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 nine receiving a higher grade than the VG 3 offered here of Cincinnati catcher Larry McLean.

Centering is really nice on this one. There is some minor edge wear and chipping that is so common with the set's gold borders, most noticeable in the corners. The very tip of the top right corner has been sliced off, and the bottom left corner does show some creasing. Some snow and a couple minor surface abrasions exist within the portrait area, with one light scratch stretching from McLean's right ear to his right eyebrow, but the vast majority of his face is clean and bright. The reverse is very clean, for the most part, with only two noteworthy spots of soiling near the center. 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.