Rare Detroit Tigers Postcard Sets (1907-09) Now Available
Dean’s Cards recently obtained two extremely rare Detroit Tigers postcard sets from 1907-1909. The cards forever honor the three straight pennant winning teams of the Tigers and the USA postcard craze of the early 20th Century.
The two Detroit Tigers postcard sets are even more desired by collectors since they were produced at the height of the USA postcard craze. As detailed in a great blog about the postcards from the Detroit Athletic Co., “By 1913, nearly a billion cards were being put in the mail each year, a deluge that finally ended with the outbreak of war in Europe.”
Both sets are now available for purchase on the Dean’s Cards website, and here is an overview of these unique sets:
1909 Topping & Co. Detroit Tigers Postcards
The 1909 Topping & Co. Detroit Tigers Postcard set was released with 21 unnumbered postcards. The fronts are titled “Tiger Stars” and include the player name and position. Player faces are affixed in the center of a yellow bordered, six pointed star. The back of the postcards are fairly generic, and look like a typical postcard would look.
The set offered by Dean's Cards is only missing one card, Germany Schaefer. It does, however, contain the three Detroit Tigers Hall-of-Famers who played for the 1909 AL champs: Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford, and Hughie Jennings.
The set features the 1909 Tigers team that would win 98 games in route to a World Series showdown with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The matchup would culminate in a loss after 7 games at the hands of Honus Wagner. Just imagine how amazing the Cobb vs. Wagner pairing would have been to watch.
So, how rare are these cards?
Of the 31 graded by PSA, this set contains 20! Many of these 20 are not only the highest graded examples, but the ONLY graded examples from PSA. All cards have great eye appeal, with fairly clean fronts and unmarked backs.
SGC hasn’t graded many of these either. Their population reports show that they have encased 48 of the postcards. This means that this set contains 20 of 79 known graded examples between the two companies. Altogether, this is the most complete offering of this set to ever hit the market!
--> Click here to buy the 1909 Topping & Co. Detroit Tigers Postcards.
1907-1909 AC Dietsche Detroit Tigers Postcards Near Complete Set
Issued in 1907 to 1909 by publisher A.C. Dietsche, these postcards exclusively depict players from the Detroit Tigers three straight AL pennant winning teams. The cards measure 3 ½ by 5 ½ and are black and white. They show action shots of Tigers stars on the front, with short bios of the players on the back.
This 1907-09 Detroit Tigers A.C. Dietsche Postcards Near Set contains 15 of the 16 cards released in the set. None of the cards have the typical writing on the back and average a grade of “Very Good.” The only card missing is the hard to find Ty Cobb (Fielding card). But don’t fret, because the Ty Cobb (Batting card) graded a PSA-2, is included
Besides The Georgia Peach, the other Hall of Famers included in this postcard set are Sam Crawford and Hugh Jennings.
