1903 E107 Breisch Williams – The FINAL Offerings from The Chris Sullivan Collection

I will never forget the Spring of 2004, when I had my first opportunity to meet Chris Sullivan. After spending an evening with him—selecting consignments for an upcoming auction—he pulled out an album from his closet and showed me what turned out to be about three-fourths of the elusive E107 Breisch Williams baseball card set. He had been working on the set in that binder for almost two decades. From that point on, every conversation with Chris ended in the question, “Are you ready to part with those little black-and-white cards yet?” Eight years later—with the project now being dozens of cards closer to completion, and with a multitude of upgrades bringing the work nearer than ever to perfection—I got the call: he was finally ready to let others enjoy these rare gems.

For a long time an avid Boston Red Sox fan, Chris Sullivan resides in a quiet suburban Massachusetts town, and his desire to begin collecting Breisch Williams cards was kindled by the numerous Red Sox players depicted in the E107 set. A decade before he commenced the seemingly endless quest to obtain E107 subjects, Mr. Sullivan’s love for baseball-related collectibles was triggered by the classic T206 “Monster” issue, from which he began to acquire some of his favorite “Dead Ball Era” stars.

On the following pages, we will be offering the FINAL opportunity to purchase cards from what we believe to be the most significant 20th century baseball card set ever assembled. From the perspective of rarity, as well as that of preservation quality, no individual enthusiast has ever started with a single card purchase and then tenaciously continued to construct a gallery of this magnitude—wherein the graded holdings surpass the industry’s next-best assembly by a substantial margin. As fellow hobbyists, we hope that you will enjoy this presentation and join us in congratulating Chris Sullivan for his incredible achievement of compiling all of the 147 players confirmed in E107 (including a”Type II” Lajoie), plus four additional Type II duplicates and seven “Type I” duplicate player/team variations.

History of E107 Breisch Williams:
The E107 Breisch Williams cards are generally considered to be the first “conventionally sized” baseball card issue of the 1900s. True, the Sporting Life Company began distributing oversized W600 cabinet premiums in 1902, but many elite, vintage card purists forgo the angle of collecting cabinet and/or postcard-sized cardboard artifacts, preferring instead to focus their want lists and associated budgets on pieces of more standard, card-like dimensions. With that in mind, the 1903 distribution of E107’s ended an 8-year drought, with the popular 1895 Mayo’s Cut Plug, 40-subject set (N300s) serving as the last previous baseball card issue fitting the desired parameters. While there is some ambiguity associated with the exact origin of the landmark E107 set, what we do know is that the Breisch Williams Company, Inc. utilized the well-known Caramel Factory in Oxford, PA. to produce its caramel, marshmallow, and cream candy products, and that some of these contained E107 inserts during 1903 and 1904. At the turn of the century, the Oxford factory was one of the most prominent global facilities of its kind, and the organization eventually changed its name to the “Williams Caramel Company” (the namesake of 1910’s E103 Williams Caramel production). Not too long after the E103 issue, the company renamed itself once more, to “Oxford Confectionary,” and took responsibility for the 1921 E253 Oxford Confectionary set. This was the concern’s final baseball card effort, and the business closed for good in 1929—the onset of the Great Depression.

Set Significance and Composition:
The significance of the E107 Breisch Williams set cannot be overemphasized. Baseball had successfully passed into the 20th century, and a stern, virtually unflappable man by the name of Ban Johnson was in the process of rocking the baseball world with his newly formed “American League.” Convincing players to “jump ship” from the established National League, Johnson was able to steal many N.L. stars for his newly formed A.L. teams by offering unprecedented, lucrative salaries. It’s ironic that the initial 1903 calendar-year distribution for E107’s coincides with our National Pastime’s inaugural World Series—where the A.L.’s Boston Club bested the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5 games to 3. Famous for its iconic black-and-white portrait images, many of the Breisch Williams illustrations can be attributed to the legendary photographer Carl Horner. Approximately eighty percent of the images show the players in their period-style uniforms, with the remaining subjects wearing formal attire. There are currently 160 known “Type I” (Basic Set) and 8 “Type II” Breisch Williams subjects, with the 160-subject basic set holding 147 different players and 13 additional team variations. Therefore, a complete “Master Set” encompasses all 168 Type I and Type II subjects—but no such “completed” set is thought to exist.

The issue’s most renowned subjects are Honus Wagner and Christy Mathewson, and both of these incredible gems are extremely rare and valuable. Less than ten specimens (graded and un-graded, combined) of either Wagner or Mathewson have been documented. Of the remaining 21 Cooperstown inductees, some of the more prestigious subjects include Ed Delehanty, Ned Hanlon, Cy Young, Eddie Plank, Addie Joss, Nap Lajoie, Rube Waddell, Wee Willie Keeler, Jack Chesbro and Chief Bender; Delahanty and Hanlon stand out as two of the foremost 19th century stars who were winding down their professional baseball careers in 1903. Population estimates range from one to somewhat fewer than a dozen specimens for most E107 subjects—all E107’s are rare, indeed. E107’s roster of baseball stars serves as a virtual “Who’s Who” of the National Pastime at the beginning of the 1900s.

Elite Condition:
Chris Sullivan’s miraculous 158-subject assembly yields an amazing 3.42 Cumulative G.P.A. (qualifiers notwithstanding), and harbors 127 “highest-graded” specimens. The importance of these details is magnified by the extreme condition sensitivity associated with a typical E107 collectible. Bluntly stated, a majority of Breisch Williams specimens seen by the industry exhibit aesthetic properties commonly associated with “beater” examples. The Sullivan compilation, however, features collectibles that stand head-and-shoulders above the remainder of the hobby’s E107s, and this single, extraordinary group compares very favorably against all other extant copies, combined.

Our highest compliments go to Chris Sullivan for his diligence in carefully selecting these E107 examples over an extended, three-decade period—while assuming the added burden of finding a representative card for each separate player featured in the Breisch Williams issue. Through the years, we have had the distinct honor of offering some of the finest memorabilia that has ever surfaced in the hobby, including several examples of the T206 Honus Wagner “Holy Grail” card. Yet, in view of its stellar desirability, rarity and value, this “Mona Lisa”-like gathering merits consideration to stand among the finest heirlooms that have graced our catalogs.


CLOSE WINDOW