Old Judge and Gypsy Queens and Buchner Gold Coin question

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Posted By: Tom Hines

In my never ending search for Cincinnati cards it has become apparant to me that all of the Cincinnati cards from the Old Judge (N172) set that I own (19 different) and have seen are all copyrighted 1888 and are all of the same design. Why is this? Is it related to Cincinnati's move from the AA to the NL? Were teams published only in a single season / year rather than throughout the entire run? And why are there no Cincinnati players represented in the Gypsy Queen (N175) or Buchner Gold Coin (N284) sets? Is it that these sets were copyrighted only in 1887 when Cincy was in the AA? Are there other teams that fall into this category?
Thank you for any info into these questions.

Tom Hines

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Posted By: Joe_G.

Cincy, great team to collect.

Unless you have some 1890 Old Judge cards (NL vs PL rarities), all your Cincy Old Judges are 1888 & 1889 American Association cards. Cincy joined the NL in 1890 and there are a couple 1890 NL Cincy cards. The reason you find no 1887 cards stems from the fact that Goodwin and Company focussed the 1887 issue on the 8 National League Teams and Brooklyn of the American Association. Two additional American Association teams are represented in 1886/1887; the 13 card Browns Champs subset & the NY Mets "spotted ties". It wasn't until 1888 that Goodwin & Co. expanded to the other American Association Teams.

Are you ready to be humbled?? If you reference the Cartophilic Listing, you'll find 21 different players for a total of 93 different Cincinnati Old Judges. There was also an error card that shows Lady Baldwin playing for Cincinnati in 1889, I didn't include this card in the above totals. It was likely a mix-up with Kid Baldwin who did play for Cincy and was issued several cards as such.

It is interesting to note that none of the Cincinnati cards were previously issued in 1887 with other teams.

Gypsy Queen was an 1887 issue and can explain the lack of Cincy cards. N284s were also very light on American Association representation, no Cincy cards there.

Best Regards,
Joe Gonsowski

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Posted By: Tom Hines

Joe,
I appreciate the info. Yeah I have bounced back and forth about trying to go after all 93 or just settling for one of each. Right now I have 14 different players and am leaning towards just one of each. Especially with the ever increasing prices. It really is a shame (albiet more economical) that there were no Gypsy Queen or Buchner Cincy cards. Even a Kalamazoo Bats Tony Mullane or John Reilly would have been awesome. Oh well I will settle for the ones that do exist. Thank you again for the info.

Tom