Pre-War Card Collector

It's been a while but I finally got some time to write about a recent card pickup. prewarcollector.com/2026/04/25/a...

My conversation with SABR's 20205 Burdick Award winner Anson Whaley of @prewarcards.bsky.social covered a range of his experiences and motivations, plus some great cards out of that collection. #CardSky www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDGG...

A play in three acts.

First cool pickup of 2026 are these three 1930s Seal Craft Disc sheets that are complete with the cards not having been separated. I'd only seen one such sheet before in an REA auction. These were to be tied together with string to make crafts. Also have the original envelopes. #Cardsky

Let's talk about Walter Hagen's rookie card. prewarcollector.com/2026/01/05/w...

My latest article on the site takes a look at a handful of 1930s cards picturing Shirley Temple as a ... football player?

To kick off its 2025 Allen & Ginter launch, Topps interviewed some collectors about their A&G collections. Really cool that they wrote an article on my original Allen & Ginter 1888 and 1889 (N28/N29) 'Champions' set builds. You'll find it here: ripped.topps.com/collector-st...

I'm often asked how so many trade cards from pre-1900 can exist. This one offering medicine explicitly says on the back that more than FIVE MILLION of their cards alone were printed. Millions of cards have been discarded but that helps explain how so many have survived. #Cardsky

I recently posted the rare card of Harley Davidson that I acquired but what is it? Here's a rundown. prewarcollector.com/2025/12/01/h...

Is it John or is it Arthur? My latest article is a rundown of the confusing 1895 Mayo baseball card that was either intended to feature a Hall of Famer or a journeyman. prewarcollector.com/2025/11/30/j...

If you had told me at the start of the year that one of my bigger card purchases would be a roller skater, I would have thought you were insane. Yet, here we are. #Cardsky

I've wanted the famous 1966 Topps Batman No. 1 card for some time now. I just wasn't enamored with one enough to buy it. That changed when I found this hand-cut, blank back scrap rarity. I've seen a few proof/scraps for other cards in the set before, but never on the key No. 1. #Cardsky

One of the great pre-war mysteries are these handcrafted cards using silhouettes of seemingly either E94 Close Candy or M131 Baltimore News cards. I've seen 2-3 of these and have heard of a collector with several more. Backs signed by someone named Richard Montague. Here's my Red Murray. #Cardsky

Just some peas in a pod on this early baseball trade card that is likely from the 19th century. This one is designated as No. 222 by Frank Keetz and features miniature men (brownies) playing a game of baseball using peas as the baseballs. #Cardsky

1920s baseball and non-sports strip cards are common. But to date, the only hockey strip card I've ever seen is the one in the W542 multi-sport strip card series. Anyone know of any others? #Cardsky

A card you don't see everyday -- 1921 D48 Invisible Color Pictures issued by bakeries. When you add water, they filled in with color. This one avoided that fate. This is the baseball card in a mostly non-sports set. I believe mine is the only graded example by either SGC or PSA. #Cardsky

I was having a hard time finding the title of the N85 Duke Stamps card on the left. That's because it wasn't there. While normal variations of this card title it, "First Letter Carrier," this one has a print error and is missing the title. First one I've seen missing from this set. #Cardsky

About time I get another new article up on the website - #Cardsky prewarcollector.com/2025/11/10/b...

I already had the Pratt's Astral Oil version of the 1883 Root & Tinker trade card of the Statue of Liberty. In today's mail was the New Singer variant, advertising sewing machines. These are often cited as the first cards of the famous landmark. #Cardsky

Alright, fine -- #Cardsky

Another interesting post-war pickup is this 1953 Fher Sport Magico card of the Harlem Globetrotters. Tough set designed to be viewed with 3D glasses. More importantly, it is recognized as the first card of the famous basketball team. This is the only graded SGC example. #Cardsky

T205, T206, and T207 -- Baseball card masterpieces. #Cardsky

This is one of those sets that I built but didn't really focus on. I picked up these 1905 Ullman College Sports postcards on occasion and today, secured the Chicago card, the last one needed. That's 8/8 on this unique set that includes seven football and only one baseball card. #Cardsky

What's your T206 preference -- portrait shots or action shots? #Cardsky

Honus Wagner's E90-1 American Caramel throwing card is rarer but that batting pose >>> #Cardsky

lol, that's hilarious

One of the rarer pickups from this year that was in yesterday's mail -- this 19th century salesman's sample cabinet card showing a variety of cards that were available. The most interesting one? This crossed bats image representing baseball. I've got to find the origins of it. #Cardsky

One of the real tough cards in the E90-1 American Caramel set is the shortprinted card of catcher Peaches Graham. This one in this yesterday's mail is a nice upgrade for the laminated version I had. #Cardsky

Been a while but I added a new 1895 Mayo N300 baseball card today - Dave Foutz. Foutz was both a pitcher and position player. In 1886, he led the league in wins (41) and ERA (2.11). Foutz won an incredible 99 games from 1885-87. This is 20/48 on the complete set for me. #Cardsky

About 99% of the stuff I buy is pre-war. But every now and then, I let myself indulge in something modern. To date, there are only 129 PSA 10s of Ichiro's first baseball card -- the 1993 BBM. One of those is now in my collection. #Cardsky

In today's mail -- this high-grade 1925 Turf/Boguslavsky card featuring Baseball Hall of Famer George Sisler. About 300 of these have been graded by PSA in all with only 18 grading higher. Many raw examples. A very tough card to find in a 7 or higher. #Cardsky

My latest article on the blog is for the 1883 Root and Tinker Statue of Liberty card, which some believe is the first trading card of the famous landmark. #Cardsky prewarcollector.com/2025/10/21/1...

While the T206 set has six horizontal cards, there's only one in the 1912 T207 set that followed -- that of Philadelphia Athletics star and World War I veteran Jack Barry. #Cardsky

Like some other tougher sets, my progress has slowed right around the 1/3 mark on the 1895 Mayo Baseball set. I've been building it since last October and have been stuck at 16/48 cards for a little while now. Still, not bad progress for a year. #Cardsky

I've been 99% complete with the 1910 Helmar Seals set (T110) feat. the seals of U.S. states, Native American tribes, & countries for a while. I finally completed it today with the card for the Choctaw Nation. I started this set about three years ago. That's 150/150 on this one. #Cardsky

After picking up the card advertising a silhouette artist earlier this year, I was able to get this one on the left in this weekend's mail. The black creating the figures is not ink printed on the card. It's actually a black cutout that's affixed to the card. Quite hard to find. #Cardsky

Minus my graded cards, here are the 928 cards that comprise the 520-card T206 set and the basic/non-error 208-card T205 and 200-card T207 sets. Out of the binder for scanning and photo ops today. #Cardsky

I'm not sure that I'm actually collecting P.T. Barnum stuff, but I look out for his cards when I can. Here are some early cards and an original ticket from 1887 for a Madison Square Garden show. #cardsky

Took me a while but I finally found a suitable upgrade for the Chief Bender card in my T207 set. #Cardsky

These 1885 Lichten Bros. trade cards featured child boxers. While most variants of these cards do not provide names, a rarer variant includes the names of heavyweight champion John Sullivan and Paddy Ryan, as a depiction of one of their fights. #Cardsky

The basketball cards in the T51 Murad College Sports set have taken the recent attention as they're oft-recognized as the first true cards of the sport. But the Michigan football card has always been a popular one. Here's the rare 'Number on front' 1st series variation. #Cardsky

Hall of Fame Native American pitcher Chief Bender led the league in win-loss percentages three different times. Here's his card in the 1909-11 E90-1 American Caramel baseball card set. #Cardsky

Among the earliest cards of legendary inventor Thomas Edison are these pair of c1879-80 advertising trade cards for Edison's Polyform medication, which used his name and likeness to promote their product. Edison later took the distributor to court for using his likeness. #Cardsky

There are conflicting dates on when exactly this set of six winter sport cards was issued by Diamantine Schuhputz, a German shoe polish brand. Here are four of the six cards, including the highlight, which is the ice hockey card. #Cardsky

I'm sorry but this card was too pretty not to buy. #Cardsky

I've had thousands of Stollwerck Chocolate cards & know how difficult it is to find ones not in low-grade. Majority of graded ones I see are no higher than a 3 as many have indented corners from being stored in albums for decades. Couldn't pass up this SGC 4 of Ben Franklin. #cardsky

Athletics and Red Sox star Jack Barry appeared on the membership cards for the Rovers Junior Baseball League, likely in Canada, in 1919 and 1920. While we don't know exactly how Barry was linked to the league, here are examples of the front of both foldout cards. #Cardsky

1889 N85 Duke Stamps cards picturing -- card collectors in the 19th century. Love these. #Cardsky

Been a little while since a new article on the site, but here's the latest on a Civil War CDV with ties to baseball, professional pedestrian (walker) Edward Payson Weston, and a U.S. President not named Abraham Lincoln. prewarcollector.com/2025/09/16/c... #Cardsky

Here's a nice pickup in today's mail. A total of 18 Stollwerck Chocolate cards all missing ink. These all have only red and yellow ink applied and are hand cuts. While I've seen miscut Stollwercks before, these are the first that amount to scraps that I've seen. #Cardsky