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The 1910 T210 Old Mill Tobacco card of Joe Jackson is one of card collecting's "dream cards." This is one of those cards that anyone who really looks at the history of cards, and understands what has been issued for all players, will appreciate as one of the most fascinating and noteworthy baseball cards ever issued. It is also the only tobacco card of Joe Jackson, and one of the very few cards of Jackson ever issued. This card features Jackson as a minor leaguer with New Orleans in 1910. This is not, in fact, Jackson's rookie card, as he appears in the 1909 E90-1 American Caramel series with the Philadelphia Athletics. Connie Mack discovered Jackson and gave him his first chance in the majors. Jackson played a total of ten games with the A's in 1908 and 1909. He spent the majority of 1909 in the minors and started the 1910 season in New Orleans. Mack traded him to Cleveland in the middle of the 1910 season with the provision that he would not report until his New Orleans season was over. This rare Old Mill card features Jackson in 1910 with New Orleans. The T210 set is comprised of eight different series, each representing a different minor league. With 640 players, it is the largest tobacco set of the twentieth century and is immediately identifiable due to its distinctive red borders. Jackson is part of "Series 8" which features Southern Leaguers, and which happens to be the rarest series of the T210 Old Mill set. Understandably, Joe Jackson is by far the key card in the set. Fewer than ten Joe Jackson Old Mill cards are known to exist and it is without question one of his rarest and most sought after cards. T210 Old Mills are somewhat fragile. The red borders are very susceptible to damage and the surfaces are very susceptible to creases. They are usually found in rough shape. This example has a very strong Very Good to Excellent appearance. The card has been encapsulated by PSA but not graded, due to the slight sloping wave to the cut of the card. PSA interprets this as a possible trim; however, we have no question that this example is not trimmed. Early cards (most notably Old Judges, for example) occasionally have unusual, imperfect sloping cuts that are unrelated to trimming, and this is such a case. This card originates from an estate sale in the Baltimore area in the 1980s which included a large collection of T210 Old Mill cards. The card has been consigned directly from the original buyer at this sale, who purchased the entire 300-card collection. There was only one Jackson card in the collection. All fifteen T210 "Series 8" cards from this collection share the characteristic of having the same very subtle inferior cut, confirming that these rare "Series 8" card examples were cut differently, whether very carefully by hand from sheets, or simply by an inferior cutting process. The cut on this card is original to 1910, and the card was issued exactly in this manner. As is often the case with these red-bordered cards, there is some wear to the red border, mostly in the corners. The card is full size, in fact barely fitting into its PSA holder, with wear entirely inconsistent with modern trimming, with no creases whatsoever, and with virtually flawless centering. The card features a tremendous photographic image of a young Joe Jackson, looking forward to an exciting Major League career. The contrast and sharp detail in this photo are extraordinary. Every button, every line on his cap, even the detail of the patch on his sleeve is crisp and flawlessly clear. The card is extremely bright and clean, both front and back, with even, moderate corner wear, and a very little minor edge wear. The reverse is bright and clean, slightly off-center, with bold advertisement print. This is an extraordinary and extremely attractive example of one of card collecting's rarest and most desirable cards, featuring the legendary Joe Jackson as a minor leaguer early in his baseball career. Reserve $5,000. Estimate $10,000/$20,000. SOLD FOR $92,800.00