1924 WG7 Walter Mails Game Card Complete Set (56)

Sold For:

$2,666

Year:

1924

Auction:

2014 Spring

Lot #:

556

Category:

Prewar Baseball - 1910s and 1920s Cards

Presented is an extremely rare complete 56-card set of WG7 Walter Mails Game cards, highlighted by six Hall of Famers, including Walter Johnson. This scarce set, produced by pitcher Walter Mails, features both Major Leaguers and minor leaguers in black-and-white photos with facsimile signatures on cream-colored cards measuring approximately 2-5/16 by 3-1/2 inches. The minor leaguers include players from the PCL, International League, and American Association. This set is of special significance not just for its rarity, but because it features images that are unique to the set and many players that appear in few (or no) other card sets. This complete set was recently discovered in the Pennsylvania area, which is extremely uncommon as Walter Mails Game cards, when they do surface, are traditionally found exclusively on the West Coast. This is no doubt related to the fact that Mails was pitching for the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League at the time the set was produced and the set was almost certainly distributed only on the West Coast. Condition is overall Vg to Vg-Ex with seven lesser. We selected three cards to be graded by SGC. Keys: Bancroft (HOF, Vg), Johnson (HOF, VG 40), Mails (Vg-Ex), Maranville (HOF, Fr), Rice (HOF, VG+ 45), Sewell (HOF, Gd), and Sisler (HOF, VG 40). Also accompanying the complete 56-card set is the instructions card (blue back, Vg), the scoring instructions sheet (folded in eighths, worn at folds), the box-score sheet (folded in eighths, worn at folds), and the original box (broken into several pieces, Pr). This is the first complete set of WG7 Walter Mails Game cards that we have ever offered, and we have seen very few complete sets available at auction over the years. Extremely substantial and incredibly rare offering of one of the most unusual sets from the 1920s. Total: 56-card set plus three instruction cards and original box. Reserve $1,000. Estimate $2,000/$3,000. SOLD FOR $2,666