1911-1912 C55 Reprint Set

A while back I purchased a reprint set off eBay of the C56 hockey card set from 1910. Last weekend I was able to purchase the other tobacco reprint set that is on the market of the C55 set. Don't let the numbers fool you, C56 came out before C55. Oddly enough, the next set was the C57 set. Makes no sense to me, but then again this was over 100 years ago.

The set was reprinted in 1991 and the book was made by Windhill Publishing.

As you can see, you originally could purchase this book/reprint set for $19.95

In the book there are stories and bios of all the players from the 1911-12 set and a recount of what happened that hockey season. I purchased the book and reprint set for a total of 15 bucks.

Here the back of the book

It turns out that the book/set was limited to 50 000 copies. Which means if you want one, I am sure there are some out there to be purchased. Oddly enough, even though I only paid 15 for mine, I have seen these go for 50 bucks on eBay!

This set is larger than the C56 set having 45 cards instead of 36. The C56 set had rookies of Cyclone Taylor and Art Ross. Meanwhile, the C55 set had rookies of Joe Malone, George Vezina, and Joe Hall. The value of the C55 cards are much higher than the C56 likely due to number of existing copies and the fact that the C55 are a nicer looking card.

Joe Malone RC - Reprint

Joe once scored 7 goals in an NHL game but what some people don't know he is also scored 9 goals in a playoff game in 1913. He was the first pro player to score an Ovechtrick! His 44 goals in a 20 game season stood as the NHL record until 1944-45 when Maurice Richard scored 50 goals in 50 games.

Here is what the back side of the cards looked like.

Looks like Art Ross was a busy player travelling across three provinces in 4 years. Joe Hall did win a Cup with the Kenora Thistles in 1907.

Georges Vezina RC - Reprint

Georges Vezina is by far the most valuable card in the actual C55 set with a Beckett Value of $6000. From my experience, you would be getting a pretty poor conditioned Vezina for that amount and any one in decent shape will be well over $10 000. The most expensive Vezina sold for $100 000 which was graded an 8 by SGC.

This is a beautiful set and a MUST in my opinion for any hockey card collector. Without a doubt it was worth the 15 bucks I paid, and to be honest. I would likely have paid more to have it! I don't think there is any BV to this set. If there is, I would be curious to know but really I wouldn't sell mine for anything!

PS

My scanner made the tops of the cards look like they were mis-cut. I assure you they centering is nice on the cards and looks like the examples given on the cover of the book!

1910-11 Imperial Tobacco Reprint Set

100 years ago, the first hockey set was created. ITG is doing a tribute set to honour the 100 year anniversary of the C56 by creating their Ultimate 10 to look like the original Imperial Tobacco cards. The cards were designed much like other tobacco cards of the time to help protect the cigarettes from being damaged. PSA offers a really neat article on the origins of the C56 set here. I am a fan of vintage cards which is part of the reason why I am working on my own Parkhurst project. After reading the PSA article online and seeing an article in the Aug/Sept Beckett I thought about looking for a reprint set of the C56 series. Sure enough, I was able to find a decent set that was done by the Lancaster Company. I am not too sure about the details of this reprint job, but I was able to purchase the set for $4.95 plus $2.50 shipping on Ebay. Other people are selling it for a bit more but the dealer who sent me this set mailed it pretty quick and the quality is decent. I looks like the cards where hand cut much like the original set was so a couple cards are off-centered. The ink of the back is brown much like the original set so all in all they did a pretty good job maintaining the feel and authenticity of the old cards.

Two of the biggest names from the set were Art Ross and Newsy Lalonde.

Art was famous for his donation of the trophy for the leading scorer and Lalonde was one of the first superstars of Ice Hockey. As you can see from the back of the card it is listed as a reprint. The fronts of the C56 are in colour and with the exception of a few are portrait shots.

My favourite card in the 36 card set is Fred "Cyclone" Taylor.

In this photo Fred looks rather menacing and during this time frame he was one of the most paid athletes in sports and the highest paid player in hockey. He made $5250 for a two month season.

Taylor, Ross and Lalonde along with many others from this set would make it into the HHOF. Each card in the original set is considered to be a RC of each player and for some reason both Jack Marshall and Art Ross end up with two cards a piece in the set. Someday it would be nice to buy a card or two from this set, but for now I will have to settle for the reprint version.