Show em: Obscure Prewar Sets

Mainstream tobacco and caramel sets are often discussed on the vintage forums, but there are many others that are so obscure that they are barely even mentioned. This thread is a chance for those neglected sets to enjoy some of the limelight. Show a card from your collection that is from an obscure prewar set.

My pick is this card of Milosevic from the 1940 Crowley's Milk set, which featured players from the Binghamton Triples of the Eastern League. These postcard size cards (3x5) are pretty unique looking; they feature a blue tinted image of the player surrounded by artwork in an extra wide border area. Crowley's look nothing like other cards from this era. As far as I know, there are no big names in the 18 card set which is probably why most haven't heard about Crowley's Milk. Nonetheless, I think they're cool looking cards that most type collectors would want an example of.



Looking forward to reading about some more obscure prewar gems!!

Always one of my favorite sets... 1923 Lections. The cards were given away to children at a town fair in the Albany, NY area to emulate the "Elections" cards that featured local politicians campaigning for office given to adults.

1911 Stevens Firearms. Tough to find without any ink on them.

Mike

Jon - most of the Lections you see tend to be canceled (hole punched) which makes your group extra special. Those 4's and 5's must be among the best conditioned Lections in existence! I think I remember when you picked those up years ago. Glad to see you've hung onto them.

Mike - that's easily the cleanest Steven's Firearms blotter I've ever seen. Very nice.

Thanks for sharing guys

Dunno if this is obscure enough, but you sure don't see many of these E125s around:

JimB

Great Hess, Jim!

We need Zach to show a Voskamp (or any of the other incredibly obscure cards in his collection).

Produced by the American League Publishing Company of Cleveland, set contains twenty
players (all from Cleveland with the exception of Cobb and Wagner)
although not all are cataloged. Rare variations have ad overprint on
front and Naps team schedule on back. Design nearly identical to that of
F.J. Offerman Buffalo Bison cards. American League Publishing also
produced a series of scarce team postcards the same year (1908).

Really Cool Mr. Prinzer. Never seen or heard of them before.

By the way, I really don't have anything obscure, I think my scarest item is my Piedmont Art Stamps.

Lee

Nice Rare Cards guys
Jim, That N338 McGinity is special

Wish I had something to post, but I have nothing worthy of this thread

Sick ALPCs Jeff!

Are they considered more rare than LP or Roto?

terjung wrote:Sick ALPCs Jeff!

Are they considered more rare than LP or Roto?

+1.

Love those PC's Jeff thanks for sharing. Especially that Joss!

And Blair, I'd say e125's are definitely obscure enough for this thread. So tough to find them in decent shape. I have one with an amputated arm.

Jim, that n338-1 is fantastic. I've only seen maybe 3 in my decade or so of following 19th century. IMO they rank right up there with 4BH as one of the rarest of all prewar sets.

Thanks to everyone who responded so far.

Amazing cards guys...I love them all!!! I also do not believe I have anything that will fit...whoa is me!

What about Rowdy Lowdy? That card didn't even exist a year ago as far as the hobby knew.

Doesn't fit the bill of "obscure prewar sets"...in my opinion!

Red Cross t207 is pretty obscure.

sabrjay wrote:Red Cross t207 is pretty obscure.

IMHO, rare--yes, obscure--no

True, I've known about t207 Red Crosses since they were first found. On the other hand, some of these postcards, I've never seen or heard of before. So I stand corrected and will return to my Dunderhead corner.

not square like a 206 so e254 is pretty obscure to me-what do you think E?

Not really a set....


This thread screams Dan M.....calling Dan M.....wake up from your tub of booze and post some cards will ya!

Cheers,

John

Maybe Dan has confused his Close-N-Play with a scanner.

I don't understand the grades on those Mattys.

I was thinking the same thing. It's like grading a Zeenut with a coupon as AUTH. Makes no sense.