October 24, 2024: Fall Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/24/2024
Presented here is perhaps the most attractive and iconic baseball card issue of the past half-century, the fabled Perez-Steele Hall of Fame Postcard set, found here in its essentially as-issued condition, which is to say Near-Mint to Mint or better, with perhaps a few Near-Mint. The 3 ½-by-5 ½-inch cards feature the elegant watercolor artwork of the legendary Dick Perez, noted for many years as the preeminent artist in the baseball arena. Offered in 15 Series over the course of 21 years, the Postcards were limited to print run of 10,000, with each individual Postcard bearing a serial number that would be retained by the purchaser if he/she so desired; the offered set is all of the same Serial No. 2,352/10,000. From the Series One lineup which included the inaugural class of Hall of Famers Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Honus Wagner to Series 15 and the final Postcard No. 253 of Dave Winfield, the spectacular Perez artwork brought every Hall of Famer into the fold just as profoundly as the iconic plaques on the wall in bucolic Cooperstown. The brainchild of Perez and the legendary Irishman Frank Steele who engineered the licensing link to the Hall of Fame, the production and distribution of the Postcards were a family business for more than two decades with his wife Peggy in suburban Philadelphia. Devised as an homage to the wonderful 19th Century Allen & Ginter artwork, Perez and Steele would team up to similarly honor some of the other great early tobacco issues with subsequent PS issues over the next two decades, including Great Moments, Celebrations and Masterworks, all featuring the legendary Hall of Famers from several generations. The 15th and final Series of the Hall of Fame Postcards was issued in 2001, one year after Steele’s death and the same year that Peggy Steele proposed an internship program at the Hall of Fame funded in his memory. Frank Steele would forge another important relationship for hobbyists shortly after the launch of the Hall of Fame Postcards Series in 1980, pushing the Perez watercolor brilliance in front of an even wider audience with the Diamond Kings subset produced by fledgling card maker Donruss. For the entire tenure of the Perez-Steele run, the Postcards helped fuel and elevate the autograph blizzard that was to come in the 1980s and beyond, with the stunning Postcards being the distinctive, high-end vehicle for advanced autograph collectors around the country.
1980-2001 Perez-Steele Hall of Fame Postcards Complete Set (275)
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