T51 Murad College Series

The Murad College Series was comprised of 6 series of 25 cards each. The first two series included two editions, with the second edition having slight modifications. Williams College was in the 1st series of 25 and has two editions. Northwestern University was in the 2nd series and also has two editions. Luther College was in the 5th series, and Xavier College was in the last series. A total of 6 card comprise the complete set of "basket ball" T51 cards. As an example, I own a T51 card lacking all gold coloring. The American Card Catalog makes reference to cards with "unfinished errors" in printing. Murad T51 cards were manufactured by S.Anargyros. Each card refers to "Factory #7, 3rd DIST. N.Y." In addition, many of these cards were stamped on the back side with a "Packer No." That packer number is a part of the history of the card. Yet, PSA actually treats these cards as marked and places an "MK" in the grade. In many cases, Murad cards without the packer number are simply more warn. I think this is an area where PSA could embrace the history of the card and accept the stamping as a normal part of the card. Finally, the Murad T51 card is frequently called the oldest basketball card in existence. It was produced in the 1909-11 time frame. I'll call it 1909-10 on the website based on entries by various tobacco experts. I do think there are other items that can stake a claim as the oldest. However, it really goes back to our definition of what a card is. I will include an entry for these in both tobacco premiums and sports cards.

1909-10 Luther College

1909-10 Northwestern Univ, 2nd. edition

1909-10 Northwestern Univ, first edition 1910

1909-10 Williams College,first edition

1909-10 Williams College,no gold, error

1909-10 Williams College,second edition 1910

1909-10 Xavier College