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.
SGC has only ever graded 16 total examples of this 1909 Ramly T204, with
only ONE receiving a higher grade than the EX 5 offered here of Boston catcher George Frederick "Peaches" Graham.
Centering
is just ever so slightly north on the canvas, but is very nice on this one. There
is some edge wear and chipping that is so common
with the set's gold
borders, particularly in the corners. While there is some paper loss at the top of the front, the card's technical grade can be explained by a printing error which has left errant gold streaks at various points on the card's front, mainly within the portrait area. The reverse
is remarkably clean, with little to no soiling, especially compared to many of the other Ramlys we have seen. 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.