What are you top 5 20th century boxing cards?

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by aljurgela

I think that your criteria is the right one... what would you rather own if you could not sell them. I would probably drop the Leaf, then (which I do not own and probably won't). The reason why I like the T226 is the photographic image, the green borders and the Red Sun back. It is just one of the most eye appealing cards that I own. I think that the Kopec and the Pet Johnsons are good choices as well.

What do you guys think of the Romeo y Julieta Johnson and Dempsey cards. Should they be considered?

I had a chance to buy a Graziano once but I don't really like the card itself, don't think much of Graziano (not an elite level fighter), and didn't want to spend the cheddar on it.

The R y J Johnson is not an attractive card, IMO:



Kind of a crappy picture in a not so pretty format. It is rare as hell and very valuable, but doesn't do it for me, which is why I sold mine when the chance presented itself. He has a lot of nicer looking cards.

The Dempseys (there are 2 different poses and at least three distinct cards known) are better looking than the Johnson but still not that great looking.



Someone has been trying to sell a Dempsey on eBay for a while. Price has been reduced from $4500 to $1800 as of this morning, so go get it!

As for T9s and T227, I thought long and hard about adding either to my list but came back again to the T218 as a favorite card. I think it just looks better. T218 has some other gems in it. I also really like Stan:



Here's another card I absolutely love from a design standpoint:

[aljurgela]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I had a chance to buy a Graziano once but I don't really like the card itself, don't think much of Graziano (not an elite level fighter), and didn't want to spend the cheddar on it.

The R y J Johnson is not an attractive card, IMO:



Kind of a crappy picture in a not so pretty format. It is rare as hell and very valuable, but doesn't do it for me, which is why I sold mine when the chance presented itself. He has a lot of nicer looking cards.

The Dempseys (there are 2 different poses and at least three distinct cards known) are better looking than the Johnson but still not that great looking.



Someone has been trying to sell a Dempsey on eBay for a while. Price has been reduced from $4500 to $1800 as of this morning, so go get it!

As for T9s and T227, I thought long and hard about adding either to my list but came back again to the T218 as a favorite card. I think it just looks better. T218 has some other gems in it. I also really like Stan:



Here's another card I absolutely love from a design standpoint:

I actually like the dempsey one... I have a couple of the Jack Johnson Romeo y Julieta cards... I think that the $1800 for the dempsey is too much....

[david_l]

I love pre-WWI cards and history. Here's some of my suggestions, most of which I already talked about..

Another gorgeous T218



T220 Peter Jackson




1902 Ogden's Jefferies and Fitzsimmons.



It's hard to go wrong with T225. Beautiful set

[Andy Baran]

I only own 1 20th Century Boxing Card, so I guess it's my favorite. It's the Romeo y Julieta John L. Sullivan vs. Jake Kilrain card. I love that it shows them as old men, rather than using an old photo from their fighting days. I still need to find the Sullivan/Corbett from this set.

As far as pure aesthetics go, I'd have to choose the Ogdens Boer War Bob Fitzsimmons and the Susini Jack Johnson. I don't own either, and have only ever seen 1 example of the Fitz.

[Exhibitman]

I was thinking of the Susini Johnson as an example of a much better looking Cuban card than the R y J.

The Ogdens is interesting; wouldn't mind having it as a type card. That company got around; there are some rare Aussie Ogdens cards too, like this Peter Jackson, which has only a few known examples:



ETA: so yeah, I bought it even with the corner missing.

One of the best parts of boxing cards is how far-flung they are. I have stuff from every continent except Antarctica, and if penguins could box there'd probably be cards of those too. That's one reason why it is so hard to assess rarity. How do you even begin when there are so many cards of 5 or fewer specimens from all over the world?

[david_l]

That Jackson card is so amazing. I constantly hope that one day I'll stumble across one. Probably not very likely. Definitely deserves to be in the top 5. I love that the card says "Champion pugilist of the world." Damn straight.

Agreed on your points about how far flung these cards are. Just another fun aspect of collecting pugilist cards that some of our card collecting brethren miss out on.

[david_l]

I was reading up on Bob Fitzsimmons recently. Really cool guy who was a sparring partner of Jackson's for a bit. He was quoted as saying something like future generations will look poorly upon fighters who draw a color line. Very astute thinking for the time.

I also loved that Fitzsimmons publicly refused to fight Peter Jackson. Not because he was black (like Sullivan claimed) but because he was a bad dude (and I mean that in the best of ways).

So much really cool history in the sport.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by david_l

That Jackson card is so amazing. I constantly hope that one day I'll stumble across one. Probably not very likely. Definitely deserves to be in the top 5. I love that the card says "Champion pugilist of the world." Damn straight.

Agreed on your points about how far flung these cards are. Just another fun aspect of collecting pugilist cards that some of our card collecting brethren miss out on.

Honestly, I did not realize it was that rare when I saw it for sale, I just knew the Aussie Ogdens was a type card I needed for my collection.

As long as we're talking crazy-ass rarities I have to give a shout out to Adam Hats: