The 1920s did not produce a plethora of widely collected baseball card sets. The early 20 th century “tobacco card” era was essentially over. Cards packed with bubble gum were still several years away. That’s part of the reason we’re excited about a recent consignment of cards from the E121 series produced by the American Caramel Company in 1920. These unnumbered cards portray players who bridge the gap between the two eras. Distributed with individual pieces of caramel made in Pennsylvania, these black and white cards are very popular with collectors. The cards we are offering come from the “Series of 80”, a set which actually consists of 121 separate cards because of the variety of poses used. A year later, another set of E121s was issued—similar to these—but containing 126 separate cards and labeled the “Series of 120”. The other reason we’re anxious to see how these play out is that the cards are of such high quality. The cards all range from PSA 4 to PSA 6 and many simply have no peer on PSA’s Population Report. For example, there is a PSA 6 graded card of Hall of Famer Sam Rice which has a population of 2 at that level with none higher. We have a PSA 4 of the legendary John McGraw, a PSA 5 of Black Sox manager Kid Gleason, still piloting the Pale Hose during the season in which these cards were distributed, a PSA 5 Eddie Collins (just two higher), a PSA 5 Heinie Groh (remember the bottle bat?), plus cards of Roger Peckinpaugh, Urban Faber and other 1920s luminaries. The cards are exceptionally clean—better, even, than their technical grade. Whether you’re an investor or collector, these are the types of cards that have tremendous appeal. If you don’t know much about this set, we encourage you to check them out. If you are a serious collector, you know how hard it is to find these cards in this condition. As always, however, we aren’t starting these anywhere near their actual value. Opening bids start at just $9.99!
