Near set, 24 of 25, all graded by SGC and designated by them as being from the "Richard Merkin Collection" and comes with Hake's COA. Each card is 2.25x4" and features choice art on front of boxing scene along with boxers names and designation of move, punch, etc. Backs have text relating to that specific fight including date and location, purse, weight of each boxer, number of rounds and outcome of the fight. Each back also has same advertising text of "Presented With Compliments Of P. Lorillard Company To Consumers Of Their Celebrated Red Cross Long Cut Tobacco." A spectacular array of early pugilists are featured including Corbett/Sullivan on the same card, black boxers include George Godfrey, George Dixon and Peter Jackson. SGC grades and number of cards in that grade are as follows: 50 VG/EX 4 (5 cards) Carney/Mitchell, Murphy/Weir, Kilrain/Smith, Mitchell/La Blanche and Hall/Pritchard, 40 VG 3 (5 cards) Godfrey/Lannon, Fitzsimmons/Dempsey, Ryan/McAuliffe, McAuliffe/Myers and Edwards/Collyer, 30 Good 2 (8 cards) Frazer/Daly, Dixon/Johnson, Choyinski/Goddard, Donovan/McCaffrey, Mitchell/Burke, Griffin/Lynch, Dawson/Needham and Smith/Van Heest, 20 Fair 1.5 (3 cards) Corbett/Sullivan, McCoy/Reagan and De Baum/Campbell, 10 Poor 1 (3 cards) Burns/McCarthy, Jackson/Slavin and Chambers/Clark. An exceptional series, as nice as any boxing cards ever produced. Rare and desirable, a near set like this is a truly extraordinary offering.