Posted By:
Gilbert MainesNo, it has real limited value.
But to me "the good ones" are those years which make this issue stand out: the early years 1911 through 1923 (plus 1932). These years Zeenuts produced cards which were an unusual and striking design.
Unlike the OJs which had simulated backgrounds to obviously contrived action scenes, and unlike most other sets which incorporated drawn colored background representations, and still other photographic cards which had actual ballpark backdrops to the simulated action shots; these Zeenuts had no background for their action shots at all!
We often see in the recent pick ups thread examples of the various shades of dark brown offered in the earliest sets, occasionally we see the red/orange hued border to the non-existent background of the '18 set, but less often we see other examples of the light shades and plain white backgrounds.
Mine is the last issue of this initial stretch of no backgrounds. The white 1923. After this date they included actual park backgrounds until 1932 where they resumed the white background for one year.
I think the no backgrounds really make the player stand out. And this design feature is one of the reasons which this set maintains its popularity.
What do you think?