Auction Item Details
Lot 562
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Lot Number: 562
Description: 1887 N690-1 Kalamazoo Bats Large Cabinet featuring Philadelphia Athletic B.B.C. The Kalamazoo Bats tobacco cards produced by Philadelphia's Chas. Gross & Company are among the scarcest and most revered 19th century tobacco cards ever produced. Of the number of different card sets produced by the company, the large, black mounted team cabinet cards of 1887 are by far the rarest breed in the Kalamazoo Bats stable. In fact, the offered N690-1 cabinet is believed to be only the second surviving example discovered featuring the Athletics team. Only through discoveries made within the last decade has a checklist of known examples of the larger N690-1 cabinets begun to approach that of its smaller N693 Kalamazoo Bat team counterparts (6) with a scant selection of other exemplars found representing Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburg and Detroit. Relative to the smaller N693's, only Baltimore remains unaccounted for in the larger N690-1 cabinet series. This newly discovered 4 1/4"x6 1/2" Athletics cabinet features gold-printed lettering at one end that reads "Smoke Kalamazoo Bats". It features a spectacular photograph of 13 team members, including Hall of Famer Wilbert Robinson and Harry Stovey, a major star of the day and Hall of Fame candidate. The clear, detailed photograph shows no significant condition faults save for the slight encroachment of a chip missing from the bottom border. The mount shows moderate wear to the naturally round corners and three edges have a 2" section of more severe wear on the bottom border including the aforementioned chip. The blank back bears minor specks of age toning. This is an exceedingly scarce 19th century baseball cabinet of the highest caliber, recently culled directly from the personal collection of prominent 19th century baseball figure Charles Mason. Includes LOA from the family of Charles Mason: SGC 10 PR.Estimated Price Range: ($15,000-$20,000)
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