596

596 . 1909 E97 C . A . BRIGGS CO . BLACK & WHITE CY YOUNG ( HOF ) PICTURE IRV YOUNG-BOSTON VARIATION PSA 1.5 FAIR ( HIGHEST IN POP ). Presented here is a fresh to the hobby and exceedingly rare variation of one of the earliest and scarcest candy card issues of the 20th century . Produced in 1909 by C . A . Briggs Co ., lozenge makers of Boston , MA , this bw version ( a colorized version also exists ) of National Baseball Hall of Fame pitching great , Cy Young , hails from the E97 set as designated in the ACC . While finding an E97 card in color and depicting a HOFer ( there are only three within the 30 card set ) is extremely difficult , the scant few bw , blank-backed examples that are known to exist takes this task to an entirely different level . A minute total of 11 colorized cards of Young ( Boston ) have thus far been graded by PSA while this rarity is only the third bw version ever graded by PSA , and this example is the singular highest graded ,

597 598

the others being a 1 Poor and an Authentic . While it was long believed that these bw cards were proofs produced prior to the color versions being issued , that theory does not hold up as a few player / team name revisions were made during the printing process and these would negate the possibility of the bw cards being early proofs . Further adding to the intrigue of this incredible find is the fact that although the bottom of the card identifies the individual as Cy Young , the image actually depicts another pitcher of the era , Irv Young . Given that a second colorized variation of the Young card exists notating “ Cleveland ” as his ball club , the C . A . Briggs company clearly intended this card to be issued for Cy Young as he played with Cleveland from 1909-11 while Irv Young never played for Cleveland during his MLB career . While Cy Young hardly needs any further introduction to the hobby , many of his all-time MLB pitching records will surely never be broken due to the philosophical changes in the way that pitching staffs are handled in the modern game . Among Cy ’ s most impressive accomplishments were 511 career wins , 7,356 career innings pitched , 815 games started , 749 complete games and 25 1 / 3 consecutive hitless innings pitched . Young was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937 . An example of this card has not sold at auction in a number of years so you don ’ t want to pass up this opportunity . The paper stock utilized for these bw cards is well documented as being substantially thinner than the color versions , thus making it very unlikely that any true high grade bw examples will ever surface . The centering and overall eye appeal of this exceeds the assigned grade . Here is your chance to get a highest in the PSA census example of a truly special card . ( L ) $ 1,000.00 597 . 1909-11 E90-1 AMERICAN CARAMEL WILLIE KEELER ( HOF ) PORTRAIT PINK BACKGROUND CGC 3 VG . 1.5x2.75 ”. The E90-1 set was issued by the American Caramel Company over a three year period from 1909-11 w / the majority being issued during the first year . Keeler is best known for holding the all-time record for consecutive games w / at least one base hit , established in 1897 , until broken by Joe DiMaggio in 1941 . Keeler was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939 . ( I ) $ 200.00 598 . 1909-11 T206 PIEDMONT JOHNNY EVERS ( HOF ) W / BAT AND CUBS ON SHIRT CGC 3.5 VG +. 1-7 / 16x2-5 / 8 ”. Produced and distributed over a three year period from 1909-11 by the American Tobacco Company via its numerous cigarette brands . This series of cards would be designated as T206 in the famed American Card Catalogue and this series would go on to become the most widely collected pre-war baseball card set of all-time . Evers was part of the historic Chicago Cubs double play combo of Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance w / all three being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946 . Nicely centered example . ( J ) $ 300.00

$ 70,092 $ 62,980 $ 52,367

$ 23,249