1894 Alpha Photo-Engraving Sadie McMahon SGC GOOD 30 - Only Card of McMahon Known to Exist

Sold For:

$3,840

Year:

1894

Auction:

2023 Fall

Lot #:

148

Category:

Pre-1900 Baseball Cards (1830-1899)

Graded GOOD 30 by SGC. Offered is a type card of Sadie McMahon from one of the rarest nineteenth-century baseball-cards sets: the legendary 1894 Alpha Photo-Engraving. We believe this is the only example in existence of the only card of Baltimore pitcher Sadie McMahon ever issued. McMahon joined Baltimore in 1890 and played a total of seven seasons with the club between 1890 and 1896. His career happened to be during a time in which very few sets were issued. The Alpha Photo-Engraving set features players from the 1894 Baltimore Orioles, one of the greatest teams in the history of the game, with each player pictured in formal attire. Only fourteen cards from this extraordinary issue are known to exist. All fourteen known cards are different. Each of these cards, including the offered one of Sadie McMahon, is the only example known. Few sets from any era rival the 1894 Alpha Photo-Engraving set in terms of rarity, mystique, and significance. This set is one of the few issued during the 1890s, includes the earliest issued cards for many important players, and features one of the greatest teams in the history of the game. Alpha Photo-Engraving cards have long been recognized as almost impossible to obtain. All fourteen known cards were for many years owned by one very advanced collector who finally sold them in early 2006. This is an exceptional example. The card is bright and clean, both front and back, with an extremely strong Vg-Ex appearance. As is the case with all of the Alpha Photo-Engraving cards, the card has been downgraded by SGC solely due to an insignificant strip of tape and surface paper loss along the top border of the reverse, from long ago being taped to a window and later removed. This is an extraordinary example of one of card collecting’s rarest issues. Opening Bid $2,000.