Collector Stories | Old-School Allen & Ginter Prewar Cards

Exploring Anson Whaley’s Impressive Vintage Collection

Date: Nov 10, 2025

Author: Greg Bates

Topics: Allen & Ginter, Cards and Culture, Collector Stories

Length: 628 Words

Reading Time: ~4 Minutes

Anson Whaley’s interest in vintage trading cards stretches back a decade. After collecting 1948 Bowman Baseball, Whaley worked his way backwards, hitting 1933 Goudey, tobacco cards from the T205, T206, and T207 sets, and finally, Allen & Ginter from 1888 and 1889.

While working on the Allen & Ginter sets — with the N28s hitting in 1888 and the N29s the following year — Whaley went all-in on 1909-11 T206 cards. In order to complete the famous 520-card run (which he did, minus the big four cards), Whaley had to sell off his Allen & Ginter collection.

It wasn’t until a few years later that he truly fell in love with both the N28 and N29 releases.

“I’ve always been fascinated by those cards,” said the 47-year-old, who lives just outside of Pittsburgh. “I love the basic design. The all-white background, it’s so plain. But they just look so crisp in person.”

In October 2024, Whaley finished the 50-card N29 set. Just a few months later, he wrapped up the 50-card N28 release.

Collecting Allen & Ginter N28 and N29

“The N29 doesn’t have the big names like N28, like Cap Anson and King Kelly, and some other Hall of Famers,” Whaley said. “They didn’t repeat any of those guys, so the N29 baseball players, they weren’t nearly as prestigious. But the thing with N29s is they were the second series, and they’re definitely rarer.”

There are 10 baseball cards in the N28 set, six of which are players who eventually made the Baseball Hall of Fame over a half century later. Whaley’s favorite N28 card has to be Cap Anson, the first player in MLB history to log 3,000 career hits. Since Whaley’s first name is Anson, he loves to collect Cap’s cards in particular.

“I also really love the sharpshooters, Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley, in N28,” Whaley said. “Those are priced like baseball players. People have really started collecting them. They’ve just got a cool look, a cool vibe.”

John L. Sullivan is a big name in the N28 set as well. The first heavyweight boxing champion of the world is pictured shirtless, showing off his biceps on his card. In the N29 set — which features six baseball cards, including Hall-of-Famer Buck Ewing — Whaley particularly enjoys the four lawn tennis player cards. “Some people think they’re the earliest tennis cards,” he explained.

The majority of Whaley’s Allen & Ginter cards are raw, with about 20 being graded. He has his Cap Anson N28 card slabbed at a PSA 4.

Completing a Vintage A&G Journey

Finishing off the N28 and N29 sets were an important accomplishment for Whaley. “It was really cool for me, because the first pre-war sets that I got into were these before T206,” Whaley said. “It was cool in that sense to go back and complete them. I had gotten about 60 percent complete when I sold them the first time, and then I didn’t think I would ever come back to it, probably. But it’s definitely one of the top five [sets] that I’ve built.”

Now that he has his pre-war Allen & Ginter sets completed, Whaley has turned his attention to other vintage sets. He’s currently working on 1952 and ’53 Topps, as well as the complete run of Bowman from 1948-55.

“I love the early Bowman cards,” Whaley explained. “I remember as a kid in ’89 when Bowman first reintroduced the brand, and that’s literally all I bought that whole summer. I was looking for Griffey rookies. That was one of the most popular sets of my childhood.”