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 11 total examples of this 1909 Ramly T204, with
only seven receiving a higher grade than the Good+ 2.5 offered here of Boston pitcher Vive Lindaman.
Centering
is west on the canvas. There
is some minor edge wear and chipping that is so common
with the set's gold
borders, particularly in the soft, rounded corners. There is some creasing in both the
top right and bottom right corners, as well. While there is some snow, minor paper loss from surface abrasions, and light soiling in the portrait area, most of the blemishes miss Lindaman entirely, and all of them miss his face, leaving the image strong enough to still admire. The
reverse
is generally a little darkened and has a few spots of soiling, most notably in the middle of the left edge, and in the bottom left corner. 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.