Never judge a card by its corners

In a perfect world, every card in my collection is flawless.
Sharp corners, no creases, no writing, crisp images. Of course, in that perfect world, I already have every George Gibson card, because I also have unlimited funds, and a time machine. And right now we're talking about how awesome my seats were at the 1909 World Series.

Alas, this is the real world.
In the real world, I collect cards that are over 100 years old. And in that world, there are cards that I just don't expect to be able to add to my collection, either because they are too rare or too expensive (often both). In the real world, though, there are collectors that are just as interested as helping a fellow collector add a card to their collection as they are in adding cards to their own.

Such is the case with this card. A long-time collector over on the Net54 Baseball Forum, had this card as a type in his collection. He and I have traded in the past. It's not uncommon for a collector to offer of a specific type in their collection to a collector wanting that specific player. It usually just comes down to finding a comparable card from that set to trade (ie. same issue, comparable calibre player, comparable condition). Truthfully, I've had many collectors make me this offer. But many times the issue is just too tough, or expensive, that making the trade work is difficult. That's why this deal was unique. Realizing the difficulty of making that trade, but understanding how well this card would fit into my collection, he was willing to sell me the card (at a very fair price), realizing it would put a hole in his type collection, but allow me to fill one in my Gibson collection.

So what card is this? The ACC designation is T216 Peoples Tobacco. The cards feature white borders and tobacco ads on the backs like T206 White Borders, but were issued later. The SGC slab that this card sits in attributes it as a 1911-16 issue. Other sources say 1911-14. I do not know which range is correct. Some things I do know: This set features three different ad backs: Kotton Cigarettes, Mino and Virgina Extra. The set also features Federal League players in addition to American and National League players. Oh, and this issue is very tough! Finding them at all is a challenge.

So to add this card to my collection, in any condition, is awesome. I'm thrilled with it, to say the least! I realize there are some creases, and the top right corner is missing, but really, the creases don't take too much away from the image and the ad on the back is complete even with a partially missing corner. Considering I never ever thought I'd own a T216, to add this to my collection at all is a miracle, but the details on how that miracle came about make this card the leading contender for pick-up of the year!