Lot # 6: Newly Discovered 1922 Olsen Games Co. Babe Ruth PSA EX+ 5.5 - Highest Graded!

Presented is an exceptional, newly discovered card of Babe Ruth dating to the heart of his illustrious career and his third season with the New York Yankees. We are proud to present and document, for the first time, the existence of this card, which was issued by the Olsen Games Co. of Chicago, Illinois, and had previously only existed as a hypothetical advertised on the instruction booklet of a popular baseball card game. In 1922, the Olsen Game Co. produced a playing-card game consisting of 30 red and 30 blue cards, which pictured an illustrated game scene depicting the "action" for players to use in simulating a game. Action would alternate between batting and pitching sides, with the cards bearing game outcomes, such as "Strike," "Single," and "Home Run." Players would compete against each other until the conclusion of a nine-inning "game." The playing cards were packaged neatly in a red box with a foldover instruction booklet. We offered an example of the rare instruction booklet at auction in 2013, noting that it was one of only a few we had ever seen. Since then, we have only offered two additional copies. On the back page of each known instruction booklet is an advertisement showing kids how they can obtain cards that, from the front, are identical in design to the 1922 E120 American Caramel Series of 240. Pictured are examples of Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb (incorrectly spelled "Cob"), along with instructions on how to obtain 15 different cards from the set (10 cents) or a "Complete set Base Ball Players, 120 leading players of the season" (50 cents). The backs of the cards are not pictured, so it was not known whether the cards offered were actual E120 cards (advertising for the American Caramel Company on the reverse) or the similarly designed blank-backed W573 (a strip-card set that "borrowed" the designs of the E120 set) or if the Olsen Games Company simply used E120 or W573 cards for its own purposes. A recent find of 26 cards in the Midwest now provides answers to this question. When we were contacted with images of a group of cards appearing to be examples from the E120 American Caramel set, it had the appearance of an outstanding fresh collection with strong star power. Once we saw the reverses, it immediately became clear that this was not simply a group of E120 cards, but rather the long-speculated cards referenced in the Olsen Game instructions that would be of immense interest to diehard collectors and hobby scholars alike. The Olsen's Baseball Game is one we have offered several times, and we knew of the potential connection with American Caramel as it represented one of the earliest instances known in which cards were cross-promoted with another product. The reverses of the cards feature the same offer for a 15-card set or a 120-card set that is made on the instruction booklet. The fronts share the same player images used in the E120 and W573 issues. Included in this newly-discovered collection were 13 different players, each appearing in duplicate, highlighted by seven Hall of Famers: Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Tris Speaker, Eddie Collins, Rogers Hornsby, and Eddie Roush. Graded EX+ 5.5 by PSA, the offered example of Babe Ruth is the highest graded of the two Ruth cards now known to exist. It is perfectly crisp and clean and stands as an ideal example of this tremendous rarity. In coordination with our consignor, we submitted all the cards from this find to PSA for professional grading and will present them over multiple auctions as they return from the grading process. Our consignor may elect to keep some of these newly discovered cards, including the lesser-graded Babe Ruth, for his own collection, but all the highest-graded examples of the 13 different players will be presented at auction for the hobby to enjoy. This extraordinary discovery not only resolves a longstanding hobby mystery but also introduces a newly confirmed playing-era Babe Ruth card to the checklist, which is an opportunity that advanced collectors may not see again for decades once this find is absorbed into collections.