1896-97 Whitehead & Hoag "On Time Starch" Baseball Pinbacks (85 Different). ...

Click the image to load the highest resolution version.

Sold on Feb 25, 2017 for:

Sign-in or Join (free & quick)

Get one of these:

Share this lot

Track Item Printable Auction Results

Sell One of These

Description

Auction Info

Guides & Info

Description

The Omaha Find!

1896-97 Whitehead & Hoag "On Time Starch" Baseball Pinbacks (85 Different). NOTE: The original find contained 87 pins. This presentation is just for the 85 different players that were found in the collection.

It's a crucial collecting foothold in the blank expanse that exists between the last Old Judge releases in 1890 and the dawn of the E107 Breisch-Williams candy set of 1903-04, the sole baseball entry bridging that thirteen-year divide. Despite that lonely temporal seclusion, the lack of other suitors for baseball fans' collecting interest did not result in a sizable population of these pinbacks today as one might expect. This is unquestionably the largest and most impressive single offering ever to cross the hobby's auction block.

While these charming little relics are most often encountered with "Cameo Pepsin Gum" inserts on verso, this grouping bears the far more rare "On Time Starch" advertising backs. "Eighty-five" pins are here in total, representing the eight-five different subjects, and nearly eighty percent of the full graded PSA population of 104. Of the seventy-nine pins graded EX or better by PSA, seventy are contained within this offering. Overall condition is extraordinarily fine for the grouping, escaping the endemic threats of scratching or rusting nearly entirely. Only a single example is missing the paper backing.

Notable entries present here include Hall of Famers Jesse Burkett, Ed Delahanty, Buck Ewing, Clark Griffith, Hughie Jennings, "Wee Willie" Keeler, Connie Mack, Bid McPhee, Cy Young, Jake Beckley, boxer John L. Sullivan and important early stars Nig Cuppy and Louis Sockalexis.

The collection was passed down through a single family in Omaha, Nebraska, the town that gives the find its name. A full accounting of names and grades will be available within our online listing.

More Information:

Includes:
PSA NM-MT 8: 1 pin, Bill Yerrick (Uncatalogued);

PSA NM 7: 3 pins, Merritt, Louis Sockalexis and Cy Young;

PSA EX-MT 6: 11 pins, Bannon, Brooklyn B.B. Club, Buck Ewing, Buffalo B.B. Club, Ed Delehanty, Ehret (Uncatalogued), Hughie Jennings, Jesse Burkett, Meekin (Uncatalogued), Rhines and Toronto B.B. Club;

PSA EX 5: 54 pins, Jake Beckley (Uncatalogued), Bowerman, Boyle (Uncatalogued), Breitenstein, Briggs, Brown, Burk (Burke), Childs, Clark (Clarke), Corcoran, Cross, Nig Cuppy, Donovan, Dwyer, Ely, Fields, Goar/Pittsburgh, Gray, Gremniger (Gremminger), Griffith, Hart, Hill, Hughey, Willie Keeler, Killen, LaChance, Lange, Lewee (Uncatalogued), Lowe, Lyons, Connie Mack, McGarr, McKean, Bid McPhee, O'Brien, O'Connor, Orth (Uncatalogued), Phillips, Pittsburg B.B Club, Powell, Quinn, Ryan, Ryan, Schreiver (Schriver), Selee (Uncatalogued), H.T. Smith, Speer, Stein (Uncatalogued), Tebeau, Tenney, Terry, Thornton (Uncatalogued), Tucker and Vaughn;

PSA VG-EX 4: 13 pins, Clymer, Dolan, Gilboy (Uncatalogued), Harrington, Holliday, Irwin, McAleer, Miller, Peitz, Richie, Souders (Uncatalogued), Sugden and Sullivan (Uncatalogued);

PSA VG 3: 2 pins, Gleason (Uncatalogued) and Smith;

PSA Authentic: 1 pin, Hawley/Missing Insert.