* 1883-84 W G Grace Baines ROOKIE CARD Babe Ruth of Cricket - OFFERS - see supporting photos below

The card is open to serious offers. A few years ago a similar card, in worse condition, sold for AUD $50,000!

This is one of two ROOKIE CARD s by Baines for W G Grace. They are the earliest known sports cards of Grace. They came from a Victorian scrapbook which contained 4 Grace cards:  1 Union Jack Grace, and 2 Glos CCC Grace cards, plus 1 Grace by WN Sharpe, a later card from 1887-88. The best cards were placed near the front in a dated order, then the spare cards, the doubles were placed near the end mixed in with other later acquisitions.

W. G. Grace for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, from Baines' earliest collection of "Cricket & Word Competition Cards", issued in blind, sealed packets from 1883 onwards. The back of the card shows the coat of arms which Baines applied to some of the earliest of his cards. After the initial series, without a coat pf arms (see the Grace Union Jack card) this design was applied. A later, redesigned version of the crest & coat of arms appeared on the 1884-85 cricket balls cards (N.B. these are different to the much later, 1920s cricket ball cards by later incarnations of the firm of Baines)

I am told that John Baines was a distant relative of "Edward Baines & Sons", the owner of a firm of printers from Leeds. If this is true, it seems that John followed his family into the printing business by opening his own lithography firm, Baines Litho, in the early 1880s..

*** CONDITION: this card has all of its 'points' which is a rarity for these cards. It has a with a crease at the side, as seen. SOLD AS SEEN. There is no better example known anywhere in the world! SOLD AS SEEN.

OFFERS make your best. Only the right offer will be accepted. Each year that goes by sees cards like this increase in value. Don't wait too long! 

BUYER can save a large % by paying cash. A massive saving off this card's price will pay for your trans-Atlantic air fare and a vacation! Fly to the south of France, Nice airport, we'll meet there. Easy!, Pay cash, save many thousands! All serious offers considered.