19th century " Holy Grail "

[barrysloate]

Richard- I just sent you two more emails and they both came back undeliverable. Do you know what the problem is?

[bh3443]

Looking at the criteria similar to the Wagner, I'd have to say the old judge Anson in Uniform. A few reasons are that Anson's a big HOFer, scarcity of the card, and that it is from the largest BB card set from that era.
Just my opinion!

[oldjudge]

Anson in Uniform. The T206 Wagner is what it is because it is part of the most widely collected vintage card set. The Old Judge set is the most widely collected 19th century set and the Anson in Uniform is the crown jewel of that set.

[Fred]

Joe G made a great point -

The cards identified (N172 Anson in uniform, T206 Wagner, '52 Mantle) are all rare in ~ equal proportions w.r.t. their contemporaries


Barry's correct about the attainability of the N172 Anson in uniform -you probably wont get one unless you know someone that has one and that person that owns it is willing to "get rid of IT". But when you look at the other cards that are being offered up as the holy grail there are fewer of those cards "known to exist" (probably not available) than the OJ Anson in uniform.

[GrayGhost]

Can someone post a picture of this beautiful rarity? Thank you.

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by GrayGhost

Can someone post a picture of this beautiful rarity? Thank you.

Here you go.

[GrayGhost]

Thanks sir.

[Baseball Rarities]

Another vote for the N172 Anson in Uniform.

While one is not likely to come up for sale anytime soon, there have been two examples auctioned off publicly in the last 20 years - one in the Sotheby's Copeland sale and another by Lew Lipset.

[bcbgcbrcb]

Does anyone know why the Anson card is so scarce?

[barrysloate]

Nobody knows why it is so scarce, and it seems like a bit of an anomaly given how popular Anson was. And why doesn't he have even one batting pose? Look how many Mike Kelly has. There is a mystery about Anson's appearance in the set for sure.

[oldjudge]

Many of the rarities in the Old Judge set are from the 1888 Fb issue (as are the Anson in Uniform and the Harry Wright third pose).

[barrysloate]

Jay- don't you find it odd that Kelly, Ward, Clarkson, Ewing et al. had so many poses, while Anson had only two, one which likely was impossible to find even at the time of issue?

[autograf]

I'd have to agree with Anson in Uniform for the toughest. My OWN personal holy grail of 19th century would be a (or THE) Pete Browning OJ Cabinet.

[GaryPassamonte]

Doesn't it seem that Anson has relatively fewer different images from his playing days than do others in his class. A non portrait pose of Anson in uniform is a rarity. Right now I'm having a hard time thinking of one on a baseball card.

[barrysloate]

There's a line drawing of Anson in the Yum Yum set, with a likely counterpart in G & B, that is an action pose...and the one portrait in that set is a mislabeled image of Ned Williamson!