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 14 total examples of this 1909 Ramly T204, with only nine receiving a higher grade than the VG 3 offered here of St. Louis catcher Jim Stephens.

Centering is just ever so slightly south on the canvas, but looks really nice overall. There is some very light edge wear and chipping that is so common with the set's gold borders, particularly in the corners and along the top edge, but the gold has remained darker, fuller, and bolder than many Ramlys we have seen, especially at this grade. Some light snow in the portrait area exists, but does not detract too much from Stephens' image, which was printed lighter to begin with. The reverse has some general toning near the top and bottom edges, with a darker spot of soiling about halfway up the right side. 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.