1903-04 Breisch-Williams Set (E107)

‘It’s In The Details’

Title E107 Breisch-Williams
Year 1903-04
Size 1 1/2″ x 2 5/8″
Images Black and White
Type Candy/Caramel
Number in Set
150

E107 Breisch-Williams Overview

E107 BacksE107 Keeler.jpgOne of the rarest and most expensive E-card issues is the 1903-1904 E107 Breisch-Williams set. The release is one of the earlier known candy cards as those didn’t really become popular until later in the decade.

With black and white images on the front, it lacks the color of many candy card issues. Player names and teams are also on the front and the backs can either be found entirely blank, with a short message (“One of a hundred and fifty prominent Baseball players”), or sometimes with that same message and a Breisch-Williams stamp over top of it. Versions with the stamp are the most difficult to find. The various E107 backs are shown here.

prewarcards-bradley_portraitE107 BradleyMany of the pictures will be familiar to pre-war collectors as they were featured in other sets. One example of that is the T206 release. Shown here are pictures of cards for Cleveland’s Bill Bradley.

The striking pictures help make this truly an elite set, even using black and white imagery. All cards are rare and the set is known for what are believed to be several key rookie cards of players, including Christy Mathewson.

Mathewson did appear in the the 1901 Police Gazette Supplements set as well as the 1903 Sporting Life Cabinets set, but those are often disregarded as they are more pictures than traditional baseball ‘cards.’

An E107 Breisch-Williams checklist can be approached in one of two ways. 150 cards are advertised on the backs of each card, but to date, only 148 (not including team variations) have been discovered. However, several players have team variations and if you count all of those, the number exceeds 150. The 150 card number is clearly the number of players featured and not the number of actual cards including the variations.

Type I vs. Type II

A little known fact about this impressive issue is that there are actually two different types. Type I represents the ‘regular’ cards in this set.

A second, significantly rarer type, includes slightly different cards. Type IIs are on a thicker card stock and are slightly smaller (more narrow). There may have previously been some debate if these were actually different cards but they no doubt are as some of the print in the border area indicating a player’s name and team are different.

E107 Breisch-Williams Checklist

These cards are exceedingly rare. SGC has generally only graded a few copies of each.

Players with the team variations are, as identified by Old Cardboard: Anderson, Dahlen, Dillon, Doyle, Elberfeld, Gleason, Kittredge, Lee, Lush, McGuire, Poole, Powell, and Thoney.

  1. Whitey Alpermann
  2. John Anderson
  3. Jimmy Barret
  4. Ginger Beaumont
  5. Fred Beck
  6. Jake Beckley
  7. Harry Bemis
  8. Chief Bender
  9. Bill Bernhard
  10. Harry Bey
  11. Bill Bradley
  12. Fritz Buelow
  13. Nixey Callahan
  14. Scoops Carey
  15. Charley Carr
  16. Bill Carrick
  17. Doc Casey
  18. Frank Chance
  19. Jack Chesbro
  20. Boileryard Clark
  21. Fred Clarke
  22. Jimmy Collins
  23. Duff Cooley
  24. Tommy Corcoran
  25. Bill Coughlan
  26. Lou Criger
  27. Lave Cross
  28. Monte Cross
  29. Bill Dahlen
  30. Tom Daly
  31. George Davis
  32. Harry Davis
  33. Ed Delahanty
  34. Gene DeMont
  35. Pop Dillon
  36. Bill Dinneen
  37. Mike Donlin
  38. Red Donahue
  39. Pat Donovan
  40. Patsy Dougherty
  41. Bill Klondike Douglass
  42. Jack Doyle
  43. Lew Drill
  44. Jack Dunn
  45. Kid Elberfeld
  46. Duke Farrell
  47. Hobe Ferris
  48. Elmer Flick
  49. Buck Freeman
  50. Bill Freil
  51. Dave Fultz
  52. Ned Garvin
  53. Bill Gilbert
  54. Harry Gleason
  55. Kid Gleason
  56. John Gochnauer
  57. Danny Green
  58. Noodles Hahn
  59. Bill Hallman
  60. Ned Hanlon
  61. Dick Harley
  62. Jack Harper
  63. Topsy Hartsel
  64. Emmet Heidrick
  65. Charlie Hemphill
  66. Weldon Henley
  67. Charlie Hickman
  68. Harry Howell
  69. Frank Isabel
  70. Fred Jacklitsch
  71. Charlie Jones
  72. Fielder Jones
  73. Addie Joss
  74. Mike Kahoe
  75. Willie Keeler
  76. Joe Kelley
  77. Brickyard Kennedy
  78. Frank Kitson
  79. Malachi Kittridge
  80. Candy LaChance
  81. Nap Lajoie
  82. Tom Leach
  83. Wyatt Lee
  84. Sam Leever
  85. Herman Long
  86. Billy Lush
  87. Christy Mathewson
  88. Lew McAllister
  89. Jack McCarthy
  90. Barry McCormick
  91. Ed McFarland
  92. Herm McFarland
  93. Iron Man McGinnity
  94. John McGraw
  95. Deacon McGuire
  96. Jock Menefee
  97. Sam Mertes
  98. Roscoe Miller
  99. Fred Mitchell
  100. Earl Moore
  101. Daniel Murphy
  102. Jack O’Connor
  103. Al Orth
  104. Dick Padden
  105. Fred Parent
  106. Roy Patterson
  107. Heinie Peitz
  108. Deacon Phillipi
  109. Wiley Piatt
  110. Ollie Pickering
  111. Eddie Plank
  112. Ed Poole
  113. Jack Powell
  114. Mike Powers
  115. Claude Ritchey
  116. James Ryan
  117. Ossie Schreckengost
  118. Kip Selbach
  119. Socks Seybold
  120. Jimmy Sheckard
  121. Ed Siever
  122. Harry Smith
  123. Tully Sparks
  124. Jake Stahl
  125. Harry Steinfeldt
  126. Sammy Strang
  127. Willie Sudhoff
  128. Joe Sugden
  129. Billy Sullivan
  130. Jack Taylor
  131. Ira Thomas
  132. Fred Tenney
  133. Jack Thoney
  134. Jack Townsend
  135. George Van Haltren
  136. Rube Waddell
  137. Honus Wagner
  138. Bobby Wallace
  139. Jack Warner
  140. Jimmy Wiggs
  141. Jimmy Williams
  142. Vic Willis
  143. George Wiltse
  144. George Winters
  145. Bob Wood
  146. Joe Yeager
  147. Cy Young
  148. Chief Zimmer

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