c1917-18 Armando Marsans NY Americans Postcard
 

I am trying to find out the origin of this postcard, might be something obvious and I'm just not seeing it or am forgetting about it. Does anyone recognize it from any catalogued set? The typeset looks like the 1917-20 Felix Mendolsohn series but this one measures much smaller at 3 1/8" X 5 3/8" with a divided postcard back. Marsans only played two partial seasons with the NY (AL) club, 1917 & 1918.

Any assistance provided would be most appreciated.

Phil

The pose is from the Mendelsohn set as is the name and team designation. Guessing it’s a fantasy piece of some sort.

Image looks washed out to me too. I don't think this is a period piece.

Thanks for the input, guys. Having the card in hand, the image looks a bit darker and sharper than in the pic. To me, it looks like a legitimate 1920's exhibit card and I have handled many of those over the years but the typeset and font don't match up with any of the 1920's era exhibits.

I don't disagree with your assessment, Phil, at least from what I see. I'm not a postcard guy though, so maybe there are some tells from its somewhat unusual dimensions or something from the back printing. I wouldn't write it off as non-legit just yet.
It certainly is the Mendelsohn image and typeset. Marsans is one of the m101-6's that did not have the "FM" copyright mark on it, so perhaps others felt they could use the image for their own purposes, assuming Felix himself had no part in it.

I don't have a 1917 or 1918 contemporary comparison, but the back on your PC is the same back as the 1922 exhibit with postcard back series.

Would it be unusual for a 1922 postcard to have an image from 1917 and for two separate exhibit series to have the same back?

I think Todd is on the right track, there could very well be some connection to the Felix Mendolsohn cards. If that is the case, there should be more of these in existence picturing other players from that 1917-20 era. Let's see if anyone else comes up with more info.....

Does anyone have a Mendelsohn Marsans card that they can post an image of? I don't have one but the more that I compare mine to a Babe Ruth original, the more likely it appears that a good part of the left side of the card has been trimmed off as well as a good portion of the top. That doesn't explain the divided postcard back though when the originals were blank. Maybe at some point during the printing process, there was thought to making it a postcard set, maybe some "proofs" like that do exist?

Nice catch, picking up on the back of the Marsans postcard being identical to the 1922 Exhibit P/C Backs series. A little more google image searching uncovers that LOTG auctions ran several uncatalogued 1922 Exhibit P/C Backs, all labeled as such in SGC holders, a little while back. Here are five of the key players that I found: Speaker, Hornsby, Faber, Cobb & GC Alexander. Does anyone know if the images used for those 5 postcards were "borrowed" from another 1920's exhibit card series or maybe another photo source? If so, that might explain why a Marsans might exist with a 1917-18 image, there would not be any other 1920's images of him to "borrow" from.

The photo used for the exhibit pc Speaker is taken from his Mendelsohn m101-6 card, although the text/typeset is different.

I was going to say the same thing. I think you've got some kind of frankensteined exhibit. It has a Mendelsohn front complete with the same captioning but an exhibit postcard back.

If the card is legit and not a later strike using a borrowed image, then I would think it at least possible if not likely that it was issued during the m101-6 run, believed to be 1917-1920. I would not put it past someone simply trimming the larger m101-6 to fit their needs, although why they wouldn't use just standard postcard size escapes me, and the stock would be thinner than typical postcard stock. If not that, they could have used Mendelsohn's image and font, with or without permission, to create their own postcard.

I don't know why this card would have been printed after 1920 when the last of m101-6 had issued, since Marsans was finished playing in MLB, not just the Yankees, after 1918. Unless of course it is a non-period piece, perhaps a tribute set for Yankees or Cuban ballplayers.

The back is exact to the 1922 postcards though. It most likely would have had to have been issued when they were, but the front is totally off. Personally I think it's a fantasy piece.

Here is the Mendelsohn Marsans for comparison

I stand corrected on the copyright symbol being present on the Marsans m101-6. That seems to me why the image was cropped from the left--so as to remove the copyright from view. In that case I doubt Felix gave his permission.

Neat card of Marsans...if legit :). Doesn't look like there was a perfect consensus.