Baseball cards are unique in that they essentially tell the story of the professional game from its humble beginnings to today’s multi-billion dollar enterprise. Among our current auctions are some cards from one of the most rare 19th century issues, including one that features a true giant of the game. We’re offering five different cards from the 1895 N300 Mayo’s Cut Plug set including the highest graded example of the legendary Wilbert Robinson, a PSA 3. It should be of intense interest to serious collectors of pre-War cards and those putting together collections of Hall of Famers. The Mayo’s cards are extremely difficult to in any condition—let alone respectability because of the low quality paper that was used to print them and the nature of how they were distributed. The blank backed cards were inserted into large tins full of plug tobacco or cloth bags as P.H. Mayo and Brother of Richmond, VA looked to bolster sales of their product. Over the past 117 years, time has taken its toll on these rare, important pieces of cardboard history. Only about 400 Mayo’s have survived and just five in PSA’s Population Report grade above the ‘6’ or EX-MT level. PSA has only graded eight Robinson cards in its history. Robinson was a Hall of Famer who caught for 17 seasons, mostly for the legendary Baltimore Orioles and later became a terrific manager for Brooklyn. He’s pictured in his street clothes on this card, which is one of 48 cards in a set that includes Cap Anson, Ed Delahanty and other luminaries of the day. Among our other five listings of N300 cards are cards of Yale Murphy (a PSA 5.5—none higher), Germany Smith-- and Ed Cartwright who is known for once driving in seven runs in one inning, a record that stood for more than a century. Even if you feel the set of Mayo’s is out of your reach, we think these cards offer the chance to add a card to your collection that’s exceptionally rare and oozes baseball history.
