Lot # 803: 1936 R313 National Chicle "Fine Pen" Near-Complete Set (115/120)

Issued in 1936 by National Chicle and catalogued R313 in the American Card Catalog, this large-format (3-1/4 x 5-1/2 inches) black-and-white series is known to collectors as "Fine Pens" because of the thin font used for the facsimile autographs. Offered is a very attractive, near-complete set of 115 different cards (out of 120 in the set), missing just DiMaggio/Erickson, Double Play - McQuinn to Stine, Radcliff/Hartnett, Rowe, and Sewell for completion. Included are four duplicates (Bucher/Babich, Clift/Sewell, Kuhel, and McQuinn Gets His Man). Condition is 7% Vg-Ex or slightly better, 43% Gd to Vg, and 50% Pr to Fr (including four trimmed and two with color added). Four cards have been professionally graded and encapsulated by SGC (2) and PSA (2). Keys: Averill (Pr), Berg (Vg+), Bottomley/Gelbert (Gd), Cochrane/Foxx/Simmons (Pr), Cronin (Vg-Ex), Cuyler/Hartnett (Pr), Dickey/Greenberg (Pr), Durocher (Pr due to back damage), Ferrell Bros. (Vg+), Frisch (Pr-Fr), Gehringer (Pr), Gomez (Vg), Gomez/Ruffing (Pr), Goslin (Vg), Greenberg (Pr), Grove (upper-right corner trimmed off, otherwise Pr), Harris (Gd), Hartnett/Warneke (Pr), Hornsby (Pr-Fr due mostly to pinhole), Hoyt (Vg), Lombardi (Pr due to back damage), L. Waner/Hartnett (Gd), Mack/McGraw (Ex), Medwick (Gd+), Simmons (Pr), Stengel (Pr), Traynor (Pr due to pinholes), Vaughan (slight trim, otherwise Pr), Wagner (Vg+), Waners Bros./Weaver (pencil mark on reverse, otherwise Vg), and 1935 WS Goslin/Warneke/Cavarretta (Pr-Fr due to back damage). Four graded cards: Derringer (PSA VG 3), Hudlin (SGC EX 60), Knickerbocker (SGC EX 60), and Newsom (PSA EX 5). The high quality photographs used to produce this set make it among the most striking and distinctive of all 1930s issues. This set has received relatively little attention from collectors compared to traditional gum cards of the era, and a case can easily be made that they represent one of the best values of all 1930s baseball issues. Total: 119 cards (near set of 115 plus four duplicates).