The 1894 Mayo Cut Plug anonymous/John Dunlop card is the rarest football card ever, by general consensus. In fact, the card is often referred to as “the Honus Wagner of football cards.”
That moniker, of course, draws a parallel to the Dunlop and the famous T206 Honus Wagner baseball card that has stood as the most valuable sports card in the world for most of the last 100 years owing to its scarcity and the legend surrounding it (i.e., the reasons the card was pulled from production after just a few were made and released).
As for the Dunlop card, it was part of the the first-ever concerted football card set (as opposed to the first single football card), featuring 35 players from Harvard, Princeton, and Yale.
Harvard’s Dunlop is pictured on this rare football card, though there is no mention of his name — hence the “anonymous” tag it sometimes receives.
How many of these cards exist? Estimates range from about six to as many as 20 known copies, which is super scarce no matter how you cut it.
The good news is that you can often find reprint versions of the cards on eBay for reasonable prices (affiliate link) if you just want to hold a modern version of this hobby antiquity in your hands.

1894 N302 Mayo Cut Plug Football Reprint - Phillip Stillman - Yale Bulldogs
![]() | $0.99 End Date: Wednesday 03/29/2023 09:02:29 EDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
1894 N302 Mayo's Cut Plug Football Frank Hinkey SGC 2
![]() | $1,100.00 End Date: Tuesday 04/18/2023 13:35:09 EDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
1894 N302 Mayo Cut Plug Football Reprint - A.M. Beale - Harvard Crimson
![]() | $0.99 End Date: Wednesday 03/29/2023 09:02:23 EDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
1894 N302 Mayo Cut Plug Football Reprint - H.O. Brown - Princeton Tigers
![]() | $0.99 End Date: Wednesday 03/29/2023 09:02:25 EDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
1894 N302 Mayo's Cut Plug Football Langdon Lea Princeton SGC 1.5 Fair
![]() | $988.00 End Date: Thursday 03/23/2023 12:32:59 EDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
1894 N302 Mayo Cut Plug Football Reprint - Anson Beard - Yale Bulldogs
![]() | $0.99 End Date: Wednesday 03/29/2023 09:02:27 EDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
1894 N302 Mayo Cut Plug Football Reprint - H.W. Barnett - Princeton Tigers
![]() | $0.99 End Date: Wednesday 03/29/2023 09:02:23 EDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
1894 N302 Mayo Cut Plug Football Reprint - M.G. Gouterman - Harvard Crimson
![]() | $0.99 End Date: Wednesday 03/29/2023 09:02:25 EDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
1894 Mayo's Cut Plugs Bert s Harvard Harvard PSA 2 - GOOD 2F 00 0237
![]() | $2,320.00 End Date: Saturday 04/01/2023 14:10:04 EDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
1894 N302 Mayo Cut Plug Football Reprint - C.D. Burt - Princeton Tigers
![]() | $0.99 End Date: Wednesday 03/29/2023 09:02:25 EDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
Recent Comments