I believe I've posted about some of these cards in the past, but here we go...
This is another one of my favorite sets from the 1910 era. Very little is known about these cards so I, of course, don't have much to add to the knowledge that is already available.
These are paper thin "cards" that have been catalogued as E-Unc. A generic term which means that they are believed to be associated with candy distribution somehow (hence the E designation) and are uncatalogued (hence the Unc.).
There is a small checklist of known players, six in total, all Hall of Famers. They are:
- Cobb
- Collins
- Evers
- Mathewson
- Wagner
- Young
That checklist is one I found from many years ago and I am not sure if any others have been found since then.
They are found is three different levels of being cut from whatever they were cut from. Yes, they are hand cut as well. They are either cut down to the size of a standard caramel card, cut out with a diamond shape behind the card, or cut into almost a square with the card in the middle, the diamond shape and the full background with four baseballs in each corner.
These interesting cards are either printed in a red or blue tint with off-white backgrounds. It is believed (I don't know if it has been proven) that all cards are found in both colors.
Images are easily found online, except for the Collins, which I have not found to date.
Here are the cards, in varying completeness, in alphabetical order.
 |
| Ty Cobb w/ diamond background. |
 |
| Johnny Evers cut down to card size. |
 |
| Christy Mathewson w/ diamond background. |
 |
| Honus Wagner cut down to card size. |
 |
| Cy (Irv) Young cut down to card size. |
Notice that all the poses are either that of the subjects' E93 or E98 card except for that of Cy Young, which is his E97 pose.
Also note that the person pictured on the Cy Young card is that of Irv Young and not Cy. I point this out because I hate when Cy Young cards picturing Irv Young are considered Cy Young cards in the hobby. These cards should not be considered Cy Young cards in my opinion. But that's a post for another day I suppose.
I did mention that there is a third level of being cut from whatever these cards were cut from and that third level is that of having the full background with four baseballs in the corners. Here is an image of the Mathewson with this cut.
This is the inspiration for this post. I found this image recently and found it fantastic in it's completeness.
It has been speculated that these were actually cut from notebooks. This image tells us that there was a bit more to the source of the cards than just the card and the diamond background. This card does not have borders on it, so it very well could have been cut from something even larger and a notebook cover would not be out of the question.
I'd love to see a notebook with these "cards" on the cover, uncut, to finally answer the question of where they came from.
Let me know if you've ever seen a Collins from this set, or any subject not listed above.
I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.
Enjoy the hobby all...it's a great one!
4 comments:
In your opinion, does the player in the photo determine who is the subject of the card?
One of the cards that came to me this weekend is a '67 Tigers Rookies with George Korince. It has George Korince's name and stats, but the photo is of another minor leaguer (James Murray Brown). In your opinion is that a Korince card or a Murray card?
Hi Bo,
In your example I believe the card is of the intended player, Korince, with a wrong player image. In the example of the "Cy" Young caramel cards, it is a picture of Irv Young with the caption that says, "Cy" Young. Irv Young was also known as "Young Cy" so, while it is likely that the card was meant to be a Cy Young card, especially since it has Cleveland as the team, the image of Irv just kills it for me. I'll never pay Cy Young prices for the cards that picture Irv. Mostly out of principal now. This is why I will likely never finish my E98 set. I think most collectors hate spending the money needed for these cards because they picture Irv as well.
Now, I just like to point out that these cards are not Cy Young cards (sort of for fun) but also because I, personally, consider them bastardized Cy Young cards that will forever be tainted by the wrong player image.
Similar to how many people will claim the T206 Dunn card is a horizontal just to annoy everyone who doesn't. I think it's all done in fun at this point.
Great question my friend!
AndyH
It's always amazing to me to think something like this, which really isn't that old, can exist and no living person knows where it came from.
Right Jon? I feel like a notebook or some other item will show up one day, though, that shows us where these originated. I love cards like this.
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