Vintage tobacco card collectors frequently have a very hard time putting together sets of cards from the early 1900s. Putting together a complete set of any tobacco cards from the 1800s is even more daunting. There is an exception here in the sets of 50 cards from the late 1880s by Allen & Ginter before they became amalgamated in with other tobacco companies to form the American Tobacco Company and baseball cards by and large took a hiatus.

The 1887 N28 (also referred to in year 1888 by some sources) is a set of just 50 cards, and one is currently available for purchase in a Clean Sweep Auction. These cards are not that uncommon on their own in auctions, but seeing an entire set of 50 cards of the N28 is not the most common auction. After all, these are more than 130 years old and it was only a decade after Custer’s Last Stand (not represented in this set).

According to Clean Sweep Auction the starting bid was just $2,000.00 and the set has no reserve. The auction was last seen at just $7,693.00 with the next bid raising it to a minimum of $8,463.00, an increment of $770.00 with 15 current bids cast. While the set is not graded in entirety there are baseball and boxing cards which were sent in for grading at PSA.

Collectors Dashboard evaluates collectibles as an alternative asset class. This means collectibles are attracting the same capital that could have been invested into stocks or bonds. Many collectibles now cost thousands of dollars (or much more). Collectors with a passion to own a collectible for years frequently have to compete directly against investors whose only desire is to make a profit in the future.

With baseball players being the most represented with 10 of 50 cards in total, what makes this interesting is that 6 of those 10 men would eventually make it into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown New York. Those players were Cap Anson, Charles Comiskey, John Clarkson, Timothy Keefe, Mike ‘King’ Kelly and Monte Ward. The other 4 of the 10 are Charles Bennett, R. L. Caruthers, Captain John Glasscock as well as Joseph Mulvey; and those 4 are almost as collectible as the Hall of Famers to some collectors.

Baseball cards from the 1880s are by and large incredibly rare versus the massive card populations of the modern era. A complete set from all the sports for the year 1887 should be noticed by all collectors (and perhaps by investors). Collectors Dashboard is excited to witness the great American West in baseball card form, at least with some representation by historic figures of Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill (Cody) and others – and John L. Sullivan as the famous boxer, and when he was actively fighting unlike most of the Sullivan cards owned by collectors.

Here is the description of an incredible rare complete set of 1887 N28 Allen & Ginter Complete 50-Card Set:

Simply a wonderful 19th century set, the value is anchored by the ten baseball players, with note to six HOFers among the ten! The balance of the set has utterly charming images of various popular sports from the day, these include very popular cards of Jack Dempsey, John L. Sullivan, Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill Cody. From one of the great hobby card collections, these are fresh and fine mid to better grade cards that were collected decades ago. The backs are clean overall, we will have front and back scans of all 50 cards on our website. A phenomenal value due to the size and quality of the baseball cards, this is a real gem. We sent 12 cards to PSA and they came back as follows: Anson PSA 2, Bennett PSA 2, Caruthers PSA 1, Clarkson PSA 1, Comiskey PSA 2, Dempsey PSA 3, Glasscock PSA 2, Keefe PSA 2, Kelly PSA 2, Mulvey PSA 2, Sullivan PSA A and Ward PSA AA. The Anson card has no creases and displays beautifully for the grade, we are not sure why it only came back a 2.

The PSA population report is rather low for the N28 designation assigned by Jefferson Burdick. As of October 2021, there were only 5,117 total graded examples in the PSA graded population report, but SGC showed a mere 412 graded examples in the base multi-sport as well 2,737 in their “World Champions” population.

Again, it just is not that common to see all 50 cards of the N28 set come up for auction at once and together. (Image from Clean Sweep Auctions)