1887 Buchner Gold Coin (N284) Ned Williamson — hands at chest
The pre-Ruth home run king on an 1887 chewing tobacco lithograph, three years after his 27-homer season.
- Issue
- 1887 Buchner Gold Coin (N284)
- Year
- 1887
- Variation
- Hands At Chest
- Subject
- Ed "Ned" Williamson
- Grade
- SGC AUTH
- Cert #
- 8368180
1887 Buchner Gold Coin (N284)
Issued by D. Buchner & Co. of New York with Gold Coin chewing tobacco, these colorful lithographs used generic, stock figures rather than player photographs; the same pose often appears with different names. Around 140 baseball cards of some 116 players are known, issued alongside non-baseball subjects such as jockeys, policemen and actors.
More on this issue →Ed "Ned" Williamson
A star of Cap Anson's Chicago White Stockings, Williamson hit 27 home runs in 1884 — helped by the tiny Lake Front Park dimensions — and that single-season mark stood for 35 years until Babe Ruth hit 29 in 1919. Period writers after his death sometimes called him the greatest player of the 19th century. A true pre-Ruth home-run marker, kept here as context rather than a collecting focus.
More on Ed "Ned" Williamson →