Lot # 247: Rare 1887 N172 Old Judge Cigarettes Ed Greer - MINI - PSA AUTH

Category: 19th Century

Starting Bid: $1,000.00

Bids: 3 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Spring, 2023 Premier Auction",
which ran from 4/9/2023 12:00 PM to
4/29/2023 9:00 PM



Extremely rare "mini" card picturing Ed Greer, pose #199-3 of the four different poses of the Brooklyn catcher found in the N172 set.  Taken by noted photographer Joseph Hall, all the Old Judge photos of Brooklyn players were taken outdoors.  Unlike with studio images, Hall positioned his camera further away from the player, resulting in a larger image area and smaller player.  To compensate for the difference, the images were cropped more tightly, resulting in the player image taking up a greater percentage of what was, essentially, a smaller than typical photo.  When producing an entire uncut sheet of Brooklyn players, the difference was unnoticeable, each card appearing as a "normal" Old Judge card.  But when a Brooklyn player occupied space on a mixed sheet of players, the image was smaller than the others surrounding it, resulting in these "mini" cards, which are standard-sized cards with smaller images and wider borders.  Since both single-team sheets and mixed-team sheets were produced, some Brooklyn cards are found with both standard-sized images and "mini" ones.  The "mini" cards are considerably more rare and desirable than their corresponding standard-sized cards.  

This example has been freshly-graded "AUTHENTIC" by PSA, though the technical grade of the card is far less important than its extreme rarity.  In this case, the image quality is strong and detailed, the wide borders clean and some soiling evident on the reverse.  A very rare variation, highly coveted among advanced collectors.

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