Sports Memorabilia

1910 - 1911 T3 Turkey Red Baseball Cards

Appraisal: 1910 - 1911 T3 Turkey Red Baseball Cards

Transcript

GUEST: Well, my grandfather was born in 1900, had two brothers. I don't know when they got into the cards. I'm not sure what years they are. I assume they're somewhere 1910, '11, or '12. At that time, they were only about eight to ten years old. So obviously, you can't go buy a cigarette, I would assume. (chuckles) And so the whole family got involved in this, and most of the family smoked and, and dipped. They started collecting these cards for the boys. At Christmas, what would you give somebody that has everything? You gave him a couple cartons of cigarettes. On his birthday, you gave him cigarettes. Father's Days, you gave him cigarettes. He was like a carton-a-day smoker when, when he got into his, his older years. My dad passed away about eight years ago, and these are kept in a safety deposit box at the bank. Not until that time did I ever see these cards. I just heard stories about them.

APPRAISER: These are called T3 in the catalog of cards. They're called Turkey Red cards, and Turkey Red was the cigarette maker. These were

issued in 1910, 1911. These cards are all five and three quarters wide by eight inches tall. And that's why we showed this card right here of an actress, because that's the typical size of a tobacco card. Not these. This set is considered to be the biggest, the boldest, the best, the most beautiful cigarette card set for sports. Ten coupons you had to send in...

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: ...from Turkey Red cigarette packs.

GUEST: I've got like 77 cards.

APPRAISER: North Carolina is known, and in this area, Raleigh-Durham is known as Tobacco Road.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: The Civil War is when really the tobacco industry started North Carolina,

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: with both Northern and Southern soldiers wanting tobacco. Out of that, tobacco factories started springing up. Enter a very famous local name that might be familiar to you, James Duke. James Duke furthered his father's tobacco business. In the 1880s, he actually licensed a cigarette rolling machine, and within just a decade, he had built a monopoly to rival Standard Oil, American Tobacco Company.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: In 1911, the Supreme Court struck down monopolies, and American Tobacco had to bust up. But you can't cry for James Duke, because in 1924, he endowed Trinity College with $40 million,

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: as well as a number of other universities. And to thank him for this, Trinity renamed itself as Duke University. And it's as we know it today. And these cards were among the last that were created while American Tobacco was still a monopoly.

GUEST: Oh, wow. Wow.

APPRAISER: So...

GUEST: 'Cause I think the first ones are American Tobacco, right? Well, they... And the Turkey Reds are in the back. Or are they both the same?

APPRAISER: Turkey Red is part of American Tobacco.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: So you could send in ten coupons. Now, you could pick who you wanted. You had three choices.

GUEST: Oh, wow.

APPRAISER: It's been said that they produce probably more of the Hall of Fame cards because there are 25 Hall of Famers in here. This set has 100 players. Now, you have 77 cards. And we picked out what we thought were the six greatest Hall of Famers. We have Cy Young, leader all-time in pitching, 511 wins. We have Sam Crawford, great outfielder, on Detroit. We have Tris Speaker, Boston Americans, who are also known as the Boston Red Sox, won world championships with them in 1912 and 1915. We have Nap Lajoie, one of the greatest second basemen of all time. And the Cleveland team actually named themselves the Naps after him. Christy Mathewson, 373 wins, third most ever. And then, of course, the great Ty Cobb of Detroit. Let's look at Cy Young. Now this card would probably grade out to a one because of the mouse bites here and the pinholes.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: I'd put a value on that at about $1,000.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: The Sam Crawford is much nicer. I'm not a professional grader, but that's going to grade out at maybe a three or a four. That's going to be in the $2,000, $2,500 range. Tris Speaker has some age spots here and probably'd grade out somewhere around a three, and that's going to be somewhere around $3,000 to $4,000. Nap Lajoie, a three or four. Again, somewhere in the vicinity of around $3,000. Christy Mathewson is just very vibrant. Probably going to grade out a four or five. Now this could easily be $5,000 to $10,000. Ty Cobb is by far the best card in the entire set.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: It's the most sought after, the most desired, because he's considered to be the greatest player of that era. Still has the highest batting

average to this day-- .366, the Georgia Peach. In this condition, I think that's going to grade out somewhere between, again, a three and a four. A minimum of $25,000 to $35,000 for the Ty Cobb.

GUEST: That's amazing. Amazing.

APPRAISER: Now, you have a partial set, you don't have a complete set.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: Complete sets are very, very rare. I'd place an auction estimate of $75,000 to $100,000.

GUEST: Wow. Yeah. That's awesome.

APPRAISER: I would insure it for at least $150,000.

GUEST: Okay. That's awesome.