Lot # 2762: Circa 1910 T218 Mecca "Champion Athletes and Prize Fighters" Near-Complete Set (121/153)

Presented is a near-complete set of 121 different cards (out of 153 in the set) featuring early twentieth-century "Athletes and Prize Fighters" issued with Hassan and Mecca tobacco products. Collectors are well aware of the many baseball sets of the 1910 era, but several very substantial high-quality sets featuring other athletes were also issued by tobacco companies. The largest and most substantial of these sets is the T218 Mecca "Champion Athletes and Prize Fighters" set. The T218 series includes sixty-six boxers and eighty-seven other champion athletes of the era, including golfers, bowlers, billiards champions, and track-and-field stars. Seventy-seven cards have the Mecca tobacco brand advertisement on the reverse, while forty-four have Hassan. Condition is 17% Vg-Ex to Ex, 54% Gd to Vg, and 29% lesser (including one trimmed). Thirteen cards have been professionally graded and encapsulated by SGC (5), PSA (7), and CGC (1). Keys: Abe Attell (Vg), Joe Jeannette (SGC GOOD 2), James Jeffries/front pose (SGC GOOD 2), James Jeffries/side pose (SGC VG+ 3.5), Jack Johnson/front pose (SGC GOOD 2), Jack Johnson/side pose (PSA GOOD 2), Stanley Ketchell (Gd), and Sam Langford (SGC VG 3). Seven additional PSA-Graded cards (except one CGC): Eller (VG-EX+ 4.5), H. Lewis (VG 3), Murphy (VG-EX 4), Northridge (FAIR 1.5), O'Toole (VG-EX 4), Papke (CGC FAIR 1.5), and Williams (VG-EX+ 4.5). Missing the following thirty-two cards for completion: Cline, Cutler/portrait, Cutler/billiards, Demarest, de Oro, Douglas, Dunbar, Ewry, Gans, Handy, Hayes, Herreshoff, Hobens, Hoppe/portrait, Hoppe/billiards, Hoxsey, Hueston, Johansson, Jordan, W. Lewis, Low, Moisant, Morningstar/portrait, Morningstar/billiards, Nicholls, Porter, Riddell, Smith, Sutton/portrait, Sutton/billiards, C. Weston, and E. Weston. This is an attractive and mostly mid-grade near-complete set of one of the classic tobacco sport issues from the early twentieth century. Total: 121 cards.