Lot # 704: Newly Discovered 1922 Olsen Games Co. Walter Johnson PSA EX-MT 6 - 1 of 1 - Highest Graded!

Presented is an exceptional, newly discovered card of Walter Johnson from the 1922 Olsen Games Co. set. This card is part of the exciting find that REA initially shared in its Spring 2026 auction. It is just one of two examples of Johnson from this series to be documented (along with the other from the find), and the first to be presented for sale! In 1922, the Olsen Game Co. produced a playing card game consisting of 30 red and 30 blue cards and picturing an illustrated game scene of 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," that players would play 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. The find of 26 cards out of the Midwest provided answers to that question. Graded EX-MT 6 by PSA, the offered example of Walter Johnson is the highest graded of the two Johnson cards now known to exist. It is perfectly crisp and clean and is an ideal representation of this tremendous rarity. This is a superb, newly discovered example of an extreme rarity that would be a significant addition to any world-class Walter Johnson or rare vintage baseball-card collection.