Lot # 561: 1911 T332 Helmar Stamps Baseball and Actresses Collection (47) Including Mathewson, Speaker, Evers, and Wheat

Collection of forty-seven of these very colorful baseball and actress stamps issued by Helmar Tobacco. Included are seven baseball Hall of Famers, including Mathewson, Speaker, and Wheat. The 1910 era presented many different types of tobacco issues for collectors. In addition to cards there were Domino Discs, P2 pins, silks, and various premiums available only by mail (T3, L1, S81) among others. Helmar stamps are certainly one of the more unusual and overlooked issues of the day, and are considerably rarer than many more popular and widely collected tobacco issues. Included are nine wax-paper envelopes (approx. 1-7/8 x 2-1/2 inches) used for an insert promotion of foreign postage stamps in Helmar Turkish Cigarettes. The condition of the envelopes is mostly Fair to Good and a few canceled foreign stamps are also included. Condition of T332 stamps is Pr to Fr overall (including a couple slightly better and a few with a possible slight trim), with adhesive residue, extra paper, and/or paper loss on the reverse of nearly every stamp. This collection consists of the following: 1) Actresses (13 stamps): Anglin, Clifford, Dale, Dovey, Dresser, Dupree, Elliott, Ferguson, La Rue, Ring, Studdiford, Thompson, and Ware. 2) Baseball (34 stamps, 29 different): Ball, Beck, Bell, Camnitz, two Carey (Fr and Pr, HOF), four Cole, Doolan, two Downey, Drucke, Engle, Evers (adhesive residue on reverse, otherwise Gd, HOF), Gibson, Graham, Grant, Griffith (adhesive residue on reverse, otherwise Vg, HOF), Hummel, Mathewson (adhesive residue on reverse, otherwise Gd, HOF), McBride, McConnell, Moore, Murphy, Needham, O'Toole, Oldring, Reulbach, Rucker, Schulte, Speaker (extra paper on reverse, otherwise Gd, HOF), and Wheat (adhesive residue on reverse, otherwise Vg, HOF). This is a substantial group for this issue, which in part due to its rarity has received little attention from collectors. A very presentable lower-grade collection of these colorful and overlooked 1910-era tobacco premiums. Total: 47 stamps plus nine envelopes.