- 1883 Baines WG Grace ROOKIE CARD Union Jack captain England, Babe Ruth of Cricket - OFFERS -SOLD

SOLD - OFFER ACCEPTED

See supporting photos for provenance : one of the two distinct W G Grace rookie cards by Baines, from 1883.

OFFERS PLEASE. Much commoner, more recent cards make $100,000 and Pele and Babe Ruth rookies have made $1million each so I want serious offers for this rookie card of the most legendary cricketr of all time.

You can save a fortune by paying me face to face in cash - ask me for details. Meet and greet saves you many thousands.

This is one of the earliest Baines cards ever made, one of 2 different cards Baines made in 1883 for Dr. W G Grace, the England cricket captain. Grace is the Babe Ruth of cricket, the Pelé of cricket ! This is a rookie card, one of 2 Grace cards made by Baines in 1883. One of the rarest of all Baines cards, celebrating the England captain and cricket legend-in-his-own-lifetime, seen through a keyhole against the Union Jack . Grace was the KEY player for England.

The reason Grace, cricket and even Australian cricket cards were all the rage by 1883 was thanks to the first Ashes Test Match, which Australia won in London in autumn 1882. Spirits were fired up! Baines made a stunning collection of octagonal-shaped cricket cards of the Australian team, and a W G Grace card, the key man (the keyhole design is notable on the Union Jack Grace card). Made for the season after the infamous 1st Ashes match versus Australia at the Oval, cricket was by far the biggest national story in sport.

The other early Baines Grace card can be seen on this website. It is the equally rare and semi-mythical "Gloucester CCC" card (seen also in my 2nd book - see the inside front-cover flap of that book). Both are about as rare as each other 3 or less of each card are known to exist. The other Union Jack cards: one is in better condition than this and it's in my own collection, and one is in worse condition. So, this is the middle condition card of the three Union Jack Grace Baines cards known.

Buyers please be aware that this exceptionally rare card is mostly sound but an upper point and a lower point are missing. Light faults indeed for a 140-year old card and they are surely acceptable. SOLD AS SEEN must be a great investment.

See the supporting photos of the scrapbook from where this card came. Cards were in a kind of date order, and the Grace cards were on pages near the front, then spare cards including spare Grace cards were stuck-in on rear pages together. So, one Grace Union Jack and one Grace Glos CCC card appeared early on, near the start of the book, while others were glued in towards the end, with other doubles of cards also shown earlier in the book.

This is the middle-condition card of the three. 

Better stays with me, unless an offer I cannot refuse comes along one day