It is commonly called the Anonymous Set of 30 as the manufacturer is not listed on the back of the card. This isn't uncommon for cards from this era. With several E98s including a stamp on the back from Old Put Cigars some refer to the set as the Old Put set as well.
The cards with the Old Put overprint sell for a premium in the open market and are scarce, but they can be found. The backs of the cards have a numbered checklist but the cards themselves are unnumbered. It is also full of HOFers and big names like, Mathewson, Wagner, Cobb, Walsh, Young, Lajoie and Connie Mack to name a few.
They also come in different color backgrounds; red, green, blue and orange. I'd personally like to acquire at least one of each color and so far only have red and green.
There was a huge significant find of E98s in 2012 in Defiance, Ohio, from a family who previously owned a meat market. This find was called the Black Swamp Find (BSF) and cards that were graded from the find have this provenance on the flips. These cards were all in superior condition with many grading 8s, 9s and 10s. This inflated the population of the series considerably and the once scarce cards became almost common as a result. I still like the pre-BSF cards in lesser condition the best.
Some have questioned the authenticity of the BSF cards and think they may have been printed more recently and are not genuine while many others this that is incorrect.
My cards are obviously not BSF cards and were part of the smaller population of E98s that existed before the find.
Like the name says, there are 30 cards in the set. The Tenney card has his name misspelled Tenny and the Cy Young card is actually that of Irv Young. Since I refuse to pay Cy Young prices for an Irv Young card, I will never actually complete this set.
Here is the checklist for the set:
| Card* | Player | Team |
| 1 | "Christy" Mathewson | N. Y. Nat'l |
| 2 | (John) McGraw | N. Y. Nat'l |
| 3 | "Johnny" Kling | Chi. Nat'l |
| 4 | (Frank) Chance | Chicago Nat'l |
| 5 | "Hans" Wagner | Pitts Nat'l |
| 6 | Fred Clarke | Pittsburgh Nat'l |
| 7 | Roger Bresnahan | St. Louis Nat'l |
| 8 | Hal Chase | NY Amer. |
| 9 | Russ Ford | NY Amer. |
| 10 | Ty Cobb | Detroit Amer. |
| 11 | Hughey Jennings | Detroit Amer. |
| 12 | Chief Bender | Phila. Amer. |
| 13 | Ed Walsh | Chicago Amer. |
| 14 | Cy Young | Cleveland |
| 15 | Al Bridwell | N. Y. Nat'l |
| 16 | Miner Brown | Chicago, Nat'l |
| 17 | George Mullin | Detroit, Amer. |
| 18 | Chief Meyers | NY Nat'l |
| 19 | Hippo Vaughn | NY Amer. |
| 20 | Red Dooin | Phila. Amer. |
| 21 | Fred Tenny (Tenney) | NY Nat'l |
| 22 | Larry McLean | Cin. Nat'l |
| 23 | Nap Lajoie | Cleveland, Amer. |
| 24 | Joe Tinker | Chicago, Nat'l |
| 25 | Johnny Evers | Chicago, Nat'l |
| 26 | Harry Davis | Phila. Amer. |
| 27 | Eddie Collins | Phila. Amer. |
| 28 | Bill Dahlen | Phila. Amer. |
| 29 | Connie Mack | Phila. Amer. |
| 30 | Jack Coombs | Phila. Amer. |
This has become one of my favorite sets and I'm slow chipping away at it. Here are the images of the cards I currently have.
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| Russ Ford N.Y. Amer |
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| Hal Chase N.Y. Amer (Lionel Carter Collection) |
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| Fred Clarke Pttsburgh Nat'l |
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| "Miner" Brown Chicago Nat'l |
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| Roger Bresnahan St. Louis Nat'l |
I really like how they look in the SGC slabs and try to find them graded that way, but I couldn't turn down the raw Ford for the price.
I hope you like this set as much as I do and enjoyed seeing mine.
Enjoy the hobby all...it's a great one.
