Winter Auction 2018 Ending February 17
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/18/2018
Graded 35 GD+ 2.5 by SGC, the lone example at its tier and one of just nineteen copies, in total, validated across all levels by that company. The legend of Joe Jackson is widely known to all baseball enthusiasts. Unfortunately for modern collectors, the great player's career was abbreviated by scandal, and his inclusion in contemporary card sets was correspondingly limited. Besides a strip card, a few black-and-white issues and a caramel card from his early days with the Athletics, there are very few period mementos of the legendary hitter's career. Accordingly, Cracker Jack's decision to include Joe Jackson in the company's inaugural 1914 offering is a particularly fortuitous one. The Cracker Jack issue, on the basis of an aesthetic brilliance that yields unparalleled visual splendor, is clearly the industry's collectible of choice with respect to the revered, yet tragic, figure. This example's design provides the classic, colorful batting pose of Jackson, placed against the brightest-imaginable background. Stylized letters identifying the card as one of the "Cracker Jack Ball Players" decorate the top edge of the design's boundary. As advanced collectors are well aware, Cracker Jack's 1914 cards are much more difficult to locate than their 1915 counterparts due to the fact that they were only distributed directly with the candied popcorn and were not available as part of a factory set. The offered card boasts bold colors, and its image is positioned just slightly toward the obverse's left side. The corners exhibit natural wear that's generally inoffensive, and the release's typical product stains are relatively mild. The card's surfaces are commendable, and – with the exception of weakness near the tip of the top-right corner – largely spared from the creasing and handling faults that are often associated with the issue. Good-plus condition, with a favorable aesthetic presentation.