Lot # 580: 1912 J=K Candy Honus Wagner Batting Type 2

Presented is one of only four examples of Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer Honus Wagner ever graded from the extremely rare 1912 J=K Candy issue. This is a Type II card with a colorized photo of Wagner holding his bat. (Please note SGC does not differentiate between the Type 1 and Type 2 cards in their population report.) Issued in 1912 by the J. Koenigsberg company of New York, each card was designed to be hand-cut from the side of a candy box containing one of the company's products. J=K Candy cards can be found in two distinct versions: the sepia Type I and a colorized die-cut Type II variety (as offered here). Encapsulated as "Authentic" by SGC due to an irregular hand-cut across the top (missing a portion of Wagner's head), the image is crisp with paper loss on the lower right edge and light creases visible. The blank reverse is clean. These cards naturally tend to grade very modestly due to their method of issue and hand-cut nature. Examples from this unusual 1910-era candy issue are extremely rare, and an example of a key Hall of Famer such as Honus Wagner is virtually never encountered. This is an extremely elusive rarity that would be an outstanding addition to any world-class Honus Wagner or type-card collection.