1911 T212 Obak Cigarettes Complete Set (175) - The Finest We Have Ever Offered!

Sold For:

$60,000

Year:

1911

Auction:

2023 Summer

Lot #:

527

Category:

Prewar Baseball - T Tobacco Cards

Extraordinarily high-grade 175-card complete set of 1911 T212 Obaks, entirely graded and encapsulated by SGC. This is the finest set of these cards that we have ever seen or offered! Obaks are among the most popular of all early card issues featuring players from the Pacific Coast League. Though catalogued simply as T212, Obaks were actually issued over a period of three years, from 1909 to 1911, and are really three sets. The 1910 and 1911 Obak sets, in addition to featuring players from the six PCL teams, also feature players from the four-team Northwestern League. This 175-card 1911 set, highlighted by the rare Buck Weaver card and the extremely popular "Ten Million" card, is the last of the three annual T212 issues from Obak Cigarettes. The 1911 set cards are easily distinguished by the red printing on their backs. This remarkable complete set originally appeared as Lot 390 in REA's 2011 auction (realizing $23,500). At that time, it was consigned by the family of legendary collector Paul Pollard, one of the hobby's great pioneer collectors, who passed away in 2009 and had kept this set as one of the highlights of his personal collection for decades. The buyer at that sale felt that Paul's accomplishment should be recognized, so he purchased the complete set and had SGC pedigree each card on the label as originating from the Pollard Collection. He traded away a few cards from the set to collectors interested in owning a piece of Paul's legacy, always replacing the card with one of equal or better condition. The overwhelming majority of the set, however, has remained intact as Paul collected it and is presented here again for the enjoyment of the next collector interested in obtaining an incredible complete 1911 Obak set with a rich hobby history. SGC Grading Composite NM+ 86 (3 cards): Householder, Kane, and Shinn. NM 84 (11 cards): Burrell, Carson, Danzig, Fitzgerald, Hogan, Lewis, Moore, Nourse, Raymer, J. Ryan, and Tiedeman. EX/NM 80 (50 cards): Ables, Barry, Baum, Bennett, Bloomfield, Brashear, Browning, Buren, Castleton, Coleman, Crukshank, Delhi, Erickson, Gordon, Grindle, Higgins, Holm, James, Knight, Koestner, Kuhn, La Longe, Lamline, Leard, McCredie, McDonnell, Metzger, Netzel, O'Rourke, Ostdiek, Pearce, Powell, Raleigh, Raymond, Roche, Rockenfield, Ross, Seaton/Seattle, Shaw, Sheehan, Smith, Steen, Stewart, Stinson, Sutor, Tennant, Vitt, Wiggs, Zacher, and Zimmerman. EX+ 70 (17 cards): Abbott, Annis, Cartwright, Christian, Criger, Dillon, Hall, Hoffman, Miller/San Francisco, Nordyke, Pfyl, Schmidt, Speas, Spencer, Thomas, Warren, and Wolverton. EX 60 (65 cards): Adams, Bassey, Berry, R. Brashear, Brinker, Brown, Bues, Burns, Butler, Carlisle, Casey, Chadbourne, Cooney, Cutshaw, Davis, Delmas, Engel, Fullerton, Garrett, Goodman, Harris, Hasty, Hetling, Hiester, Howard, Hunt, Jensen, Kippert, Krueger, Lerchen, Madden, Maggert, Mahoney, McArdle, Melchoir, Mensor, Meikle, Mitze, Mohler, Moskiman, Mundorff, Murray, Patterson, Peckinpaugh, Pernoll, Rapps, Reddick, Ryan, Scharnweber, Shea, Sheehan/Vernon, Spiesman, Starkel, Stovall, Strand, Swain, Thompson, Thorsen, Thornton, Tozer, Ward, Weed, Willett, Zackert, and Zamlock. VG/EX+ 55 (4 cards): Frisk, Ten Million, Morse, and Weaver (Black Sox). VG/EX 50 (17 cards): Agnew, Arrelanes, Bernard, Brackenridge, Byram, Daley, Dashwood, Flater, Henderson, Hitt, Hosp, Miller/Oakland, Schmutz, Seaton, Skeels, Thomas/Sacramento, and Wares. VG 40 (8 cards): Akin, Bonner, Coy, Henley, Kading, Rodgers, Wheeler, and Williams. 1911 T212 Obak cards are rarely offered as a complete set and are highly prized by both minor-league collectors and tobacco-card collectors. Many of these cards are by far the highest-grade examples of these rare minor-league tobacco cards we have ever seen. Every card is bright and crisp with vibrant colors and flawless registration. Even the few lesser-graded examples present far better than suggested by their technically accurate assigned grades, with tiny, almost insignificant flaws responsible for the downgrade in almost all cases. Considerable expense has been invested in the professional grading of this complete set, but it did serve to confirm what we knew upon seeing it for the first time years ago: This is an incredibly impressive and overall high-grade complete set that would be, in our opinion, extremely difficult to assemble card by card with the same level of consistency and overall display value! Total: 175 cards. The size/weight of this item requires that there will be an additional shipping charge for this lot. Opening Bid $10,000.