Hi there all:
This is really interesting for a geek like me, actually.
All the Henry Johnson Confectioners cards I've ever encountered (I've been working on the set for years) have mirrored the E121-80 set in design, with blank backs. None of the cards are hand cut, as is the case with the W575-1 cards they're purported to be.
I've been told by a number of reliable sources over my years of collecting this set that the purple stamped cards all use the same stamp (as Leon suggests in his post). The story that's been told to me by these sources is that somehow, some fakes flooded the hobby in the 70s or 80s. That always seemed strange to me, since the cards couldn't have had much value, but the sources who provided me this information are about as impeccable as they get in this hobby.
The "authentic" purple Henry Johnson stamp is on top of the "fake" one in the image below:
You can see they're quite distinctly different.
What throws me a bit is this: If you look closely at the Hoblitzell, the design is actually not the design of the E121s. It's the design of the D350-2 Standard Biscuit cards, only without the card number underneath the position and team name. The two issues (E121 and D350-2) are very similar, but the typefaces are actually very different. Rhett can probably speak to this far more eloquently than I; he's the true expert on these.
What you may notice, though, is this: Dick Hoblitzell is not in the E121 or W575-1 checklist. He IS in the D350-2 checklist.I just dug through my H-Js because I picked up a fake once, just for threads like this. The card is of George Cutshaw. He's ALSO in the D350-2 checklist but not in the E121. The card is printed on super flimsy paper, and does appear to be hand-cut.
Does this mean it's possible that there was ANOTHER Henry-Johnson set issued in 1917, consistent with the D350-2 set? I guess so, theoretically, but until I'm presented with information from a source more reliable than the ones that have told me these cards are fakes, I'll go with my current line of thinking.
How's that for wishy-washy?
-Al