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Posted By: Joann

It seems increasingly impossible for me to reconcile the braid bleed-thru on the front of these cards with limited (ie, 1/1) production. Everything about it is more consistent with many more cards being produced - even if all at the same time and scrapped.

I see the point about them being stacked dry and banded together for a long time. It certainly explains the fact that the lines on the front seem to be pretty well oriented in straight and square lines. But wouldn't the lines then have varying thicknesses and intensity around the periphery? If they were banded about the middle, then it seems like the braids on front would be clearer and heavier about the middle and lighter at the ends where the pressure was lower. Could they have somehow been "banded" together in a more uniform way?

It's possible, but multiple stacked wet sheets still explain the lines best. They don't explain the lack of cards best, but they do explain the lines best.

As to the dollar figures, my theory is that they were "free with the purchase of" values. I just don't see any way anyone was paying $5 for a card in those days. But it would make sense if a Sales Manager or Marketing Manager for Herp's, in possession of these cards (as has been speculated frequently) would have made notes on the back as to the amount of purchase at Herp's that would earn the buyer the card. Buy $5 of merchandise, get a Cobb. For a $1, get a common. Doesn't that make some sense?

The other explanation for the numbers is that they were actual card prices. If so, they must have been put on way way after 1920. Maybe even into the 60's or 70's. It just seems to me that, if that were the case, these would have found their way into the world at that time. If someone took the time to price them as salable collectibles, they would have likely sold them then. Heck. Who knows? Maybe they did. But I think that it's more likely the numbers were added in about 1920, and if so the theory above is at least as good as any other. IMO, of course!

Great responses. Thanks very much.

Joann

ETA: hahaha FKW - we were on the same page as least wrt the 70's part as the first time these came out. I hadn't thought of the garage sale angle. Crap. The thought of the 11 missing cards being sold in a garage sale in the 70's, not 3 miles from where I currently sit, and maybe out there somewhere, is enough to drive me nuts.

ETA II: to fix some grammatical horrors.