1910-1912 SWEET CAPORAL CIGARETTES HIGH GRADE COMPLETE SET OF 204 BUTTONS W/MANY HOF PLAYERS.
Item Description
7/8" complete set of 204 sepia-colored buttons issued by the American Tobacco Co. 153 of the smaller letters design and 51 of the large letters. All but six have their Sweet Caporal Cigarettes back papers, which come in various colors. Designated "P2" in the American Card Catalog by J. R. Burdick, these tobacco insert buttons include almost all the major stars of the era, w/this series being closely related to the T205 Gold Borders tobacco cards of the same era w/the majority of players sharing the same images on both the buttons and cards. After some sixty "commons" anyone collecting these soon realizes the rarity of many players, advanced collectors have indicated that a total of 19, including six of the large letter variety, are more scarce than the others. Some examples of Hall of Fame players appearing on both small and large letter buttons are: Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Tris Speaker, Chief Bender, Roger Bresnahan, Mordecai "Three Fingers" Brown, Frank Chance, Fred Clarke, Eddie Collins, Hugh Duffy, Clark Griffith, Miller Huggins, Hugh Jennings, John McGraw, Joe Tinker, Bobby Wallace and Zach Wheat. HOFers who have only one letter size variety are: Frank "Home Run" Baker, Johnny Evers, Harry Hooper, Nap Lajoie, Rube Marquard, Ed Walsh, and Cy Young. The 16 teams w/number of buttons per team are: Boston Red Sox 10, Boston Rustlers 5, Brooklyn Superbas 13, Chicago Cubs 19, Chicago White Sox 11, Cincinnati Reds 15, Cleveland Naps 8, Detroit Tigers 14, New York Giants 22, New York Yankees 11, Phila. Athletics 14, Phila. Phillies 13, Pittsburgh Pirates 16, St. Louis Browns 10, St. Louis Cardinals 12, Washington Senators 11. All buttons shown online. Lt. scattered traces of wear and age overall w/most surface wear, if any, only seen upon close inspection/in reflected light. An exceptional set in overall VF to Exc. condition. The only other set we have offered in our 56 years was from the Muchinsky Collection and that realized $12,850 in our Feb. 2021 auction. An overall outstanding set for one of the all-time great baseball pin-back button issues.
