T204 Ramly Cigarettes cards of 1909 feature a beautiful black-and-white
portrait of each player encircled in an ornate border with
the player's name, position, and team affiliation printed at the bottom.
The cards, which are embossed and highlighted with gold ink, are extremely condition-sensitive because they are
printed on flimsy paper. The gold borders are also very
susceptible to chipping, as is the case with most gold-bordered cards.
Between the outstanding player selection and the overall beauty of the
issue, higher-grade examples from the set are extremely pricey, making
affordable specimens tough to find.
PSA has only ever graded 24 total examples of this 1909 Ramly T204, with
only eleven receiving a higher grade than the VG 3 offered here of St. Louis catcher Lou Criger.
Centering
is just a hair south on the canvas, but looks really nice overall. There
is some edge wear and chipping that is so common
with the set's gold
borders, particularly in the corners. The
bottom right corner shows some creasing, and a little snow appears on
the portrait, but not enough to detract from its beauty. The reverse
is a little dark, showing some faint soiling near the top center, middle right and bottom left. Soiling is not unusual for these
cards,
where the
embossing can act like a dust magnet.
Attractive Ramlys are among the
most beautiful cards in the hobby, but
the eye appeal of the issue can sometimes suffer in the lower grades.
The scarcity of this issue far outweighs any perceived cosmetic flaws on
this example.