1919-1921 W514 Strip Card Collection of 70 Cards in Uncut Strips

Sold For:

$8,700

Year:

1919

Auction:

2005 Spring

Lot #:

252

Category:

Prewar Baseball - 1910s and 1920s Cards

Extraordinary high-grade collection of seventy cards presented in fourteen uncut strips of five cards each. Though not a complete set, in many ways this is the prize lot of W514 in this auction, and very likely in the entire hobby. Old-timers may recognize this as the Copeland collection group of these extremely attractive multicolor strip cards featuring actual likenesses. This very group appeared as lot 676 in the famous Copeland auction in 1991, where it sold at that time for $4,400. We've never seen another collection of W514 like it since. The fourteen five-card strips include cards #1 thru 50, 61 thru 90, and 111 thru 120. Keys include: #2 Babe Ruth , 3 Hap Flesch, 15 Joe Jackson , 17 Adolph Luque, 41 Clark Griffith, 43 Ty Cobb , 62 Nap Lajoie, 64 Harry Hooper, 65 G.C. Alexander, 69 Red Faber, 72 Christy Mathewson, 75 Frank Baker, 79 Sam Rice, 82 Eddie Cicotte, 85 Edd Roush, 112 Kid Gleason, 113 Casey Stengel, 120 Jesse Barnes. The strips are in overall Nr/Mt condition, with just a hint of wear to the corners of the end cards; however, most of the "center cards" of each strip, including Babe Ruth, are in Nr/Mt-Mt or Mint condition. Now that strip cards are professionally graded, these uncut strips now carry with them an even greater potential breakup value, as they now have the potential to be being cut up (as originally intended) and individually graded. We wouldn't have the heart to do it, but we could certainly understand the economic incentive to cut the strips, which would yield world-class high-grade examples, possibly card collecting's finest in many cases, of many W514s, including Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Joe Jackson. Fourteen five-card strips, for a total of seventy cards. Reserve $2,000. Estimate $4,000/$8,000. SOLD FOR $8,700.00