1926 Spalding Champions Babe Ruth (Rare Ad Back) PSA MINT 9 - 1 of 1 - Highest Graded!

Sold For:

$23,400

Year:

1926

Auction:

2025 Spring

Lot #:

752

Category:

Prewar Baseball Cards (1900-1941)

Graded MINT 9 by PSA. Outstanding ultra-high-grade example of the key card from this 1920s set issued by the Spalding Sporting Goods Company. Of special note is the rare style reverse on this example. The 1926 Spalding cards are known with text-style reverses (that feature a short biography of the player) and are also known with a completely different back that features advertising for "Sports Co. of America" and provides instructions on how to obtain an album to house the cards by mail (as seen here). The advertising-on-reverse cards are considerably rarer than the text-style cards. In fact, this is just the third "Ad" back 1926 Spalding Ruth we have offered in the past 21 years. The PSA Population Report certainly confirms the greater rarity of the 1926 Spalding Ruth "Ad" back variety versus the Ruth text-back style: Of the eighty-three examples graded in the history of PSA, seventy feature text reverses. Only thirteen feature the advertising reverse. Of these thirteen, the offered card is the only PSA MINT 9 to be graded (the other "Ad" back examples listed in the Population Report grade as follows: one Authentic, one VG 3, two VG-EX 4, two EX 5, one EX-MT 6, one NM 7, and four NM-MT 8). The Spalding Champions set is beautifully and elegantly designed. They are also rarer than most collectors realize. There have only been two major finds of pristine examples of these cards over the years. Aside from these two finds, only a random smattering of cards in various conditions have survived here and there, usually not in high grade. As the years have gone by, the "high-grade find" Ruths have disappeared into collections. It's not hard to see why: This is the best Babe Ruth card from a standard set from the 1920s, a decade that was Ruth's peak as a player but with very few quality card issues. Bright and crisp with four sharp corners and outstanding contrast. The rare ad-back is boldly printed and clean. This card originates from the REA "Spalding Card Find" of 1996.