Lot # 626: 1921 Koester Bread Complete Set (52) Including Babe Ruth In Original Album - Newly Discovered!

Every so often, the hobby reveals a remarkable relic not even thought to exist. Recently discovered in upstate New York, this 1921 Koester Bread album, featuring a complete set of 52 cards including Babe Ruth, represents one of the most extraordinary prewar finds in recent memory. This piece comes to us from a seasoned antiques picker who has spent nearly four decades traveling back roads and knocking on doors in search of forgotten treasures. His expertise lies in old toys, radios and military items - not sports cards. A few months ago, during an afternoon drive, our consignor decided to stop in a small town not far from home, following his lifelong instinct to introduce himself to locals to see what history might be hiding in their attics and basements. One chance visit led to a family whose grandparents had operated a general store dating back to the 1890s. Among the artifacts they showed him from the store's past was a ledger containing old store notes and receipts. As he was paging through the ledger, he stumbled upon a century-old album that would change everything.

The album instantly stood out. Its cover, emblazoned "Stars of Baseball/Pennant Winners 1921/American and National League/Compliments E.H. Koester Bakery" in gilt lettering, struck him as a fascinating piece of history. As he leafed through the album, he noticed the cards and was drawn to how neatly they were mounted to the pages. Despite having limited sports card expertise and estimating the album's worth at just a few hundred dollars at most, it was too interesting to leave behind.

Once home, he began to look more closely at the cards, wondering if they might have been produced by American Caramel, one of the early card manufacturers he was familiar with. Hoping to confirm his suspicion, he gently lifted one of the cards only to find the back completely blank, leaving him a bit disappointed, now figuring the cards weren't worth anything. As he continued flipping through the album, that sense of letdown quickly faded when he stumbled upon Babe Ruth, clad in his Boston uniform in a full-length throwing pose. At this point, our consignor realized he had something very special.

Excited by the prospect of what could be, our consignor quickly sent the photos to a friend, who urged him to reach out to auction houses for a professional opinion. What followed was immediate validation. Our card experts immediately recognized the album's significance — a complete 1921 Koester Bread set housed within its original album.

The 1921 World Series between the Yankees and Giants was the first New York "subway series." The Koester Bread set was issued to commemorate the series and features the players, managers, and coaches of each team. They were distributed in October 1921 by E. H. Koester, a New York bakery. Cards from this regional issue are virtually identical to blank-backed versions of the E121 American Caramel series cards, but are printed on higher-quality, thicker stock. Several of the players in this issue do not appear in the American Caramel sets. While Ruth is undoubtedly the starring attraction of this series, eleven other Hall of Famers are featured, including Casey Stengel, John McGraw, and Hughie Jennings.

While the cards are undeniably impressive, it's the album that makes this discovery truly remarkable, as it is just the second 1921 Koester Bread album known to exist. Its extraordinary preservation, thoughtful layout, and the careful manner in which each card was mounted suggest that it was not assembled by a child or casual collector, but rather for someone of importance, perhaps as a store display piece or salesman's sample directly from the Koester Bread Company. The inclusion of all 52 known cards, meticulously affixed within an album bearing the company's name, helps confirm their true identity as Koester Bread cards. These cards seldom surface even in small groups, making their preservation in this album in complete set form nearly impossible to comprehend. The brownish-olive album features eight blank spaces to a page. The cards are arranged by team, with all the Giants players appearing first, followed by members of the Yankees. As a result of their preservation in this original album, almost all the cards present at a level far better than normally encountered. While the album is undeniably delicate due to its age, overall handling wear is modest, with the interior pages extraordinarily well preserved.

It is a distinct honor for REA to not only offer this incredible heirloom at public auction but also document its very existence. A museum-worthy piece that may never again be available for consideration! The size/weight of this item requires that there will be an additional shipping charge for this lot.