines, tobacco, candy, gum & other food items. As a result, there is a tremendous variety of sizes and brands associated with the cards from this era.

Pre-war card sets are classified by a letter and number combination, originated by collector Jefferson Burdick in the American Card Catalog. The letter described how the card was delivered and the number after it was to keep track of the various sets. Instead of modern-day trading card brands like Topps and Bowman, pre-war cards featured advertising – tobacco companies like Sweet Caporal or Piedmont, food products like Cracker Jack or Goudey Gum, or publications like the Baltimore News.

Tobacco Cards

Tobacco cards are synonymous with the prewar era. The promotional cards became popular with collectors of all ages, leading to a temporary ban in 1887, due to some of the cards depicting indecent images and for their promotion of customer loyalty programs construed as gambling. An amendment passed in 1902 repealing the ban, paving the way for the most impactful sets of the prewar era.

1909-1911 T206 – The undisputed king of pre-war card sets, the American Tobacco Company’s T206 set featured more than 500 players with both portrait and action artwork. However, given that multiple advertising backs were possible for each player, the total card versions reached the thousands. This presented opportunities for certain player and ad combinations to be exceedingly rare (and valuable).

Unlike some modern cards, which are intentionally produced in limited editions to manufacture scarcity and add value, the most valuable T206 cards have genuine stories to add to their mystique.

The Honus Wagner, which many consider to be the Holy Grail of baseball cards, was pulled from print after a limited run due to Wagner not giving his approval to be included. Eddie Plank’s card doesn’t get the fanfare of Wagner, but it’s also very scarce due to a limited print run. It’s possible these players didn’t want to be associated with tobacco promotion, but no one knows for sure.

The other two most valuable T206 cards were limited in production due to printing errors that were caught and corrected. Unlike Wagner and Plank, Sherry Magee had multiple cards in the set, including an action pose and a portrait. The variation that generates collectors’ buzz is the portrait version in which his name is misspelled “Magie”. It was caught and corrected at some point, but a fair amount of the error card remain in the collectors’ market.

The last of the T206 “Big Four” is pitcher Joe Doyle. Like Magee, Doyle has two card versions in the set, one with a printing error. His name was printed with “Nat’l”, despite playing for an American League team. Larry Doyle (no relation) played in the National League at the time, which may have led to the mix-up.

Aside from these rarities, hall of famers like Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Mordecai Brown, Walter Johnson, Nap Lajoie, Willie Keeler, and Cy Young also appeared in the set. Their cards, in good condition, can reach well into five-figures at auction.

Other Tobacco Card Sets – Though the T206 set is the unquestioned king of tobacco cards, collectors also covet additional sets of the era. The “N” set classification is for 19th century cards, many of which were also tobacco cards. These card varied greatly in appearance and size and featured color or black & white player images. Allen & Ginter, Old Judge, and W.S. Kimball were among many tobacco brands producing these early cards.

While not reaching near the acclaim of the T206 set, the T205 Gold Border set has an unmistakable appearance, endearing the cards to discerning collectors. T205 was actually published after the T206 set, and featured hall of famers like Walter Johnson, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson and Addie Joss.

The cards’ gold border is known to have faded over the years, limiting the amount of high grade examples around today. With 200+ cards including hall of famers, completing a T205 set is much more attainable for a collector than T206 due to the lack of extremely high value cards.

Around 1915, tobacco card production slowed substantially. The cards’ popularity with kids caused some issues, including minors smoking or illegally obtaining tobacco just for the collectible. Candy and gum companies seized the opportunity, gaining market share and eventually taking over the market in the 1930s.

Candy & Gum Card Sets

Candy and gum sets were classified as either “E” or “R” cards, depending on when they were produced. Among the most coveted of collectors are the 1914-1915 E145 Cracker Jack sets.

Known for their solid red background and unlike the era’s tobacco cards, the card backs included a detailed biography of the player, and also contained a card number helping collectors better assemble a set.

The more recent candy and gum cards of the 1930s were designated with an “R” label, and represented some of the most collectible of all pre-war cards, including the 1932 US Caramel and 1939 Play Ball sets.

However, far and away the most popular is the 1933 Goudey Gum set (R319). In fact, it stands to this day as one the top sets of all time. Part of the set’s allure is the legendary players included - Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, Ott, Hornsby, Dean, Gehringer, Collins, Speaker, and more.

An interesting nuance of the set is that Nap Lajoie’s card wasn’t included in packs, and collectors could only get one by writing the company and receiving it by mail. There is speculation that it was intentionally omitted from packs, leading collectors to buy more when trying to assemble a completed set. Adding to the mystique, Lajoie was long-retired at the time the cards were published.

Pre-War Baseball Card Consignment

This is just scratching the surface on pre-war baseball card collecting. If you find yourself in possession of cards that you believe to be from this era, we’d love to help you authenticate them, and decide if auction is a good fit. Many collectors are drawn to the allure of these century-old relics, and often they’ll consign entire collections to our auctions. We help to determine whether it’s most cost-effective to break up the collection into multiple lots, or if the value would be higher with the collection intact.

Give us a call at 301-608-0355 or complete the form to get in touch.