Your Information Resource for Vintage Baseball Cards
  eNews Issue #103 (November 2012)         www.oldcardboard.com


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Welcome to Old Cardboard, the most complete reference resource for information about collecting vintage baseball cards and related memorabilia.  More information about this eNewsletter and its companion website and magazine are found at the bottom of this page.

Contents:
1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar
2. E121 (W575-1) Card Group Back Variations
3. Latest Additions to the OldCardboard.com Website
4. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings)


1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar

The following is a summary of vintage card events coming up in the next 30-45 days. For the most current listings on additional vintage card shows and auctions, see the Key Events Calendar on the Old Cardboard website.


OC eNewsletter Sponsor

November 2012

24San Leandro, CA San Francisco Bay Area Show (see web page for details)
28-29Phone/Internet Legendary Auctions (see website for details).
29Phone/Internet Sterling Sports Auctions (see website for details).
29Phone/Internet CollectAuctions.com Auction (see website for details).

December 2012

1Phone/Internet SCP Auctions Fall Premier Auction (see website for details).
5Phone/Internet Goodwin & Co. Auction (see website for details).
6Phone/Internet Greg Bussineau Sports Rarities Auction (see website for details).
7-9King of Prussia, PA Philadelphia Sports Card & Memorabilia Show (see website for details).
12-13Phone/Internet Clean Sweep Auctions (see website for details).
13Phone/Internet Huggins & Scott Auctions (see website for details).
13Phone/Internet Collectible Classics Auction (see website for details).
15Phone/Internet Memory Lane Auction (see website for details).
27Phone/Internet Sterling Sports Auctions (see website for details).


2. E121 (W575-1) Card Group Back Variations

Queen City Cigar Store -- Wheat

Front

Back

Four newly discovered E121-like cards with "Queen City Cigar Store" backs have stimulated new interest in the E121 card family.

The four players featured were Zack Wheat (the only Hall of Famer in the group; see card images at right) along with Phillies Short Stop Art Fletcher, Browns Right Fielder Wm. C. Jacobson and Indians First Baseman George Burns. The cards were all sold in the Goodwin & Co. auction earlier this month. The cards sold for $2,938, $688, $571 and $519, respectively, including a bidders premium.

The card's original sponsor, Queen City Cigar Store, was located in Sioux Falls, So. Dakota. Remarkably, the ninety-year-old E121-like cards with "Queen City" backs were first revealed to the vintage hobby only last year in the Spring 2011 Robert Edward Auctions (REA) auction. The four new cards were in addition to last year's find.

Examples of E121 Group backs from all known sponsors are shown below. Relatively minor back variations exist for some sponsors, as noted. All of the cards are traditionally considered to be "E121-like" (i.e., back variations of the E121 American Caramel set). Some collectors, however, prefer to view them as "W575-Like," or various back printings of the blank-backed W575-1 set.

Gallery: E121-Group Card Back Variations

Series of 80*

Series of 120

Clark's Bread

D327 Holsum Bread*

Keating Candy

Witmor Candy (horizontal)

Gertenrich Candy

Leader Theater

Gassler's Bread

W575-1 (D383 Koester Bread, etc.)

Haffner's Bread

Shotwell Mfg.

Herpolsheimer's

Queen City Cigar Store

Henry A. Johnson*

Whitmor Candy
(verticle)

D350-3
Standard Biscuit*

Asterisks (*) indicate
that additional relatively
minor variations are known
for these card backs.

Fakes?

Oodles
Candy Bar

Kendig's
Milk Chocolate

Interestingly, several of the back sponsors (D383 Koester Bread and D350-3 Standard Biscuit, for example) are listed separately in the American Card Catalog.

Curiously, two card backs associated with the E121 Group are printed with promotions for Oodles ("the World's Largest Candy Bar") and Kendig's Milk Chocolate. Examples of both are shown at right. It is generally believed, however, that these were printed on the blank backs of W575-1 cards several decades after the W575-1 cards were originally produced. They are therefore not considered legitimate 1921 E121 Group variations.

Because of the seemingly endless front-back variations found for E121-like cards, the group is one of the most complex and challenging to study and collect, rivaling even the most rigorous studies of T206 back sponsors and factory back variations. There are no complete "master sets" of the E121 Group and because new cards are still being found more than ninety years after they were originally produced, it is not likely that a master checklist will be considered complete anytime soon.

The above Gallery of E121-Like Card Backs has been added to the E121 page on the Old Cardboard website. For a detailed discussion of all of the above E121-Group cards, see Rhett Yeakley's article, "1920-22 E121 and Related Sets: Many of the Mysteries Unraveled" in Issue #26 (Fall 2011) of Old Cardboard Magazine.


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3. Latest Additions to the OldCardboard.com Website

We are continually expanding the Old Cardboard website with more set profiles, checklists and card galleries. Recent (past 30-40 days) additions include:

Set Profiles have been added for:
1914   New York Evening Sun Supplements

Set Checklists have been added for:
1914   D303   General Baking Co.
1914   New York Evening Sun Supplements

Set Galleries have been added for:
1914   New York Evening Sun Supplements
1921   E121 Group Backs

Updating the website with checklists and full set galleries for additional vintage sets is an ongoing project, so check back often to check out the latest additions. There are now many thousands of card images on the website and the list continues to grow every month. We welcome and encourage feedback with checklist additions, card images, error corrections and suggestions. Please send all input to editor@oldcardboard.com.

In addition to these additions to the Old Cardboard website, we continue to expand and refine our eBay Custom Search Links to make finding vintage baseball cards on eBay easier than ever. The results of these searches are continuously changing, so check back often to find the most recent listings.


4. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings)

Burr-McIntosh Update. An image titled "New York American League Baseball Team, 1904" in an article in Issue #28 (page 36) of Old Cardboard magazine was identified as possibly coming from the November 1904 issue of Burr-McIntosh Monthly. Reader Doug Goodman has informed us that in fact the image was printed two months earlier, in the September 1904 issue of the New-York-based magazine.

Lithographs Feature Jewish Players. Although not exactly vintage as we define it at Old Cardboard, a recently released series of numbered lithographs that feature twenty-six living Jewish baseball players does include such "old timers" as Al Rosen (now age 88) and Sandy Koufax (now 76). Perhaps most striking is the fact that all 26 players have signed the brilliantly colorful artwork--a remarkable accomplishment in itself. For further details, see www.jewishbaseballplayer.com.


Lyman and Brett Hardeman
Old Cardboard, LLC.

Old Cardboard, LLC. was established in December 2003, to help bring information on vintage baseball card collecting to the hobbyist.  Produced by collectors for collectors, this comprehensive resource consists of three components: (1) Old Cardboard Magazine, (2) a companion website at www.oldcardboard.com and (3) this eNewsletter. The Old Cardboard website contains more than 500 pages of descriptive reference information for baseball card sets produced fifty years ago or longer.  Each of these set summaries has a direct set-specific link to auctions and a similar link to 's powerful search engine for further research.  The website also includes a Show and Auction Calendar, an eBay Top 50 Vintage Sellers List, and much more.  As a result, the Old Cardboard website makes a great "Alt-tab" companion for vintage card shoppers and researchers.  Old Cardboard eNews provides current hobby news, upcoming shows and auctions, and updates to the website and the magazine.  It is published around the middle of each month.  For a FREE subscription to the eNewsletter, or for subscription information on Old Cardboard Magazine, please visit the website at www.oldcardboard.com.  If you find this information resource helpful, please tell your friends.  We need your support and your feedback. Thank you.