The 1895 Mayo Cut Plug Cards: Sports History Uncovered

If you’ve spent any time poking around the older corners of the hobby, the 1895 Mayo Cut Plug set has probably come up in conversation. Maybe it was an uncle talking about a card he once saw in a shop, or a forum post showing a faded photograph of a rare example. Either way, these cards have a way of sticking in your mind because they’re familiar in reputation but almost impossible to see in person.

Issued by P.H. Mayo & Brother of Richmond, Virginia, around 1894–1895, the set—cataloged today as N300—was packaged with plug chewing tobacco. Small photographic portraits with the player’s name printed beneath, blank backs, and no statistics, the cards look more like studio photos than commercial inserts. Most weren’t preserved, and that’s part of what makes them compelling.e the checklist itself is established among registries and reference guides, the population numbers tell a different story. A handful of cards appear only sporadically in auctions or grading reports. Some players’ cards have single‑digit populations in anything above low grade, and a few key spots have no high‑grade examples publicly recorded. That tells collectors one thing clearly: many cards remain missing, ungraded, or unseen for long stretches. [Heritage Auctions][1]

Coming across an 1800s card collection in even half complete status is an exciting chance, as a set of siblings from southern Maine discovered when helping their parents clean out their home revealed 15 "cabinet cards" from the Judge cigarette company, of which only 469 examples have been documented by third-party grading and authentication services.[Forbes][4]

"Finding even a fragment of this set at an estate sale or old collection listing is a real surprise,” wrote a collector after a small group of Mayo cards emerged from a long‑forgotten scrapbook.
"It’s like discovering a piece of the past someone tucked away by accident, and it gives you hope that more are out there waiting to be found.”

That reaction is grounded in reality. Auction archives show lots where Mayo cards were found in surprising groupings—sometimes as part of larger collections or unexpected discoveries of multiple nineteenth‑century cards. In 2020, a newly discovered group of Mayo N300 and football N302 cards, including rare examples, sold at auction, reminding collectors that discoveries still happen. [collectrea.com][2]

Price history reflects the scarcity. Individual cards in modest condition can sell for a few hundred to several thousand dollars, depending on grade and player. Hall of Famers in strong condition often command prices well into four figures or beyond when they surface at auction—the only example of a high‑grade Ed Delahanty Mayo card realized more than $20,000 recently. [collectrea.com][3] Near‑complete Mayo sets have traded in the five‑figure range as well, but complete sets are so rarely offered that each sale becomes a reference point in hobby pricing. [Heritage Auctions][1]

Despite the gaps and the uncertainty, there’s a strong pull for collectors. The 1895 Mayo Cut Plug set isn’t just old; it’s unfinished. Many cards remain ungraded, some are likely still tucked away in cardboard boxes and attics, and a few may never surface at all. The combination of rarity, historical value, and mystery keeps collectors returning to registries, diving into auction archives, and watching for the next surprise find.

It’s about more than just the cards,” one forum poster summed it up.
“It’s like watching a treasure hunt.”

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[1]: https://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball-cards/sets/1895-n300-mayo-cut-plug-sgc-graded-near-set-47-48-/a/50023-50169.s "1895 N300 Mayo Cut Plug SGC-Graded Near set (47/48). ... Baseball | Lot #50169 | Heritage Auctions"

[2]: https://collectrea.com/archives/2020/Spring/2081/1895-n302-and-n300-mayos-cut-plug-football-and-baseball-collection-20-including-four-frank-hinkey-newly-discovered "1895 N302 and N300 Mayo's Cut Plug Football and Baseball Collection (20) Including Four Frank Hinkey - Newly Discovered! | REA Archive"

[3]: https://collectrea.com/archives/2025/Summer/106/1895-n300-mayos-cut-plug-ed-delahanty-psa-ex-mt-6-1-of-1-highest-graded "1895 N300 Mayo's Cut Plug Ed Delahanty PSA EX-MT 6 - 1 of 1 - Highest Graded! | REA Archive in 2017.

[4]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidseideman/2017/04/24/a-new-big-find-100k-trove-of-1800s-baseball-cards-kept-in-family-scrap-book "