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 27 total examples of this 1909 Ramly T204 of St. Louis catcher, Hall of Famer, Roger Bresnahan.
Centering
is just a hair west and south on the canvas. There
is some edge wear and chipping that is so common
with the set's gold
borders, particularly in the corners. There are some surface abrasions within the portrait, including one over Bresnahan's left eye, and one directly on his right, but the printing of the image
itself is beautiful with great contrast. The
reverse is gorgeously clean with almost no soiling
apparent, which is very 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. Despite any cosmetic flaws on the card's front, this is still a wonderful issue of the Hall of Famer, and is highly sought after.