Baseball Currency Notes

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Posted By: Elliot 

Were these just issued in Chicago, or did other teams also have them. I can only remember seeing Chicago with Anson currency notes. I seem to recall that they were issued over several years in the 1880's with different formats and different advertising on them. Does anybody have a checklist and/or an idea as to value?

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Posted By: ADamBaxter

Elliot,
I don't know a whole lot about this issue, but I hope I can be a little helpful. I know that Chicago, Detroit, and St.Louis are the teams in this set, I'm not sure if there's more. The years of issue were from 1887-1889. They were essentially used like trade cards with business names, etc. printed on one side. They're pretty scarce and I've only seen a couple pop up on Ebay and usually NOT in the pre-1930 card category. There is a write-up on them in Lipset's encyclopedia and there is an article with pictures by Jerry Spillman covering them in issue #1 of OldCardboard magazine. JC has few nice examples on display on his website as well.

Regards,
Adam

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Posted By: AdamBaxter

I could be mistaken, But I'm pretty sure they're not listed in the 2004 SCD.

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Posted By: AdamBaxter

Lipset listed five different types: 3 different Chicagos (1887,1888,1889), 1 Detroit (1887), and 1 St.Louis (1887). Spillman's article lists 7 variations. Lipset stated Chicago was the most common and that St. Louis was the toughest.

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Posted By: jw

i thought about bidding, but the measurements didn't match up w/lipset's encyclopedia.

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Posted By: Joe_G.

Yes, Chicago is most common with examples issued in 1887, 1888, & 1889.

Detroit was issued notes in 1887 & 1888 with 1887 being much easier

As far as I know, St. Louis was only issued notes in 1887.

They are not listed in the Standard Catalog although I know several that collect them and perhaps would be a nice addition to the price guide (very affordable as far as 19th century material goes).

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Posted By: Bob Lemke

I've been working on a trial checklist of these great old advertising notes for a couple of years; listing them by team/year and by advertiser. I've clocked all examples which have appreared in major card auctions over the last 15 years. I plan to publish the trial list in SCD and in its sister publication Bank Note Reporter prior to adding to the Standard Catalog. Any listing in the SCBC would not reference specific advertisers, though it is obvious surviving examples range from fairly common to unique.