Any interest in Boxing cards?

goodriddance189

does anyone here put together sets of early Boxing cards? i know it's not a hugely popular sport, but the prices are super cheap in comparison to other sports. i'm talking about older sets like the 1951 Ringside, 1915 Cope's, 1910 t218 Mecca, etc. some of the pictures on early cards are stunning- especially stuff like the t218 and t3 turkey red sets.

just wondering if anyone has ever tried to put together a graded set of boxing, it seems to be a relatively cheap investment based on set size and selling prices

bongobell

I collect boxing cards as well as other sports and compared to the four "major" sports boxing represents excellent value I reckon. The vast majority of boxing sets have around 50 cards or less and as such are obtainable in mid to high grade on the smallest of budgets.
I currently own around 20 complete pre-1940 sets and plan to have them graded in the future and add them to the registry. Boxing was a very popular sport in the late 19th/early 20th century and as such cards were produced from the early old judge days onwards. Personally I always felt most boxing cards were undervalued and overlooked by many collectors.
The Turkey Reds are beautiful cards as are the T220's and T218's in my opinion. Although there are several great looking polychrome issues, many of the early boxing cards are black & white/photographic and perhaps this dissuades some collectors from buying them?
I'm sure there will be few more boxing card collectors on this board who can continue this thread. I for one will look forward to hearing their thoughts on this area of collecting.
Nick

goodriddance189

cool, im starting to look into non sports/ oddball sports sets. a few i like- the Churchman's and Ogden's tobacco sets of the mid 1930's. they picture auto racing, boats, planes, and other cool stuff. cheap, great history, and usually found in high grade (mine would all grade between 7 and 9.....i got em for 2 bucks each several years ago)

bongobell

Churchman's "Kings of Speed" and Ogden's "Champions of 1936" are just two of many great pre1940 multisport sets around which can still be purchased complete in high grade very reasonably. Others include Churchman's "Men of the Moment in Sport", "Sporting Personalities" and of course "Sports & Games in Many Lands" which includes American Football, Ice Hockey and Babe Ruth.
A great card of George Sisler is included in Bogulavsky's "Sports Records" and four cartoon type baseball cards in Major Drapkin's "A Game of Sporting Snap". If you need any info on sets of cards containing certain sports just let me know and I'll see what I can do.

dbj77

I just bought a 1939 Churchmans 'Kings of Speed' set off Ebay for less than $20. The set is great, even has Jesse Owens in it. Some of the early century tobacco cards are so cheap to buy, but make great collectibles.

Virtualizard

Will,

You know I have been collecting the T218 set for a while. Why do you have to keep bringing up these wonderful sets? Let me finish the T218s before anyone else knows about them.

Seriously, I do have a nice stack of raw T218s to submit (not just boxers - there are some other great cards in this set as well).

Here are scans of a couple of PSA graded T218s I have - beautiful cards, even in low grade:


JEB.

helionaut

There used to be a shop in a local mall that had a Jack Johnson card. I am not sure what set it was from, though it looked like a T218. It was an absolutely beautiful card in great condition, probably at least an 8. Even though it was boxing, and not the most expensive thing they had, it was probably the best card in the shop. They wanted $100 for it, which today seems like nothing, but when I was making $5.75 an hour it was quite a chunk. The shop closed and who knows where that card is today. Probably in a high-grade set on the registry.

So no, I don't collect boxing cards, but there are definitely some cards out there that pique my interest when I come across them.

goodriddance189

hey Helionaut, where you from in Texas? i noticed you mentioned something about Austin in another post, i was born and raised there (HOOK 'EM)