For the most part, collectors divide the baseball hobby into two distinct eras: prewar and postwar, with the "war" being World War II.  Perhaps this is the reason that many card issues produced during the war have traditionally been less heralded: is it a prewar card, or a postwar one?  Count us firmly in the "don't care" category with respect to the 1941 Playball set: regardless of its vintage, this extremely underrated set boasts a unique design, an outstanding player selection, and a tough-to-find high number series that makes the set difficult to complete in any condition.  The fact that the set is simply loaded with beautiful black and white photos of the era's greatest players, including 34 Hall of Famers, makes this one of the hobby's more interesting and unique issues.

Presented here is a complete, collector-grade set, with interesting provenance: this set was sold in the famous 1999 Barry Halper auction, and has remained in the possession of its buyer until being consigned to this auction.  The majority of the cards remain in their original binder with Halper Auction labels, though we have taken the liberty of sending six cards to SGC, which have graded as follows:  SGC EX 5 (1 card): #61/62 Gomez/Rizzuto; SGC VG/EX+ 4.5 (1 card): #59/60 Cronin/Foxx; SGC VG/EX 4 (2 cards): #23/24 Reese/Higbe; #85/86: Greenberg/Ruffing; SGC VG 3 (1 card): #81/82: Williams/Cronin; SGC GOOD+ 2.5: #57/58 Williams/Tabor.  A complete breakdown of the set would be as follows: 3% EX; 5% VG/EX; 12% VG; 32% GOOD; 39% FAIR, 9% POOR, with the primary condition flaws related to minor water staining at one corner of many of the cards, as well as corner wear from general handling.  Regardless, a massively underrated set with tremendous hobby provenance.  75 cards total.