A heavyweight champ of “hard cards” and one of the most obscure of pre-1900 boxing cards. This is one of only 2 in the N150 Honest Long Cut set, both featuring John L. Sullivan the legendary bare-knuckle brawler who put on gloves and beat Gentleman Jim Corbett for the heavyweight title in 1892, then defended it for 5 years. The dashing Sully was a marketer’s dream with his skills and common man’s appeal (epitomized by his hard drinking ways and giving away most of the money he earned in the ring), and graced many items even years after he hung up the gloves. However, one should NOT confuse this photo card with the plethora of John L. cabinet photos that made the rounds. The N150’s were produced on a printing press, the way Mayo Cut Plug cards were. The cabinets were antique photos made from 2 pieces glued together, the cardboard photographer’s card and the actual photo made from a negative. The far rarer N150’s found in Honest Long Cut tobacco product packages, had a integrated sepia toned image on a single cardboard card, with a blank black verso. This splendid example was cut a bit much to the right, removing the right border, as well as being centered a bit crookedly top to bottom. However the classic Sullivan image above the bottom border printed “Honest Long Cut” is nearly flawless save for a small dark stain over his suit jacket’s left right shoulder and a mild area of paper loss midway on the right edge. Also a wee bit of gnarling on the upper left corner. Overall, a very edifying and exciting EX+, and a real unburied doubloon from the days John L. ruled with his fists.