Baseball items from the 1870's are exceedingly scarce. This cabinet of Paul Hines was once part of the Don
     Steinbach collection and shows Hines as a member of the 1876 Chicago White Stockings. Hines was a great
     player who started out in 1872 and lasted until 1891. He had a .302 lifetime average, won two batting crowns,
     and baseball's first triple crown in 1878. He also recorded the first unassisted triple play in baseball history. He's
     my personal favorite darkhorse candidate for the Hall of Fame...the 1870's are very underepresented. OK, on to
     condition...the writing on front I believe is standard to the issue...I've seen a few other specimens from the 1876
     Chicago team such as Spaulding, White and Peters and they were all notated in the same style. Card was
     produced by a photography studio in Chicago which appears to be Armstrong noted on the reverse. Photo shows
     Hines with the 1870's style belt and tie. A bat can be seen at his feet. The mount has corner rounding but no
     creasing. Photo has separated from the mount in a couple of small places and shows signs of age. Reverse has a
     few notations (see scan below) and a couple of places where it was once affixed to a scrapbook. I've placed an
     optimistic reserve on this, but if it doesn't sell at my price, I'll just put it back in the safe. Truly a piece for the
     discriminating 19th century collector. Winner pays insurance based on ending amount. Please check out my other
     19th century items this week. Thanks!