Fresh set of E95's to be auctioned by Hunt Auctions

Hey there everyone I am new to the vintage world but I am getting into it more and more I recently consigned a set of E95 Philadelphia Caramel cards to Hunt Auctions for thier Feb. 26-27th auction. The cards I inherited from my grandfather and were a gift to him form the Philadelphia caramel company. He was a salesman for them from 1908-1916. They have never been on the market before and I have had them graded by SGC and they graded ex or better. Mike at SGC said they are one of the best sets he has seen. they are clean sharp cornors and no staining. They present awsome. I have more cards to come and look foward to learning about my new hobby.

Wow - very interesting. I assume the cards were full productions cards and not any sort of handcuts? Also, any idea how Philadelphia Caramels were packaged (products, etc)?

I, too, have a set of E95s and have always wanted to know more about the distribution of the set but there is little information known.

awesome! congrats and good luck getting top prices. any other interesting tidbits about the Philly Caramel Co. back then?

Yes they are full cards not hand cut. Don't know how they were packaged. I do know that they had quite alot more cards that never got circulated and eventualy were destroyed by the company. Hence there are fewer of these cards than we might think. Wish I had gotten into cards alot sooner in age becasue i know my grandfather collected alot of tobacoo cards as well. If I find out anything more i will let you know.

Thats very interesting. Can you give any more detail on the amounts of cards printed and destroyed? How was the story told to you, etc?

In fact if your grandfather ever wrote anything down or told any stories, relative to baseball or not, about the Philadelphia caramel company I'm sure we'd all love to hear about it. Without the company sponsors we wouldn't have the cards, anything you can add would be most appreciated by all

The story pertaining to that was told to me quite a few years ago and from recalled memory we use to trade cards back and forth and i wanted these cards as a trade (keep in mind I was 14-15). He told me I had to give me my whole collection to get them. He knew i woudl not do that as he said it jokingly. The reason why was because how he had gottem them from the company and how they were rare due to the low amount of them and what was never sent out and destroyed. Thats how I knew where these cards came from when i inherited them. Out side of that he did not talk much about work to me other than giving us candy which any grandparent does haha.

Thanks for the info. The only thing I would point out is that the E95s are not really rare. The set is gorgeous (IMO) and loaded with stars like Wagner, Cobb, Matty, etc - which makes putting a set together a little pricey. However, in terms of rarity, they are quite possibly the most plentiful of all candy cards and finding E95s is very easy - they are everywhere.

As a follow-up, Pete C's site on caramel cards (while not having been updated in years) is a great source. On his rarity page, you will note that E95's are listed as the second easiest of all caramel cards to find...

http://www.caramel-cards.com/cards.html

Don't get me wrong, high condition E95s will command a pretty decent price at auction. However, I just wanted to set the record straight on rarity.

if it's a bunch of SGC 80s and up...while not rare, i'd say that's pretty scarce . OP do you have any scans of the cards? e95s have some spectacular colors and poses.

cccc wrote:if it's a bunch of SGC 80s and up...while not rare, i'd say that's pretty scarce . OP do you have any scans of the cards? e95s have some spectacular colors and poses.

In terms of condition, yes I would agree that very high grade E95's are scarce. However, the original poster said "they were rare due to the low amount of them and what was never sent out and destroyed" so I assume he was referring to E95s in general, which are not scarce.

Sorry if i mislead anyone I am just stating what i have learned from my grandfather please do not take it word for word. I am new to all this and i do not want to rick the boat so to speak

Ohh no misleading at all. I'm very intrigued by the discovery, especially since it originated with a former worker. I think it's a great find. I also just was trying to add some more background on the set for your benefit as well. Sorry if you took me the wrong way.

Good deal glad to know there is alot of help out there as well

Great stuff, thanks for posting. I'm looking forward to seeing the scans in the auction.

As mentioned by other posters, please share anything else you remember!

My Hunt catalog came today and let me tell you the boys over there did a great job featuring these cards. They got a special in section with a black page background and a notation about the OP's grandfather and the origin of the cards. Worth checking out if you haven't yet.