1911 T201 Mecca Cigarettes Complete Set All Cards Graded (50) Incl. Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Tris Speaker etc. – SGC

Description

T201s, also known as Mecca Double Folders, were a type of cigarette card issued in 1911 by the Mecca Cigarette Company, then part of the American Tobacco Company. The collection featured color drawings of professional baseball players. The T201 designation comes from the American Card Catalogue, an authoritative guide to trading cards issued prior to 1951.  The set consisted of a total of 50 cards measuring 2+3⁄16 by 4+3⁄4 inches (5.6 cm × 12.1 cm). The 100 players pictured include a number of Hall of Famers, such as Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, and Tris Speaker.

T201s were called Double Folders because of their innovative design. Each card featured two players, one in a full picture on the front and one on half of the back. The other half of the back featured player statistics (one of the first baseball trading cards to do so) and an ad for Mecca. The cards were designed so that, when they were folded appropriately, the player on the back would appear on the legs of the picture on the front. Topps borrowed this idea in designing its 1955 Doubleheaders set.

The name Mecca chosen for the cigarette brand was related to an increasing demand for Turkish tobacco at the beginning of the 20th century, so Arabic names helped increase sales (Hassan or Fatima were other brands used by the company by then).

Presented is a complete 50-card set of T201 “Double Folders” produced for the Mecca brand in 1911. Combine an enticing concept (2 teammates, one card) with a simple fold and you have a “double folder.” The highlight is that all cards in the set have been graded by SGC. The breakdown includes:

(13) 1 PR – Christy Mathewson – Albert Bridwell; H.L. Gaspar – Thomas Clarke; Charles Street – Walter Johnson; Edward Sweeney – Harold Chase; P.H. Dougherty – Harry Lord; Edward Grant – John McLean;  John Dygert – J.B. Seymour; E.H. Killian – Edward Fitzpatrick; George Wiltse – Fred Merkle; Fredrick Payne – Edward Walsh; John Thoney – Edward Cicotte; Leonard Cole – John Kling and Earl Moore – John Lobert.

(8) 1.5 FR – Russel Ford – Otis Johnson; John Butler – William Abstein; William Bergen – Zack Wheat; Thomas Leach – George Gibson; B. Byrne – Fred Clarke; Charles Starr – Arthur McCabe; Edgar Summers – Hugh Jennings and A.J. Hauser – Ernest Lush.

(8) 2 GD – Otto Williams – Orville Woodruff; George Graham – A.A. Mattern; Norman Elberfeld – George McBride; John Coombs – Ira Thomas; John Lapp – John Barry; Jake Daubert – G.N. Rucker – Joseph McGinnity – Lewis McCarty and Mordeci Brown – Arthur Hofman.

(5) 2.5 GD+ – Tris Speaker – Earl Gardner; Roger Bresnahan – Miller Huggins; Frank Chance – Johnny Evers; J.T. Meyers – Larry Doyle and Roy Miller – C. L. Herzog.

(11) 3 VG – Ty Cobb – Sam Crawford; Reuben Oldring – Charles Bender; Harry Baker – Thomas Downie; Charles Hickman – Harry Hinchman; Robert Wallace – Joseph Lake; Eddie Collins – Frank Baker; Fred Odwell – Jerry Downs; W.E. Donovan – Ralph Stroud; Walter Blair – Roy Hartzell; Joseph Ward – Edward Foster; and A.P. Leifeld – M.E. Simon.

(3) 4 VG-EX – Charles Dooin – John Titus; Frank LaPorte – James Stephens and James Barrett – Grant McGlynn.

(2) 5 EX – George Stovall – Torrence Turner and Napoleon Lajoie – Fred Falkenberg.

1911 T201 Mecca Cigarettes Complete Set All Cards Graded