Wanted to share my "other" big pick up this month.
I enjoyed sharing my story of picking up a full of character W600 of Sam Crawford, and I have been meaning to get to this post.
So, on a Sunday night, while I watch "The Last Dance" I thought I would share my substantial recent pick up of Crawford Cards.
A special public thanks to Todd for his guidance and advice to me as I attempted to make this deal.
Long post, lots of LARGE photos (sorry its imgur) but might have some nice back examples to look at if this is a set you are interested in as well)
I have been connected with another Crawford Collector for some time, that has sold off most of his stuff now.
I have picked up a few items from him, but this lot of cards got me excited as I really only had one of the cards he had available, and he really wanted to keep them all together with one buyer.
First off I secured a decent PSA 3 of the M101-4 Blank Backed card of Crawford.
I have this card in a higher grade already, but this was part of the package deal.
Still there have only been 17 blank backs graded between SGC and PSA.
This one as well as the one I already owned are both Blank back versions,
I would really like to snag one of these with the actual Sporting News back, as I just love the looks of that card back on the M101 issue.
Card #2 was a Famous and Barr issue of Crawford.
This is also an issue that is more easily found with a lot of examples from the set graded by SGC and PSA (a total of about 1350 total cards graded from the 200 card set).
Between the two graders there have been 8 Crawfords graded.
This is a PSA 2 due to some light back damage, (some paper loss on the FA on Famous) but the image on the front is really solid.
A great card with nice eye appeal.
Card #3 Is a Weil Baking Card of Crawford.
This is the only card of Crawford that has been graded by SGC and there are no graded PSA examples of Crawford graded according to the report.
Only about 350 or so Weil baking cards total have been graded by the two main graders.
Card #4 is the Indianapolis Brewing Sam Crawford. This one was on a short list if I had to pick individual cards that would have been left out.
Still it is the only current registered PSA example (a PSA 1-) and there are 3 SGC graded examples.
About 350 Indianapolis Brewing cards show as being graded total from the set.
This one looks like it was stuck together to other cards based on front and back damage.
Next up is the highest graded card in the grouping a Standard Biscuit card of Sam.
This is a nice PSA 4 example.
This is the only PSA example from this issue that has been graded and there are no SGC examples that have been graded.
There are a total of about 200 Standard Biscuit advertising backs that have been graded to date of any players between the two main grading services.
Next we have in the blank Backed M 101-5 of Crawford.
I only previously had the blank back Card #41 from 101-4 set so adding card #42 in decent condition for me was a nice win!
This one shows nice age toning and even wear.
Gimbels anyone? Although mis-labeled as a Sporting News variety, this is a Gimbles.
This one has a noticeable crease and likely is generously graded as a PSA 2-. Gimbels are tougher on the rarity scale with about 170 total examples from the set graded by SGC and PSA combined.
This is one of just 4 Crawfords that have been graded, with just 1 other PSA 3 currently graded.
Gimbles have 3 back variation, this is the slanted italicized back. I am unsure if any examples of Crawford exist with the other two printing back varieties.
The last two are well into the rarity backs for this issue.
This one is an outlier being graded by GAI. Neither PSA nor SGC has any graded examples, and I have to believe this is the only graded Crawford.
In total have only been about 70 cards from this issue graded between PSA and SGC.
This Morehouse baking is likely one of just a few in the hobby of Sam Crawford to exist.
In nice condition and decently graded.
Last but not least is an example of the very rare Burgess & Nash.
This one added even more intrigue to me as it is from a Burgess and Nash Clothiers in Omaha, Nebraska which is about 45 miles from Crawford's hometown of Wahoo, Nebraska.
This is the only graded example of Crawford from this issue, (albeit a rough one) but the Nebraska connection and the scarcity makes this one special to me nevertheless.
The only other PSA graded Burgess Nash cards are of Ty Cobb and Urban Faber. SGC has graded a total of 16 cards from the set.
Rough as it is, it might be the only one around.
Have any M101-4 or M101-5 Crawford issues? Show em here!
Would love to see what others have from these issues.
Thanks for reading and Happy Collecting!