Lot # 663: 1916 M101-4 Herpolsheimer #168 Oscar Stanage SGC VG/EX 4 - Incredibly Rare Standing Pose Variation!

Graded VG/EX 4 by SGC. One of only two examples with a Herpolsheimer back ever graded by SGC! The M101-4 and M101-5 Sporting News sets are pretty straightforward. There are some incredibly rare advertising back varieties, and these are extremely popular with collectors, but there different fronts are generally considered to be of a similar rarity in their respective sets (M101-4 or M101-5 or rare-back variety). There are no rare cards or pose variations - WITH ONE NOTABLE EXCEPTION: card #168 Oscar Stanage. Inexplicably, this card is known with two completely different poses in the M101-4 series. The normal pose shows Stanage catching a ball; in an extremely rare second pose Stanage stands with hands at his sides. For years, collectors were uncertain if this card really existed, and this rare pose variation was not even checklisted until recent years. To confuse matters more, there is actually a third pose of Stanage in the M101-5 series featuring Stanage throwing a ball. This card is easily distinguished by the fact that Stanage is numbered #170 in the M101-5 series (as opposed to #168 in the M101-4 series). Why Stanage got this special treatment we will never know, but his hands-at-sides variation pose card is the key rarity of the entire set, and one of the truly rare cards of the entire era. This is only the third example we have ever offered, and we would be surprised if it was not the best looking of the very few known examples. The card has been downgraded due to light corner wear and a faint stain on the reverse. The rare Herpolsheimer Company back is boldly printed. A tremendous example of this M101-4 rarity.