A RARE find of T215 Red Cross Baseball cards has been made by Just Collect. These tobacco cards were produced between 1910-13, and among the discovery are several Hall of Fame players!
Another rare find by Just Collect!
This time, the collection took us all the way out to Tennessee! The collection owner, Jeff, and his father were looking for help with their collection of tobacco cards. Searching on Google for someone who could help, Jeff stumbled across Just Collect. Liking what he saw, Jeff decided to reach out directly to us and began speaking with our Vice President, John. With his knowledge of T206 cards, John was eager to see what Jeff had in store and was floored when he found out that in the 30 tobacco cards Jeff had, 18 of them were Red Cross backs!
We jumped on the chance to see these cards and in Mid-November, the President, Leighton Sheldon, went out to TN to have a look at the cards. Jeff and his father had multiple full sets of Topps and Fleer cards from years past which was icing on the already decadent cake. Out in TN, a deal was reached and Leighton brought back these rare additions to the Just Collect inventory.
Red Cross Tobacco cards look similar to the more well-known 1909-11 T206 tobacco set.. On the front, you see a rendition of each player, a spectacular background, and a white border with the players' names at the bottom. However, when you flip the card over, you see a more distinct advertising for Red Cross Tobacco. The back design is also horizontal, while the T206 tobacco brands are vertical. In total, 100 cards were produced for T215 Red Cross Tobacco set. The cards were distributed between 1910 and 1913. The player and team combinations determine the date and type. Cards from 1910 to 1912 are Type 1 and cards from 1912 and 1913 are Type 2. Key indicators for the Type is the ink! Type 1 cards have brown ink for the player and team while Type 2 cards have blue ink.
Below are three photos. In the first photo, you can see the front and back of of the T215 cards together. In the second photo are Hall of Famers Zack Wheat, Roger Bresnahan, and Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown. The two middle cards, each of Roger Bresnahan, have the text color difference to determine which card is a Type 1 (left) and Type 2 (right).
Roger Bresnahan was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1945. Bresnahan is known for developing the first batting helmet! In 1907, Bresnahan spent ten days in the hospital after being hit by a pitch. In 1908, Bresnahan developed and wore a leather helmet, becoming the first player to ear protective gear other than a hat. A batting helmet did not become mandatory in MLB until 1971! When you see vintage cards like these, just imagine a time when not a single player wore a batting helmet. Forget the cost of a house only being 3,000 in 1910 or you heard baseball games on the radio because TV hadn't been invented yet - picture a player with a fastball cruising in from the likes of Cy Young and nobody wore a helmet until Roger Bresnahan helped out.
Zack Wheat became a Hall of Famer in 1959 behind a .317 career average and 2,884 hits. Three Finger Brown got his nickname after losing parts of two fingers in a farming accident. Brown's grip on the baseball made it break differently and he developed a legendary curveball. The HOF came calling for Brown in 1949.
The third photo below is the back of a Red Cross Tobacco card. Each card is still bright and bold over a Century later!
How RARE are these cards? PSA, one of the top graders in the Country, has only graded 60 cards - EVER - from the Type 1 release and only 79 from the Type 2 release. Ready for this? Jeff's dad has 18 T215 Red Cross Tobacco in the collection!
Photos of the T215 Red Cross Tobacco cards:
After John reviewed the images Jeff provided, he learned the collection was safely stored in New Orleans, where his dad grew up. John began the process of evaluating and apprising the collection immediately. Once completed, John sent Jeff a full evaluation and a potential offer to purchase the collection. Jeff travels a bit for work, and some time went by between the original e-mail and the offer. Once John and Jeff communicated, we felt it was best to travel out to Tennessee to meet Jeff and review the cards in-person!
Leighton Sheldon, the Just Collect owner, personally flew out to meet Jeff and review the collection. After the process, Jeff chose to sell the collection to Just Collect minus two cards; Jeff wanted to keep a pair of cards for his family as a memento of his dad's collection. We couldn't be more excited to hear that the legacy will pass down to the next generation!
After the purchase, Leighton paid Jeff how he wanted to be paid. When you choose to sell your collection to Just Collect, we can pay you in cash, company check, or wire transfer. Not only do we travel for high-end collections and rare cards, Just Collect has a store here in Summit, NJ. where you can bring your cards in for our
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Just Collect is always buying vintage sports and non-sports cards from 1879 to 2009 as well as select modern cards. If you have a collection that you are considering selling, contact us today to discuss or get our industry-leading purchase offer. If you have a collection that you want appraised, please contact us and we would be happy to discuss your collection and help you understand the real cash value of your collection in the current marketplace. Check out the Just Collect Buy List.
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We offer may ways to evaluate your cards other than or using our website, too.
If you can make the trip here like the son from my hometown did for this collection- we can make a deal at the office. We once met a father-son duo that drove eight hours from Virginia to meet us to sell a Michael Jordan rookie card stored in Tupperware since 1986 - great read here.
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If you have a valuable collection and want us to come to you, we'll hop on the next plane out.
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We've run into a wide range of people and collections over the last 25 years. Although Just Collect is known for buying vintage sports cards and especially vintage baseball cards, we are also extremely interested in buying non-sports cards, too!
Every collection and every collector is different and we treat EVERY collection with the respect and attention that we show for our own collections. We understand that many have put their heart and souls into building their collections. So when you're ready to sell, we understand the feelings that you're going through and will work with you to help you reach a decision that is a WIN/WIN, because if you're not happy, we're not happy.
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