Similar to the illustrated sets of the 1930s and 1940s
these cards are bright, reds and yellows were pretty much the standard. One
thing that you will notice though is that the printing used here is different
than previous sets, the printers used a process called Ben-Day printing where
colored dots are used to create various colors and shading, this is a
relatively inexpensive way to adjust colors. It is pretty common in comic books
and it reminds me of the activity books I had as a kid where I could use a wet
paint brush to create water color paintings.
There are 168 cards on the checklist, the big names
include Blackbeard (Edward Teach) and Anne Bonney. This is one of the more
difficult sets to hunt down, the big name cards rarely show up and even cards
in rough condition tend to sell higher than you would expect.
Greaves was not what you would consider a typical
pirate, he came upon the career by mistake as he was trying to escape his
violent master. While swimming across the Carlisle Bay he climbed on to a ship
assuming it to be a merchant vessel but it turned out to be the ship of the
pirate Captain Hawkins, a very violent pirate. To keep from being killed he
joined the pirate crew but eventually got in a duel versus Hawkins, who he
killed. Greaves was selected the new pirate captain by the crew. He eventually
retired but was captured later and sentenced to die, he escaped from prison
during the Port Royale earthquake of 1692. Eventually he was pardoned and
became a well-known philanthropist.
The card is solid and the card board is stiff. Some of
the colors are strong but there are areas where it has been rubbed away,
noticeable in the green. There is quite a bit of aging discoloration on the
front and back. The back has three spots where it appears that the card may
have been taped in to an album.
I wonder if I can still send 5 wrappers and 25 cents to
Leaf to get the specially designed 32 page album.
Awesome card.
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