One of the last of the caramel card issues, the E126 set distributed by the American Caramel Company is a lesser-known issue, a 60-card set of black and white photographs.  The card reverse includes an offer for an album to house the set, the player name, position, team and card number printed in the bottom border of the obverse.  Cards from the set are relatively scarce, and complete sets or large lots are found extremely infrequently.  

Presented here is a near-complete set of 52 cards, missing just the seven key Hall of Famers (Alexander, Cobb, Johnson, Rice, Ruth, Sisler and Speaker) for completion.  Six of the aforementioned cards will be offered in our Fall auction, and the Ruth can be found within these pages.  As is the case with most cards of this era, the set is a collector grade grouping, with surface wear, creasing, and a few hole punches the primary condition flaw.  In the case of the E126 issue the condition is no surprise, as the cards were printed on extremely thin stock with a light gloss surface that is subject to chipping and creasing.  Indeed, a condition breakdown of these cards would be 5% VG/EX, 20% VG, 31% GOOD, 22% FAIR and 22% POOR.  The Hall of Famers would grade as follows: #6 Faber (F), #8 Schalk (P), #10 Southworth (P), #16 Collins (G), #32 Carey (VG), #52 Bancroft (G), and #60 Kelly (P).  Despite the condition, many of the cards remain quite attractive, the image quality and contrast among the strongest of the various caramel issues.  A strong, near-complete set of a more obscure caramel issue.  52 cards total.