1894 N142 Duke Cabinet Ed Delahanty SGC GOOD 30

Sold For:

$45,600

Year:

1894

Auction:

2023 Summer

Lot #:

95

Category:

Pre-1900 Baseball Cards (1830-1899)

The N142 Duke Cabinet is perhaps the most impressive card ever produced of Hall of Famer Ed Delahanty, one of the nineteenth century's greatest stars. It is rare to find any N142 in such extraordinary high grade, let alone Ed Delahanty. This is a beautiful card! There are only four baseball players in this set, which was issued in 1894 by Duke's Honest Tobacco. Each Duke cabinet measures 6 x 9 inches, making this set one of the largest and most impressive of all baseball-card issues. Since the earliest days of organized collecting, Duke cabinets have always been revered by collectors. Even in the 1930s, Jefferson Burdick assigned them a value of $5 each, making them the highest-priced baseball-card issue in the entire American Card Catalog. This was back when the T206 Wagner listed for $50. Graded GOOD 30 by SGC, the cabinet has bold colors along with a bright and crisp image of Delahanty. At first glance, this cabinet presents much stronger than its technically accurate assigned grade, which is due to very light wear at the corners and edges along with the initials “J.C.M.” (apparently of the original owner) neatly written at the top of the blank reverse. This is a very impressive looking card! There are very few cards of Delahanty, as his career spanned the years 1888 to 1903. Though he does appear in the N172 Old Judge series, the heart of his career was in the 1890s, a decade during which very few baseball card sets were issued. This is a very attractive example of what is arguably the most majestic and striking of all Ed Delahanty cards. Opening Bid $2,500.