1914 B18 Baseball Blankets Near (Possibly Complete) Set (181) Plus Two Brown Infield Variations....

Description

1914 B18 Baseball Blankets Near (Possibly Complete) Set (181) Plus Two Brown Infield Variations. NOTE: Being offered elsewhere in this auction are five of the extremely rare "Red Infield" variations. See lot #'s 50450, 50451, 50452, 50453 and 50454. Due to their intense rarity, the red infield variants are not considered by most to be part of a complete set.

This presentation could possibly be a compete set. B18 Baseball Blankets are incredibly fun and satisfying to collect. They are a colorful break-out from the rectangle shaped world of cards and thanks to a line-up that includes the eras finest and the wonderful color schemes they truly add a significant level of desirability and talk-ability to one's collection. The checklist is complete at 90 different players with each player appearing with two different infield, pennant and base path variations one has 201 (catalogued) individual blankets to pursue. Like so many other promotions from this era, anything approaching a complete set is rarely made available at auction. The 5-1/4" felt squares were meant to be stitched together to form a pillow or blankets and naturally this use all but ruined them for future generations. Finding high grade examples are a treat and this presentation has an over abundance of high-quality examples making it one of the nicer assemblies presented at auction.

Stars & Hall of Famers include Max Carey, Frank Chance, Ty Cobb, Chic Gandil, Walter Johnson, Joe Jackson, Miller Huggins, Rabbit Maranville, Casey Stengel, Bobby Wallace, Zach Wheat. And remember, there are two of each. Third party grading services will not give B18's numeric grades. Overall, in our opinion, this is a mainly EX to NM assembly with about 15% that we fell would be considered lesser. One has corners clipped. Hand-cut borders will vary in thickness, only a few show a border totally missing. These will have surface wear, soiling, color bleeding, etc.. A handful show evidence of being sewn to another felt. Colors are impressive. See our web site for grades and additional notes about this collection.


More Information: Grades: Max Carey/Purple (EX/MT), Max Carey/Red (VG/EX), Frank Chance/Green (EX/MT), Frank Chance/Blue-Brown (VG/EX), Ty Cobb/White (EX), Ty Cobb/Brown (EX), Chick Gandil/Green (EX/MT), Chick Gandil/Red (VG/EX), Miller Huggins/Purple (EX/MT, color bleed), Miller Huggins/Yellow (EX), Joe Jackson/Purple (stitching holes), Joe Jackson/Yellow (stitching holes), Walter Johnson/Green (EX-), Walter Johnson/Red (VG), Rabbit Maranville/White (EX/MT), Rabbit Maranville/Brown (EX/MT), Casey Stengel/Blue (EX), Casey Stengel/Green (NM-), Bobby Wallace/Red (EX+), Bobby Wallace/Purple (VG/EX), Zach Wheat/Green (EX) and Zach Wheat/Blue (EX/MT).

Brown Infield Variations: There are two blankets each for Purdue and Whaling. One has an infield with a middle tone Brown where player names are legible. Other colors are consistent so these are not instances of color fade. The other version has a very dark Brown infield where player names are very hard to read. (See online image).

Missing: Chance/Yellow Pennants-Blue Infield, Griffith/White Infield-Red Pennants, O'Neill/Red Pennants. In every other instances where a third variation of a player exists it is one of the extremely rare "Red Infield" variants. We have not been able to confirm these three variations even exist which is why the title states this is possibly a complete set.