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 six receiving a higher grade than the VG 3 offered here of St. Louis third baseman Hobe Ferris.

Centering is slightly west and south on the canvas, with some minor diamond cutting which leaves the top left corner just a hair higher than the right. There is some edge wear and chipping that is so common with the set's gold borders, particularly in the rounded corners. There is some creasing in the bottom left corner, along with some surface abrasions and snow in the portrait area. Luckily, the original printing was done beautifully and what remains still has plenty of gorgeous contrast. The reverse is remarkably clean, especially compared with other Ramlys we have seen. There is barely any soiling of note, though some faint remnants exist near the top and 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.