1. 1917 Boston Store #147 Babe Ruth (HOF) – PSA PR 1
Issued in 1917 by a Chicago (not Boston) department store, the H801-8 Boston Store issue utilizes the same images and checklist as the E135 Col- lins-McCarthy set, but with back advertising promoting the store. The card design was similar to the Mendelsohn-issued M101-4/5 series of the pri- or year, though =slightly larger in size, and printed on somewhat thinner stock. The Boston Store cards are rarer than the E135 Collins-McCarthy and are also rarer than many of the M101-4/5 issues. Presented here is a significant rarity and the key card to the set: that of Babe Ruth. Graded PR 1 by PSA, the card presents extremely well for the grade, with some toning and foxing visible on the card front, along with some sur- face and edge wear, along with minor creasing consistent with the grade. Creasing does not disrupt the image area to any great degree, but can be seen to the left of Ruth’s head: a series of diagonal spider creases in the up- per-left corner, extending downward towards his pitching arm. Additional minor creasing is visible in the text area, the deepest of which can be ob- served running northward from the bottom edge. Surface wear results in a light discoloration at the right edge. Despite the wear, the image quality is exceptional, the card presenting remarkably well given the aforementioned flaws. The card, while accurately graded, is strong for the grade; the majority of the creasing is most visible while holding the card at an angle in the light. Boston Store cards were sold by the store in eight series of 25 cards begin- ning in April of 1917 and running through June, with 25 new cards released each week and sold for two cents per series. Based on available advertising, we know that just 5,000 sets were produced, making the cards scarce at the outset. They do not appear to have ever been offered as a complete set. According to our research, the first print advertisement featuring these cards ran on Thursday, April 13 in the Chicago Daily News (though it is pos- sible that additional advertising that we have not discovered ran elsewhere). The ad featured a list of the first series of 25 cards. Each week thereafter, the
store advertised the next series of cards while highlighting the availability of the previous series. After the completion of the eighth series on June 1, advertising for the cards ceased, meaning that while the first series of cards was offered for eight weeks, the final series was only advertised once. Since the cards were issued alphabetically, Ruth was part of the sixth series, available for sale for just three weeks before the promotion ended. This may account for the rarity of the card. In contrast, the population reports count 32 M101-4 Ruths between the Sporting News and blank- backed versions. Indeed, the Boston Store Ruth is among his more rare, with a known population more in line with that of his Baltimore News card, which has reached seven figures in recent years. While several Ruth cards from this issue have been offered at auction recently, do not let that influence your opinion of the card’s rarity. Just 11 examples have been graded, and we feel confident that at least one has been crossed from one grading company to another without having been removed from the population reports. It is one of the rarest of all Babe Ruth’s cards, a rare regional issue that was produced in limited quantities and sold only for a brief time. Featuring an early image of the game’s greatest player while still with the Red Sox, a Boston Store Ruth is one of the hobby’s truly great cards. MINIMUM BID: $25,000
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