Indian Fever

Click here to view a gallery of R306 Butter Cream cards

Until spring 2007, it had been some time since I attempted to collect a set of cards. In the early 1990s I put together the 1954 Dan Dee Potato Chip set, mainly because nearly half of the 29 cards are Indians. And a few years after that I collected the 1952 Num Num Potato Chips set, which is composed totally of Indians.

Then, in early 2007, it was announced that hobby legend Lionel Carter would be selling his collection. Many of the cards graded by SGC would have their heritages noted on the card holder. I knew that not only would many of Mr. Carter's cards not match up with my collecting interests, they also would exceed my budget. I decided, however, that I'd keep my eyes open for something that would be a good fit, because I really wanted to add part of Mr. Carter's collection to mine.

I found a good opportunity when a small group of 1933 Butter Creams (R306) came on the auction block. Included was a card of Cleveland Indian George Uhle. The other four cards are notable, too. Three are Hall of Famers -- Mickey Cochrane, Al Simmons and Charles Klein -- and the fourth, Muddy Ruel, is among the highest-graded Butter Cream by SGC (admittedly, for what that's worth).

After obtaining the lot, I decided to attempt to complete the Butter Cream set, figuring that if I became bored, I'd sell every card except the Uhle.

I should note that a "complete" Butter Cream set in my book will be 29 of the 30 known cards. There are less than five known examples of the R306 Babe Ruth, and common sense tells me that one of them never will reside in my collection.

But that's OK. So far collecting Butter Creams has been fun. They're scarce enough that one doesn't come around all that often, but not so scarce that I'm adding a card only once every year. Plus, there are three Indians and a slew of Hall of Famers. And most important to me, some of the cards in my set once belonged to Lionel Carter.

Click here to view a gallery of R306 Butter Cream cards