1910-11 Turkey Red Cabinets Set and Checklist (T3 / T9)

Posted on September 6, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Turkey Red (T3 – Baseball / T9 – Boxing)
Year	1910-11
Size	5 3/4″ x 8″
Images	Color
Type	Tobacco
Number in Set	126

T3 and T9 Turkey Red Overview

The 1910-11 T3 Turkey Red set includes a total of 126 cards. While most (100) are baseball, card numbers 51 through 76 are boxing. The boxing cards are technically categorized as T9 in the American Card Catalog.

Despite the two different classifications, the boxing cards were clearly meant to be a part of this set since their card numbering is smack dab in the middle of it. The boxing cards even appear in the checklist on the back. For that reason, it is clear to me that they should be T3 cards instead of their current T9 designation.

Did Burdick catalog these differently by mistake? I don’t believe so. As stated, he obviously would have known the boxing cards were checklisted on the backs of the baseball cards. Rather, I believe that he simply chose to catalog them differently. My contention, however, would be that they were meant to be part of the same set and should have been cataloged as such.

These are larger cabinet-style cards from Turkey Red Cigarettes, measuring at 8″ tall x nearly 6″ wide. A color picture is in the middle with player names on a gold nameplate at the bottom. The cabinets were available through redeeming ten Turkey Red cigarette coupons or 25 Old Mill or Fez cigarette coupons. Collectors had until June 30, 1911 to redeem their coupons. They were to be sent to the Baseball and Athlete Picture Department at Drawer S. in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Numerous big names are found in the baseball series, including Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Walter Johnson, and Christy Mathewson. Meanwhile, the boxing series is headlined by the legendary Jack Johnson as well as several other Hal of Famers. Notably, boxer Abe Attell is also in the set and his cards are pursued by baseball collectors as he was involved in the 1919 World Series fix involving the Chicago Black Sox.

While the fronts of the cards all had the same look, the backs were distinctly different. The frames/borders were also different as boxing cards had a gold frame-like border and the baseball cards had a gray border that had the appearance of a frame mat. Some included checklists of the set while others were blank or had an advertisement for Turkey Red Cigarettes. While close, the checklist on the back of the cards was not completely in alphabetical order. A total of four different checklist backs are known and with the blank backs and advertising backs, there are a total of six back types.

The cards are one of the most popular cabinet card issues around.

Proof Cards

While extremely rare, Turkey Red proof cards are also known.

These proofs included the same color photos as the regular cards in the set. However, they display no name in the nameplate area at the bottom. Proofs also have blank backs. It is important to distinguish these from regular T3 cards with blank backs and, typically, the best way to do that is by viewing the nameplate and seeing if a name is printed in it. If a name is found, most collectors do not consider those to be true proofs. Additionally, true proofs will display printer marks on them around the edges.

Like many proof cards, the specific origins are unknown. However, a large group was found at a card show in 1973, according to this site, which also has images of several of them.

These proofs are extremely valuable. The George Stovall card shown here sold for $9,000 in an REA auction.